A hello from a newbie on this site

[Buzzsawlouie]

Hello everyone! Love the outdoors usually am a Sierra Backpacker, but a buddy turned me on to Desert pack trips and I am truly amazed at the beauty of the desert. Havent been camping out in the desert since boyscouts and forgot the vastness and stark beauty. Stumbled onto this site and it looks like a great group of ppl.

[David_Bricker]

Welcome to the site! While we tend to lean a bit more towards off-highway exploration, there are certainly a good number of us that also hike and/or backpack. We would love to have you share some of your experiences, and hope we can also give you some tips or ideas for trips.

Please take some time and read the forum guidelines found in this section. You'll find us a friendly bunch, but we stay any from political and religious topics. Generally speaking, we all have our opinions that are deeply rooted, so discussing those topics is not likely to change anyone else's mind. There are plenty of other forums to dicuss those topics. Here, we just talk about our enjoyment of the desert, and getting out there and exploring.

David Bricker / SYR

[B-Spec]

Welcome..

[LarryW]

Welcome to the asylum. I'm getting more into using my feet again. Sitting in a truck all day is tiring and expensive. I'm training the dog to carry her own supplies and this year we will be doing much more hiking and much less driving. Have you done the John Muir trail? I was scheduled to do it last season and stuff got in the way. Now I have a new dog so I don't know I that is doable but there are plenty of other places the dog and I can get away from it all.

[Norman Johnson]

Backpacking in the Panamints is a really cool thing. There are springs where you can get water and you climb in elevation to some spectacular views. The fishing isn't quite as good as the Sierras.

NJ

[Buzzsawlouie]

Thanks all for the welcome.
Had a great time in Panamint City last weekend. A bit crowded on Saturday, but had Sunday/Monday to ourselves. Hiked up water canyon & also made it above the upper Wyoming mine. Spent Sunday Evening in the Castle and can say it was one of the most enjoyable trips I've had to Panamint. My concerns regarding water were unfounded and I appreciate y'all's input to dispel those concerns.

@ Larry, Yes I've hiked the JMT. Definately something I would recommend. It took me 18 days, some take longer, some take less. While I was out there, I met a very diverse cross section of individuals: from a group of British Soliers "on Holiday" to a 79 year old woman hiking the entire JMT solo (that was humbling to me...) Definately go for it, while not easy, it is doable.

[Panamint Charlie]

Did you run into a group of about 10 guys?

[Buzzsawlouie]

@ Panamint Charlie.
There was a Boy Scout Troup from the Riverside area that totaled around 10ppl. Nice bunch. One of the Scout Leaders was celbrating his 39th trip to PC...

[D.A. Wright]

If you haven't found it already, a good companion site to this one is at http://www.death-valley.net/forum/

The forum is run by a moderator here and is quite hiking/backpacking centered.