We loaded back up and headed down to the trailhead at West Side Road.  We stopped to air down and then headed up the trail.  We then turned onto Warm Spring Canyon and started to wind our way up into the hills.  We stopped in one of the canyons to see some of the Borax deposits and stretch our legs, then it was back in the trucks.  We continued on through Butte Valley towards Striped Butte, a remarkable cone shaped butte with varying colors of sedimentary layers .  Just past Striped Butte we stopped at the Geologist's cabin.  The cabin is a small one-room building run by the Parks Department and is available to travelers free of charge.

From there we continued on through Butte Valley to Mengel Pass.  We made our way up the rock garden and then decided to stop for lunch at the rock memorial.  One of the H2's decided to try out the nearby hill climb and almost got into some trouble.  Its steeper than it looks.  After lunch we continued on to Goler Canyon.  We made a pit stop at Barker Ranch, which is where the Manson Family was finally caught.  The buildings are in surprisingly good shape and are open to the public so we were able to check out the inside.  It was pretty interesting trying to imagine that place at the time of the Manson Family.

We then made our way down into Goler Wash.  This is a very narrow canyon with walls that rise up almost vertically on both sides.  We wound our way down through the wash and out into Panamint Valley.  It was time to call it a day so we headed up a dirt road toward the Ballarat Ghost Town and out onto Panamint Valley Road.  We stopped at camp to clean up and then met at the steakhouse at Furnace Creek for dinner.  Then it was back to camp to get ready for day two.

Day 2

We packed up camp in the morning and headed out on the road.  We stopped at the sand dunes for some photos (vehicles are not allowed on the dunes).  Then we headed over Daylight Pass to visit Rhyolite Ghost Town.  One of the famous things about Rhyolite is the house whose walls are made entirely of glass bottles and mud.  The house is still in excellent condition to this day although you can only look at the outside.

We had wanted to run through Titus Canyon but the road was closed.  So we headed back over the pass and up to Ubehebe Crater.  This is an enormous crater that is 770 feet deep and over a half mile wide.  Nobody wanted to take the long hike to the bottom, or the even longer hike back up, so we continued on down Racetrack Road towards the Racetrack.

Racetrack Road is a fairly well maintained dirt and gravel road.  There weren't very many vehicles out so we decided to make Baja style run out of it.  We aired down and hit the gas.  Some of the turns really tested the traction control system.  We made it out to the Racetrack, which is a large playa with a big volcanic rock formation in the middle.  It gets it name from large rocks that mysteriously move across the playa leaving tracks behind in the dirt.  Unlike Black Rock Desert, vehicles aren't allowed on the playa so we got out and walked around a bit.

We still had a long drive back to Northern California so we gathered back up and made our way back to Stovepipe Wells.  We gassed up and then it was back on the highway.  Hopefully I'll be able to make it back down to Death Valley again as there was a lot that we didn't get to see on this trip.  As we were leaving we were already planning on next year's trip and making sure we plan for a couple more days.