Re: Last Word (I hope!)
Posted by doc on June 17, 2003 at 16:41:06:
In Reply to: Actual road conditions-Ballarat to Goler posted by doc on June 15, 2003 at 12:22:17:
First of all, to Sprockett;
I'm very glad to read that you're bringing up your daughter to know the wonders of the desert. She sounds very civic-minded to have donated the new logbook at the Newman cabin. Please tell her that the rattler in the cabin wasn't scary, actually I felt myself very lucky to have had a chance to observe such a beautiful and rare reptile, and it probably does a great job of keeping the cabin clear of vermin.
To Slim;
I'm glad to hear that the road was easy way back on Memorial day, but I was simply trying to tell people that NOW the road has been very degraded, probably by all of the dense traffic that everyone seems to have encountered on that weekend. And if you don't think that tumbling a car backwards down a twenty foot dry waterfall and having to walk all the way to the Briggs mine for help isn't potentially lethal, than you should read a little more history of the area.
To Mike;
As I said in my post, a lite 4wd toyota type CAN make it up the wash, I was trying to warn the drivers of heavy, wide, and 2wd cars like Blazers, suburbans, broncos, etc. that they should simply park at the entrance to the canyon and take a nice, pleasant little quarter mile walk to check out the falls before attempting the climb.
Jeez, folks, I thought the whole purpose of this board was to give current updates and cautions to people about the rapidly changing and sometimes dangerous road conditions in the area, not to brag about your superhuman driving abilities and go on ego trips about how "maybe you had trouble but I can drive anywhere anytime!" I'm sure there are those who will boast about driving straight up the side of Telescope Peak and crossing the salt flats in the middle of a rainstorm, but I was merely trying to caution the mere mortals with average cars to be a little more careful than usual with this particular road.
Would the next person to actually drive there instead of just waxing nostalgic please post their experience so that the casual drivers trying the route know what they are getting into?