HikeArizona.COM

Keeping up on one of my favorite places. Sad news--
Several articles and discussions on a nurse out of Las Vegas who took her 11 yo son on a driving, camping trip in Death Valley a few weeks ago. She did not have a map and was relying on a GPS in her Jeep. She took a long and sort of remote dirt road ( I've been on it) that took her towards the edge of the China Lake military base. The Jeep got stuck in deep sand, and she apparently hiked a little to try and get cell service, was unsuccessful, then waited it out. Unfortunately by the time she was found her son had died, probably of heat exposure as the temps were in the 115 range.
I don't know all the facts but again people need to plug in what is between their ears and not some computer telling them what they can do.

Part 2
Historic Barker Ranch, with a history all it's own, but linked with Charles Manson and his merry band of psycho idiot killers, was burned down sometime in May. It was a pretty site with some fruit trees and in a nice canyon with a spring I have visited there several times. Probably arson as the ranch site is well known with the 4wd crowd that tours Death Valley. Supposedly the park service is toying with restoring it.

Sad to hear this ..

Barker Ranch is a mystical place. Especially for those of us in the age group to remember the Charles Manson era and lucky enough to have had an opportunity to visit this still intact ranch location where Manson was captured Oct 12, 1969. I recall my first visit in March'93 to this very remote spot in DV. The fruit trees were blooming, the spring was running, the inside of the ranch house was in order with all original furniture, canned fruit-vegetables still on the pantry shelves and a clean, red-checkered table cloth on the dining room table. The sign-in book on the table had indicated a week earlier that a couple had spent their honeymoon there. I had heard that the "family" followers of Manson periodically made return visits to Barker Ranch to keep it maintained. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme who was a devoted Manson follower and spent 30 years behind bars (now 60 years old) for trying to assassinate former President Gerald Ford, was just released from prison last Friday-8/14/09. I think she would plan to revisit Barker Ranch. I had always thought the ranch was just outside the DV Park boundary back in 1993, but I do hope the park service or another group can restore the ranch house, but it will never again be the same place I once had the opportunity to visit..

(for anyone else interested, here is a Charles Manson pic profile of all original "family" members: http://crime.about.com/od/murder/ig/The-Manson-Family/ )

I will be ordering this soon. Play the trailer it is a fine piece of work IMHO.


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