Hello and thanks from a Panamint/Saline fan


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Posted by Marek Cichanski on September 30, 2001 at 02:10:47:

I just stumbled onto this message board, and
what a find!

I spent a lot of time in the southwestern Panamints
and at Ballarat during the interval 1992-1995, when
I was a geology grad student at USC. I got to know
Don and Louie pretty well, and I met a number of the
area "regulars". Visitors to the Briggs cabins in
South Park Canyon will find some of my old entries.
(I visited there several times in the course of my
field work, although I only DROVE it once. I must have
set some sort of post-prospector-era record for the
number of times hiking up S.P. Cyn.) I think I left a
few entries in the Porter Peak summit register as well.

I used to drive a grey 89 Trooper with a Michigan plate
back then.

This message board really is like running into people
on the porch at Ballarat or at the hot springs in
Saline Valley - I even recognize the names of people
that I met or at least heard of - Wild Bill, Tom Worker,
etc... And the information about road conditions is
really useful.

I now realize how lucky I was to have been able to easily
drive up things like Pleasant Cyn back in the early to
mid 90s. Sounds like the storms really did a number on
the Panamints, yet again.

Was particularly sad to hear of damage to the Steel
Pass road, both below Upper Warm Spring, and in
Dedeckera.I'd done parts of the road from both ends
last year, and was looking forward to another shot.
Maybe it'll be better by Xmas or spring break, when I
next get out to the hot springs. Let's hope that the
NPS leaves well enough alone...

Happy trails,

Marek Cichanski
marekc@earthlink.net


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