Re: China Lake - Manson's Place

On Dec 16, 6:30�pm, "Lumpy" <lu...@digitalcartography.com> wrote:

m...@sushi.com wrote:

I have a book on Death Valley. The Mason ranch is supposed to be a
pretty nasty drive. I think I will do it only if I can get another 4WD
to follow.


To get up into Barker Ranch (Manson's old place)
you have to negotiate a relatively rough canyon.
I've done it in a 2wd Chev S-10 pickup and in a
'56 VW bus. Probably easier in 4wd or motorcycle.

Barker ranch is at -
�N35� 51.575'
W117� 05.331'

The sheriff was up there last summer doing forensic
searches with cadaver dogs and sniffer instruments
after they heard reports of more bodies buried there.
That probably means they improved the road a bit.
The 4x4 clubs and the NPS seem to fight over who
should have and not have access. Both of them
will deliberately knock boulders into the
roadway to make it more difficult to travel.

The die hard 4 wheelers continue on east from
Barker ranch and take the REALLY rough and steep
route down into Death Valley, entering the valley
from the west rim.

But to enter China Lake, you can just stay on
the main dirt road (Wingate Road) and drive south.
You could do it in a family sedan.
Border at -
�N35� 47.72'
W117� 08.73'

North is county/BLM/NPS depending on where you're at.
South is China lake.

The RVs sometimes camp at -
�N35� 44.846'
W117� 01.643'
Which is the abandoned airfield. It's on the grade
of the abandoned mining train track bed.

The whole area is pretty populated with tourists
in 4x4s, RVs and family/road motorcycle clubs on BMWs
and Goldwings.

Craig 'Lumpy' Lemke

www.n0eq.com


Looks like the ranch is more like  35�51'34.46"N 117� 5'18.15"W. I
think you would be closer to China Lake from the town of Ridgecrest,
though I don't know what you can see.