January 5, 2019 Owens Valley and the Reward Mine

Marcia and I were in Explore Mode in the Owens Valley.  It was a chilly winter day without much sun as a Pacific storm approached.  I was hoping that we might get some interesting lenticular (mountain wave) clouds, but that did not materialize.  First stop from Big Pine was the little town of Aberdeen, which I had never visited.  It was ho-hum, more of a trailer-park community, with no services today.  This web site has some great photos of old Aberdeen, and check out this narrative for a glimpse of life 100 years ago here.  A paved road (old U.S. 395, apparently) south from Aberdeen led to a dirt road which angled off to an interesting canyon towards our southwest.  The road was good enough for my 2WD Xterra, and we made it about 98 percent of the way to the canyon entrance.   This may have been along Sawmill Creek — I am not 100 percent sure on that.   We spotted a line of mule deer and an bird of prey, too.

From here we headed to Independence and Manzanar, and then east across the valley to the western edge of the Inyo Mountains.  Marcia and I were looking for a mine to explore, and there was a good candidate close by, called the “Reward Mine.”  The Manzanar-Reward Road splits, and we first chose the north option, which heads along the base of the steep slopes for a little bit and then turns sharply eastward into the canyon.  This is where the road becomes dubious, especially for a non-4WD vehicle, so we left the Xterra and hiked up to the mining area.   The best part of the jaunt for me were the fabulous views to the west of the Sierra Nevada!  The approaching front was beginning to obscure the tops of the range.

The Reward Mine features a big tunnel, large enough for jeeps and other vehicles to head into for about a quarter mile.  I was not aware of this mining tunnel prior to my visit, and a couple of vehicles emerged from the tunnel while we were poking around.  We didn’t explore much above the tunnel, where more of the Reward mining equipment and remains might be, presumably.

We dropped south to Eclipse Canyon, which is pretty much just on the other side of the ridge from the Reward Mine.  There is more abandoned mining stuff to check out here.

After the Reward Mine, we headed south along a dirt road which once was adjacent to the Carson and Colorado RR tracks.  I stopped at the abandoned station called “Owenyo.”  There is nothing there except for some foundations and bushes.  Shortly after that, farther south, we found an old Lone Pine depot building.  Please check out this great site for more info on Owenyo and the railroad through this part of Owens Valley.

Below are some views of the Lone Pine depot, one building in Keeler, and several shots taken in Darwin.  A sculptor has a display outside for all to see in Darwin.  Marcia and I briefly braved the light snow here, and then headed to Trona and home.