Abandoned Cabin and Hot Rod in Remote Southern Death Valley

[Music] hey wonder huh see here on a chilly but beautiful sunny winter's day I'm Death Valley adjacent near a place called ibex spring now I actually went to ibex spring last March and I shot a video there but I never uploaded it because I just I don't know I felt like the site wasn't compelling enough to really post sadly I mean it was an old mining and camera and there was a little spring a bunch of old buildings but nothing about it really spoke to me so that was like almost a year ago fast-forward to right around the end of 2019 I got an email from a viewer who tipped me off that just beyond ibex spring which by the way was centered around these talc mines well apparently just past the talc mine here on the other side of mountain there's another valley and there's supposed to be a really cool old historic cabin there well you know how I feel about my cabins I am cabin crazy I love finding these old abandoned miners cabins and this one is the guy said it had a lot of supplies in and history and stuff unfortunately all this Intel is pretty out of date the last time he visited was 2006 and it's now 2020 so it's been 14 years since this guy visited who knows what the state of this cabin is gonna be or if we'll even be able to get to it honestly I'm hiking with a friend today and we're just gonna try to go on foot we drove as far as we could up this dirt really rough dirt road to this upper talc mine is actually two Talca mines this one and then this one down closer to ibex spring and then from here I scouted it out on Google Maps and it's 2.8 nine miles away that way to this cabin so there's no trail I don't think it's just gonna be bushwhacking so we have to hike over these mountains and then cross a valley I think the elevation at the top here is 3,000 feet and the cabins at 1,600 so that means on the return we're gonna be gaining 1400 feet of elevation so it's gonna be a tough hike it's already after 11 a.m. so it's winter it gets dark early I better stop yakking and get hiking ok so I left my car parked down there and this used to be a road going up higher up to I guess the upper reaches of the mine so I'm just gonna hike along it because it's way too washed out free of admiring to handle and besides I ain't scared of a little exercise good old-fashioned fresh air and exercise sunshine good for what ails you you know okay we passed the upper section of the upper talc mine and you can see how washed out this quote-unquote road is I mean you had to be pretty creative to even be able to see a road here anymore but it's not that bad to hike it's just too uphill all the way woo all right so we're gonna hiking along and we finally came to a place where there was a break in the mountains and I see a view in the distance and I'm pretty sure I can see the cabin we're trying to get to so it's gonna be really hard for you guys to see because I just had my crappy digital zoom but you look way off across the other guys are there it's like a white patch I think that's another mine of some sort well to the right of that may be able to see house oh man I think that's what we're trying to hike you so then back out it looks to me like the best way we want to get there it's just a hike straight down this kind of wash here okay so the talc mine that we parked at is way up back in the distance that white patch basically we just hiked down a wash heading down this wash to the valley floor where the cabin is in the distance but if you look there on the ridge you can see a little stack of rocks up on there it looks to me like a trail marker so apparently this is not a road and it looks like it's never been a road just wash but apparently someone is coming this way before for some reason okay okay I basically just sort of hiking across this vast wash I don't even know if you can see those white back that's for the talc mine and we're crossing this Hugh vast broad wash and we can finally see the cabin it's in view there we're almost to it but slow going because of all these goalies I mean this wash looks deceptively flat but let me tell you something when you're down in it it's most definitely not flat there's been some pretty substantial bullies that we had to go down and up so even though I measured the distance as the crow flies as being 2.8 nine miles definitely over three miles if you take into account the meandering and the ups and downs but along the way we have seen a few interesting things which is I mean one of them is this awesome metal cup I just found I thought it was a tin can at first but no you can see it's actually a little cup of some sort looks like maybe there was a handle on it here but it's amazing like we're so friggin remote out here I can't imagine what lonely miner lost his Cup here it's kind of cool I guess I'll just leave it here more I found it for the next person to enjoy [Music] okay we finally made it all the way across this vast wash and we came to this really busted old road that leads up to the cabin that's my friend in the distance you can see there used to be a gate at one time and apparently there used to be a road that went all the way down down down and probably cut through that valley there but it's clearly no longer a road it's totally washed out that being said look at this there's fresh tire tracks in the dirt which means somebody's been out here fairly recently and you know what that means someone was doing some illegal off-roading because we are technically within the park boundary of Death Valley National Park right now and we even passed a sign on the way here that said very clearly driving off roads prohibited so whoever did that was breaking the law breaking the law okay so as we go up the road here to the cabin you can see here this whole time that says dangerous explosives something gasps okay now you can see the little cabin which you know to the untrained eye might look like why the heck would she hike all the way across that wash just to get to this busted old POS but I don't know call me crazy I'm interested in that guy thing and look here there's a stone wall a chassis of an old car in fact there's another old car up at the top of this wash there's a lot of old metal junk in this wash you can see I don't know how people lived here over the years but and then it looks like to the left of the cabin there's a little mine at it as well we could poke our nose in since I didn't bring a flashlight and then of course I know my car people before I want to go check out that car too so we'll do cabin mine and then car let's go okay now the moment you've all been waiting for let's check out what's inside this cabin now the first thing about this cabin that I don't notice is that there's actually glass in the window I know the sun's behind it's kind of hard to see but look the glass isn't broken so that's a good sign that there might actually be some pretty well-preserved stuff inside quick look around the outside it was like I used to be the office the mine I guess looks like there was an old a bench seat from a car and an old bed oh but look at the window on this side this one's busted clean open so no telling what condition it's gonna be like inside there only one way to find out and that is go inside that's not a hard time figuring out where the door was because it's pretty minimalist but it is latched so and there's a rock in front of it to keep it from swinging open so somebody may have been here not that long ago let's see Wow it's a one-room cabin two bunk beds with a wood-burning stove in between I don't know if it was sort of a split-level deal or half the floors just missing or what is up there but over here on the upper level we got some shelves with a few artifacts there we have oh the log book is in this little bread box and then there's this below the window with the glass in it there's a start about the light table with a few things on it looks like there's a few things hanging on the wall there and then there's this cabinet that will probably be full of interesting stuff so we're just gonna go methodically I guess I'll start out over here uh old rusty can't ends that were probably found in the wash there there all that looks like Vienna sausages that was probably some kind of juice that was maybe some kind of potted meat oh look it's die interesting maybe somebody's old cracked game leave that old pot yikes that is an old pot it doesn't looking to be much good now oh yeah it's full of unspeakable fowl miss we'll just put that back up there and then this looks fairly new what's this oh it's like oh it's benches it's oh it's a folding picnic table cool oh no y-you would lug that all the way out here though and there's already a perfectly serviceable table in the cabin although chair wise there's only this one chair and it's in pretty rough shape okay on the table we just have another old can somebody put rocks in not sure why the old Folgers coffee can and then this really cool mug looks real 70s what does it say Wally all I I wall I like the fish I thought it was some guy named Wally's mug whoops all right up here on the wall look I thought that was a guillotine but it says broom I guess it's just a place where they would hang a broom but the room is long gone there's a flyswatter there real old flyswatter I don't know if you can even see that okay let's address the elephant in the room there's this log box oh look what we have here guys starbuck as I live and breathe ah darn you Starbuck I'll never get to a place you haven't already been I'm just kidding guys Starbucks cool like he for Facebook friends he has a blog that he goes to all these crazy places and takes pictures Ayman writes about them and he's real stingy with information which I like he won't tell you exactly where these places are but sometimes you can figure out enough clues reading his posts you know go find the place on your own he's really into protecting and preserving these locations so he's cool I'm gonna leave his card right where I found it and then under his card there is a map of Death Valley because we are in Death Valley Park and here's the log let's see when the last person was here I mean these entries look at that Sarah the light without the Sun 1997 dang ok let's see who was here last just before us okay it looks like April 20th 4:20 2019 not even a year ago Wow it's amazing to me that somebody was out here that recently or relatively recently cuz it feels like we're so far out in the middle of friggin nowhere here okay well I don't want to spend too long in this cabin is we still got a hike all the way back to the car before dark so I'm just gonna browse through here real quick and see oh look here I wonder if captain camo knows lizard lizard' Lee's the host at saline and hot springs interesting no just people's notes from 2018 2003 people been coming here for years oh this guy here boxcar cabin Dom Dan he's kind of mean he said some pretty nasty things about one of my videos I look at this one hi I am a kid named Aidan or I'm not sure what this is Avedon and I am on a car trip and it is late afternoon and it is so pretty my dog is with me and I am having so much fun I can't wait to see the dunes have fun a nice poop great yeah there's some awesome sand dunes just well you saw him out the window there I can't see him no he's the light okay well I gotta sign this logbook okay I just left a quick note wonder huh see here from YouTube hiked in from the upper talc mine at ibex beautiful day nice hike great little cabin tough to get 2 equals even better I feel like because this cabin is so hard to get to there's pretty slim chance of anybody coming out here and vandalizing it I mean you really have to be a massive jerk to hike all the way I just liked just to come bust up a cabin alright closed up the logbook back in the breadbox now we've got one more thing to investigate and that is this cabinet now what could be in here it says please close when leaving so the mice won't chew holes in the water jugs and then on top look at this old pop off vodka box it's full of old news oh it's full of old newspaper let's just take one out I don't like I said have time to be here all day but let's see what we have it looks old it is the Los Angeles Times from oh gosh like 1992 right after Valentine's Day 92 holy cow do you guys remember where you were back in February of 92 that's before the OJ trial even that Mexico 92 no better time might have been safer down there back then all right well anyways I don't want to look through this box at newspapers all day well actually I kind of do but better or not let's continue on our journey here and look in this cabinet open one side open the other side up please close so the mouse won't chew holes in the water jokes he eats a national Geographics - oh gosh look what's in this cabin okay so it's got a few supplies laid in some generic brand pop-tarts that are probably really stale I wonder if there's a date on them anywhere doesn't look like well I'm gonna guess they're way past their prime oh look some real crusty old first-aid supplies nails odds-and-ends cans jars was this a 6-pin ring shank oh god I don't know what that means oh and here's the water drugs they were talking about that's cool cuz boy if you were out here in the summer and you needed water you'd be happy to see that and then down here there's a bunch of books I guess we'll go to that shelf last the bottom shelf is just more bottles of water it looks like they're just in old soda bottles and then I don't know if that actually has fuel in it seemed feels like it's empty hmm interesting so just some supplies laden and then here's where all the reading material is high-quality stuff like 2001 a Space Oddity now that's a book All Things Bright and Beautiful another classic look at this conflict the history of the Korean War oh look at this the day of the locust well look at the art on the cover of that that's cool the Swiss Family Robinson oh I loved that at Disneyland they used to have the Swiss Family Robinson trios and they turned it into a stupid Tarzan treehouse oh the Taking of Pelham one two man just a little bit of everything in this in this library you mean look at that Haynes manual for a Nissan Datsun Sentra that was my first car actually I had a Nissan Sentra that's a sportsman's guide gosh I don't even know what year that's from probably a long time I guess oh look I mean a January 1973 friggin National Geographic that is oh man Wow mouse didn't eat this one there's a bunch of nap geo is in here neat okay I'm just gonna look at the back layer behind these books up more books or magazines or something but nothing like super interesting that's like Reader's Digest up yep readers digests all right well let me put these books back like I said we don't have all day to be spent in here put this NatGeo back it looks to me like there might be something here for the wife too what's this son say yeah that's a ladies mag from oh my god from 1970 I'm obsessed with old homemakers magazines from the 70s this is look at how bright the colors are it's been in here for so long oh my God look at that awesome dress I love looking at these old 70s ads oh my goodness oh wow holy this keep regular naturally with ready to eat delicious Uncle Sam LexA tough cereal Wow Uncle Sam laxative cereal man these were the days I better stop looking at this magazine it's very tempting I want to take it with me but you know how I roll I'm gonna leave it here what was it up lead me not into temptation Kevin put all the books back oh my gosh look at this this looks even older what's this Coronet October it doesn't even say the year but look at this the school where Johnny can read what is this Coronet how are you retired in 15 years with 300 bucks a month well back then maybe you could I don't know what year is Oh your look my gosh October 1956 look how old this is dang the tiger who changed his stripes the colors are so vibrant in this thing cuz I guess that's been closed up in this friggin cabinet since 1956 amazing and I'm gonna leave it right as it was wow that old coronet magazine was one of the coolest things I've ever found exploring these cabins because it was most simply because of its age in the condition it was in alright well one last look around here before we leave I mean there is potential here you would need to fix that window uh and there's a lot of cracks that would need to be chinked but you know what if it was really hot summer and you were straggling through the desert like somehow you got lost in Death Valley and you ended up here and you found those jugs of water this would provide shade man it would be a lifesaver alright I'm gonna latch the door back up the way I found it so if you're watching this you know wasn't me you know left it okay but I even put the rock back leaving it just like I found it and there's one more thing to check out here before we start hiking back I know I said I was gonna go check out this mine over here but come to find out it's not a mine I went over there and it's just a pile of rocks I think there might have been an outhouse there at one time so there's nothing there now but I'm gonna go back over up here there's a ruins of an old car we'll check that out and then my friend you can see is waiting for me he's probably ready to get the heck back out of here okay I can back up the wash towards where I saw this old car oh wow what a beaut oh how did that thing get out here in the first place can you imagine okay guys look at it it's a Pontiac clearly that's Pontiac on the back wow that's really neat real what kind of Pontiac was that I'll do a 360 on it I'm guessing the rains come down this wash you know and just really go nuts and knocked it right over but hey look what's cool this is all sheltered from the Sun all these years look at the upholstery holy can no Wow look at that it's still kind of even supple holy Christ look at the friggin the thing to roll the window down Wow beautiful holy craic look at this thing wowzers nut is so amazing that the upholstery is still so well preserved I guess it's always in the shade down there you know as it's upside down and here's the other side see some ding-a-ling Yahoo shot it full of bullet holes any other Chrome's well the chrome is rusting but in a very beautiful way look at that oh my gosh that's something amazing patina is how you say that patna I'll show you how you pronounce that word and then what's really cool is the the way those Pontiac letters are written yes I brought my shadow there they're actually like 3d do you see that huh they don't make them like that anymore oh wow what a cool old car it's just amazing to me that a car like that ever was able to make it way up here on this road yeah well I guess the miners were doing well here and they liked to go hot rodding I can't even imagine where they drove back in the day I mean the closest town to where we are is I guess Baker California and that's back in well maybe Baker was a bigger city back then I need to do some research into Baker I've been wanting to make a video about it so yeah I guess I'll find out whoa made it back to the car safe and sound in one piece and it actually was a lot easier coming back because well on the way there we didn't exactly know where we were going I had it pinned on Google Maps but I didn't have I wasn't using uh like a hiking tracking device or anything so we were just kind of like bushwhacking but on the way back we knew exactly where we were going back to you took about two hours each way and got here just in time to enjoy a friggin beautiful sunset the Sun you just dipped behind that mountain and we said a prayer even though I'm not a religious person yeah this is nice too be thankful for the day and well the creosote Bush is my spirit plant if you don't know what a creosote bushes it's these little green bushes that grow in the desert and why is that my spirit plant well because it's hearty it can grow just about anywhere with minimal water or care and it's long-lived it's one of the oldest organisms on the planet in fact it's the or I think it's one of the oldest the oldest clonal organism on the entire planet is a clone a creosote colony down by Lander California they do plan to make a video about that some point anyway I found a creosote bush is my spirit plant I grabbed onto it and I just thanked you know whoever whatever for an awesome day and awesome hike in well hopefully many more adventures ahead [Music] you

Channel: Wonderhussy Adventures

Views: 177,639

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Id: nK3NrS8IhWE

Length: 23min 52sec (1432 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020