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Please click here for Part One
The Blackwater Trail
Next time you are at Furnace Creek, look west across the vast salt playa and up into the board Blackwater Wash flowing out of the eastern flank of the Panamint Mountains. The route across the playa and up Blackwater Wash is one of the oldest routes in Death Valley providing access up into the Panamints. It was first used by Indians as a route to Emigrant Spring and Wildrose Spring. Later it was used by miners and prospectors to reach the short-lived mining boom towns of Harrisburg and Skidoo.
We parked at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center and started hiking at 0730 hrs. It was a cold morning. We moved through the developed resort and out into the open terrain beyond. Water flowed in the stream beds, a delightful surprise.
We started out across the salt pan wondering what we were getting ourselves into. Our goal, Blackwater Wash, was always in view ahead.
We came upon the monumented 1/4 corner between Sections 20 & 21 of township T27N R1E.
With water still flowing onto the playa, we were not looking forward to what we may find - deep muck.
It was up above our ankles and damn near sucked our boots off. It was good we keep the laces tight.
What followed was an expanse of “devil’s golf course” - nasty, uneven, hard salt crust; a place for the devil to play golf.
This is a fascinating wonderful place. And to experience it wet! This was special.
We came to the remains of the Corduroy Road (scroll down to item 6). It’s believed the mesquite logs placed side by side across the playa - the corduroy - was done by Indians to aid in crossing the playa. The bridges were added later - along with other fill including trash heap materials - when borax was mined out here.
In the trash fill we found an almost intact bottle.
Now we worked our way around standing water.
There were remains of two huts dating back to the borax mining days.
The easiest way off the playa with the most solid ground underfoot was following a meandering stream channel.
Upon reaching the alluvium, we worked our way up the rubble of old braided washes. We stayed, as much as we could, on islands of smooth desert pavement.
After 7.5 miles we found what we were searching for.
Here’s a link to a previous search we did for these Desert Guideposts - Chasing History.
In 1905 the California legislature appropriated $5000 for the placement of “guideposts” across the southern desert regions of the state to point toward water and safety. These were given to the counties for placement. From my research of old newspaper articles, Inyo County put 100 guideposts in place, the most of any county. Most were placed in 1906. Very few of these still exist. And only a handful in this good, complete condition after 120 years. That any of the guideposts survive is due to their very remote locations.
Miles sure must have been longer back in 1906. It is over four miles to the Corduroy Bridge and Blackwater Spring is well over 5 miles distant.
The reverse side of the guidepost gives important clues to it’s design and construction.
This April 5, 1906 article in the Inyo Register gives a detailed description of the guidepost’s construction.
At sometime in the future I will do an article on the history, with sources, on Desert Guideposts along with documentation on those we have found. Much information is provided in the blog post I linked above.
We had information there was another guidepost still erect another 4.5 miles up Blackwater Wash. Adding another 9 miles over rough terrain to an already 15 mile day would be too much for us old farts. Another plan was needed for us to reach this second guidepost. But we did add another mile or so looking for evidence of the old Blackwater Trail up from the guidepost. We found traces along with cairns.
We also found an ancient rock alignment.
On our way back down to the playa we found long sections of the old Blackwater Trail still visible.
We also found beautiful belly flowers the Lady identified.
Golden Desert-snapdragon (Mohavea breviflora)
Bigelow's Monkeyflower (Mimulus bigelovii)
It came time to recross the salt pan. The meandering stream bed still worked best. We followed our tracks.
We had two long sections of “devil’s golf course.”
We intercepted the remains of the Corduroy Road and reached the bridges over Salt Creek in the middle of the playa.
The salt pan stretched far to the south. We felt very small.This is an amazing, otherworldly landscape.
Salt Creek with flowing water.
After 16 miles or so, we returned to our waiting truck at the Visitors Center.
We had a plan to try and reach that other guidepost. Needing a closer campsite to our starting point, we found a dispersed spot up Telephone Canyon at the confluence of the North and South forks. We walked up the South Fork in the afternoon.
A supply road and a telephone line once ran up this canyon to Skidoo. Notch-leaf Phacelia was abundant.
The usually dry Telephone Spring was running water in the wash.
And Telephone Arch stood out in the afternoon light.
At dusk, after dinner we walked up the North Fork. Rock Nettle (Eucnide urens) was close to flowering.
Schott's Pygmycedar (Peucephyllum schottii) was blooming.
Field Operations & the Online Team
The Blackwater Trail, when it reached (from Furnace Creek) the confluence of the two major forks of the canyon, separated into two trails - Wet Fork and Dry Fork - named after the two forks. Back in November 2025, with our friends Deb & Steve, we found and followed remnants of the Wet Fork Trail starting at the top near Harrisburg and we made it down to a point high above Blackwater Spring.
Our new plan to reach the second guidepost was to drop in from the top and descend the Dry Fork with our eyes open to find any remains of the Dry Fork Trail. The shortest route into the Dry Fork was from the Skidoo Road. It was 28° at Harrisburg Flats as we drove to our starting point and found a safe place to park.
With her handheld compass, the Lady pointed out the direction to a small saddle so we would drop into the correct canyon. It was all downhill from here.
We knew there would be drops in the canyon but hoped none would be too hard to tackle or there would be bypasses. Was there really once a trail here?
The second drop was substantial with two dry falls. But there was an obvious man-made route around it. This buoyed our hope we were on the right track.
A faint worn track continued down the canyon.
But the canyon narrowed into a long, steep, polished chute.
We climbed out up on the north side and looked over at the narrow slot of the Dry Fork.
Was there a bypass? Did the trail stay out of the canyon like the Wet Fork Trail did? We started our search.
Note, that’s the Dry Fork far below just right of center.
We notified the Online Team - the rubberlegs, Deb & Steve, and Dave, the Sagebrush Reconnoiterer. It was a surprise, but in places on the high eastern slopes of the Panamints, there is cell service from Furnace Creek. We also had communication through our InReach device that provided exact coordinates of our location.
We continued down with our search.
And discovered the polished chute ended in an impossible drop off of close to a thousand feet.
We notified the Online Team the Dry Fork Canyon route “did not go.”
Replies came back as the Team scoured satellite imagery. Our world has really changed, hasn’t it? Dave responded with waypoints of possible trail he saw on the ridge to the south. Steve did the same. I added these waypoints to our mapping program. Deb offered valuable cheerful encouragement. After a break - snacks, water, and such - we climbed back up to the top of the chute to see if there was evidence of bypasses we’d missed.
Steve replied there was an obvious man-made bypass that climbed out of the canyon on the north side. “Yes,” the Lady texted back. “We’re on it.”
“But it peters out on the imagery,” Steve’s next text read.
“Yes it does,” the Lady answered.
It was a surprise such a obvious track just disappeared. It led to an area that dropped into a side canyon of Dry Fork. We climbed down into the precipitous defile.
It was too steep to even see over the edge on what lay ahead.
Climbing back up, the Lady followed a faint trail that led across steep terrain.
We moved out to a highpoint on a less steep slope.
There were no cliffs below us now, but also no sign of an old trail switch backing or making it’s way down into the canyon far below. Communication with the Online Team continued. The Lady scoured the mountainsides with her see mores as the Online Team scoured satellite imagery. Here’s what we saw. I’ll repost a previous image.
Take a close look. There’s a faint line of a trail horizontally across the center of the photo. It traverses over to the top of the ridgeline south of the Dry Fork canyon in the area of the waypoints Dave and Steve provided. But, with close field observations with her see mores, the Lady reported several washouts or landslides that may have taken out the trail on very steep slopes. And was this even the Dry Fork Trail down from Skidoo? Lots of information and questions to adsorb and answer, but not enough day left now to pursue. We thanked the Online Team for their invaluable help.
We needed to get back to our vehicle. I consulted the 7.5 topo and we decided to climb up to the crest of the Panamints.
The view down into and across Death Valley was wonderful. And, of course, the broad wash of the Dry Fork far below teased us.
It was an easy but long route across the sage covered landscape back to the truck. We’d only hiked 6 or 7 miles but we’d tackled a lot of steep terrain. We returned to a campsite in Telephone Canyon for the night.
We’d come up with another plan on how to reach that guidepost. But we also wanted a break. We had time to work on the plan. We also had another place we wished to visit on this trip. We spent our last night in the National Park at a backcountry campsite in Echo Canyon. We were able to reserve it online the same day.
All these backcountry sites are far from level. Creative and determined rock stacking provided comfortable living in the camper.
This site is at the top of the Echo Canyon narrows. For our coffee walk early the next morning we wandered down into the narrows.
Our break from Death Valley was an adventure over into southern Nevada. I will do that story as a separate trip post and keep the Death Valley tale together here. And, just maybe, answer that question - did we make it to the second Desert Guidepost?
Our adventure continues. Please click here for Part Three.
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