Just before reaching Daylight Pass came upon this road construction. Had to wait 1/2 an hour for the pilot car to escort us over the pass.

About 13 miles past Beatty, Nevada turned off Hwy 95 on to this dirt road.

Seven miles in crossed this cattle guard entering Death Valley Nat'l Park.

After driving 20 miles, found this camp spot. Soon as I parked, saw Cori (Snownymph) in my rear view mirror. John and Sooz were going to arrive later this evening.

Cori having dinner. She was here to hike Mount Palmer with Jay.

Jay (Astrohound)

Driving up Phinney Canyon with John & Sooz. Plan to drive to a saddle where we will start up a ridge that will lead us to Grapevine Peak.

We could only drive to this point. This fallen pinyon pine was blocking the road.

Just past the fallen tree this big rock was blocking the road.

Hiking up the road to the saddle.

A short way up the ridge, we found this area that Cori told us about. It had lot of colorful rocks and crystals.

One of the many geodes we found.

Some quartz crystals.

Think that these are more quartz crystals stained by a mineral. We wet this one to wash off the dirt and show it's color.

Chalcedony. Checking out this stuff reminded me of my past rock hound days.

Hard to see in this photo, but there are a lot of different crystals on this one.

We spent 1/2 an hour checking out the rocks before hiking on towards the peak.

John waiting on one of the saddles for Sooz and I to catch up. Grapevine is the peak on the left.

One of the few small patches of snow we crossed along the way to the peak.

Looking down on the last saddle before the peak.

It was cold and windy on the saddle. Much nicer once we got into the trees.

Climbing the rocks to get up on the ridge.

Checking out the view. Mt Palmer is the high one. Cori & Jay are doing that one today.

Getting close to the peak.

The repeater on the peak, we're here.

Joe (me) , John and Sooz on Grapevine Peak 8,738'.

The peak register and repeater with a view to the southeast.

The solar panel on the repeater. I like the color and pattern.

The entree from the crew that maintains the repeater.

Me with a US flag that was in the peak register box.

Photo by Sooz

View to the east.

Mt Palmer to the south. Cori and Jay are out there somewhere.

Zoomed in on Corkscrew and Thimble Peaks to the southeast.

View to the west.

Nice view of Phinney Canyon to the east as we start the hike down.

Open section on the ridge just below the peak.

Wahguyhe Peak to the southeast. It's going to be tomorrow's hike.

Cool looking rocks as we skirt one of the peaks on the ridge.

Back at the area we found the colorful rocks.

A few ranens were checking us out as we neared the road.

Back on the road heading to the truck.

On the drive back to camp, we saw this mine just off the road.

The sign said Mine Danger Area, had to stop to take a look.

It was a vertical shaft with netting over it.

A group shot taken by fire light. Cori is the blurry one, she moved during the long exposure. Cori and Jay got back to camp a couple of hours after we did. Mt Palmer is a long and hard hike.

Woke up to it snowing. This is John's truck taken from the back of mine. Most of the snow melted by the time I took this shot.

Jay, Cori, John, Sooz and me. The group is ready to climb Wahguyhe Peak. I was planing on joining them, but decided to get a early start on the drive home.

After 20 miles of good dirt road, I'm back to Hwy 95.