September 27

~14 miles, 3,900’ gain

We were up before sunrise to beat as much heat as we could, climbing out of Panamint Valley up a long slope toward Mill Canyon. Once we reached the dry stream bed near the entrance of the canyon we sheltered in some shade before pushing into the canyon to a dry fall which we had to negotiate upward out of a lower box canyon. We had to first scramble up a steep and loose slope, then traverse across a broken rock face to a higher level of the canyon. This was a time consuming exercise as we each climbed it in turn with danger to those below from falling rock, and those crossing from the loose holds. Eventually we all made it topside, then pushed onward after a lunch break through a surprising amount of tall grass and brush choking the canyon, fed from a spring at the top of the canyon. We then climbed steeply away from Trail Canyon to a plateau below Hunter Mountain. We reloaded water from a tank in a horse corral then pushed a bit further to camp in a bowl of rock formations amidst a dense cluster of Joshua trees.