Mr. Farabee from Moab, Utah started renting jeeps in Death Valley this winter. It's a great idea because so many people fly into Vegas and rent a cute, little sports car to bring to Death Valley. That is great for the first day or two while seeing the highlights from paved roads, but there's a lot more to do from a dirt road in Death Valley than a paved road. We also receive quite a few fly-in guests that have no way to get around the park, so it's great for them as well. Andrew and I rented one a couple of weeks ago for our birthdays in March. I have always dreamed of having a jeep and well, Andrew has had one for a while but it doesn't always run. We decided to go explore a four-wheeling route that we had never done before. We had an awesome time as usual!
The route we drove starts from Ballarat, a ghost town in the Panamint Valley. You can make a loop out of it via Rogers Pass, but lots of snow stopped us from going all the way. We didn't have any of our four-wheeling gear, chains, tow-strap, come-a-long, shovel, so we weren't comfortable pushing the limits. Plus, its a rental.
What a blast we had! :)
Going up and over the old mining areas. 
Now, we are headed down into Pleasant Canyon. This part of the road was definitely the most nerve wracking. It was so steep and narrow, and straight down.
On the other side of the canyon from us were tons of sheep trails.
There was a lot of water in the canyon and a lot of vegetation.
A neat little waterfall.
Tons of those single, yellow barrel cactus everywhere.
A mine shaft at the bottom of a quartz vein.
We discovered this awesome cabin a ways up the canyon. The book doesn't mention it at all, but did mention some other cabins that were not too appealing looking.
It is kept very clean inside. There is a log book that shows people stay in it pretty regularly. It has a wood burning stove, and if we would have brought an extra car battery and propane tank, we could have had lights and a gas stove.
It has an awesome front porch with a picnic table on it looking down into the Panamint Valley and across at the Inyo Mountains.
After we were forced to turn around due to snow, we decided to spend the night in the cabin.
This tub full of water and algae was found further up the canyon. Interesting. I guess it was originally was put there for cattle or mules.
Some how we got on this side road that went way up the side of the mountain. We kept on going because we couldn't believe that it continued going. It eventually lead us past some old mines and we stopped because the road got crazy steep and narrow. So, we walked up it a ways more but still never came to the end of it.
These are the old mines that are caving in.
We had an awesome time, and were just amazed at still finding new, exciting things in the park that we have never done or knew about.