Cerro Gordo , Swansea Salt Tram, and Alabama Hills

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SW_UT_FJ

SW_UT_FJ

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Off-Road Ranger I

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Hurricane, UT
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Russ
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Wright
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Took a nice weekend trip back to Death Valley. Half the group met in Las Vegas and then we picked up a couple of rigs at Father Crowley’s overlook AKA Star Wars canyon. Watched the jets and enjoyed lunch before continuing to Cerro Gordo. The next morning we took the salt tram shelf road to the crossover station. Then we continued down the tram road into Lone Pine and to Alabama Hills for the night. Beautiful country and great company.
df3b844315473e0c8bf6ce2f75fc86a4.jpg[/IMG]



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SW_UT_FJ

SW_UT_FJ

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Off-Road Ranger I

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MEU(SOC) said:
What days were you there?
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We spent Friday evening at Cerro Gordo , Saturday we drove the salt tram road and camped that evening at Alabama Hills. Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast in Lone Pine and headed home.


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Paul Varese

Paul Varese

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Fallbrook, CA
I'm heading up to Cerro Gordo this Saturday. The website for the ghost town says "no camping" in several places, but seems like you did this not very long ago. Is the actual camping policy different than what the website says? If no camping immediately within the ghost town, are there other spots for dispersed camping along the way nearby? If it makes any difference, we will be arriving after dark.
 
SW_UT_FJ

SW_UT_FJ

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Off-Road Ranger I

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Hurricane, UT
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Russ
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Wright
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KA7HOS
Paul Varese said:
I'm heading up to Cerro Gordo this Saturday. The website for the ghost town says "no camping" in several places, but seems like you did this not very long ago. Is the actual camping policy different than what the website says? If no camping immediately within the ghost town, are there other spots for dispersed camping along the way nearby? If it makes any difference, we will be arriving after dark.
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I understand ownership of Cerro Gordo has changed and so have some of the rules. I haven’t been back since the changes so I can’t speak firsthand. There are plenty of spots to camp past (above) Cerro Gordo toward the Salt Tram. If you’re wanting to camp lower/warmer, Alabama Hills is close by and then you could day trip Cerro Gordo and the salt tram.
 
v_man

v_man

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Redwood City
The road continues past Cerro Gordo into what is called San Lucas canyon. SLC will take into the far western reaches of death valley.

You could find plenty of spots in SLC or when it opens up at a much lower elevation.

I spent a night off a side road in SLC. I'd wager a paycheck you would be the only campers in the area.
 
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Caddis

Caddis

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I'm planning on taking a trip here in October. This will be our first trip over there.
 
VCeXpedition

VCeXpedition

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Sale of the property closed on Friday, July 13th. $1.4M! If only...

Found this on the sale of the property and the new owner: Brent Underwood (why does that name sound familiar?)

Looks like it has it's own website but that might be from the previous owners. There is a contact phone # listed although i don't know if it's still functional: 760.689.2443

CerroGordo Info.png

I wonder if one can go safely from being a Trespasser to a visitor? (how much is this gonna cost me?)

Hope he doesn't turn it into an amusement park atmosphere.

And I hope they can extract all the historical stories that the old caretaker tells while we still have him! They're Gold!


Dan.
 
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Paul Varese

Paul Varese

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Fallbrook, CA
I spent this past weekend hanging out around Cerro Gordo. Got a tour from the caretaker, Robert. Met the new owners Brett and Aron. All were very welcoming. Although you cannot camp immediately in town anymore, camping is allowed anywhere you can find a turnoff outside of town. I would not reccomend it though since the valley leading up to Cerro Gordo creates a wind tunnel. They have a crew of workers living in the main bunkhouse working on renovating the hotel to try to get it open for guests ASAP. I was disappointed to see them using materials such as synthetic decking to replace the old stuff. They should have used wood to preserve the original aesthetics. One of the owners told me they were going to remove the huge pile of tailing to open up the view between the hotel and the mine elevator. Seems to me like they want to change it so much it is going to lose some of it's original character.

We hiked to the top of Cerro Gordo Peak where the wind was wicked! Awesome views.
 
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