Trip Report: Panamint Valley
by heathervescent
So last week I mentioned I was going on a quest to contact Nuri Alexander, aka The Blue Scout and special colleague to Carlos Castaneda. Her body was recently identified, although it was found several years ago.
I embarked on the trip with a colleague and we headed North from Los Angeles mid-day on Thursday arriving in the Panamint Valley around dusk. Our first stop was the mountain of strata on the northeast side of the valley. We camped halfway up the canyon. Our plan was to locate the spot Nuri might have jumped from and ask her some burning questions.
By the time we finished setting up a basic camp, the sun had set and twilight was descending on the valley. My colleague and I set off on a hike to explore the surrounding mountainside. We were camped near a large wash in a canyon made of fairly dark rock. Rocks and boulders had washed down this area and the only path was in the large wash. We saw some faint Jeep tracks and the remnant of an old mine, but beyond that, there was not a trace of civilization.
As we hiked up the meandering wash it got darker and darker. The mountain rose in dark jagged angles on all sides. We became extremely tired walking in the wash. It felt like we were trudging through rushing water flowing the opposite direction. The banks of the wash rose over 15 feet high in some places and we could see where large chunks had collapsed under water flow.
The wash became wide and rocky as it increased in elevation and we stopped to rest on a large black rock. We sat talking, wondering what Nuri felt as she came to this place. Putting ourselves in her shoes, would she have brought any water or food? Would she have hiked at night? Did she know exactly where she was going? Ourselves, we had brought a small amount of water and flashlights. We stared up into the sky, looking at the pinpricks of light. The mountains surrounding us blocked out much of the sky, and we could only see a fraction of the millions of stars above us. We were deep into the canyon and it was pitch dark. We decided to head back to our camp.
Although it was easier to hike down the wash, it took a lot of focus to not trip or stumble over the terrain. We alternated leading, creating a meandering path, mostly following the wash. Although it was dark, we waited to use our flashlights. The further down the mountain and closer to the truck the more we wanted to veer to our right - away from the wash. I had a moment of anxiety. The rocky terrain looked exactly the same. What if we had already passed the truck? What if we followed a different wash? Even with these anxious thoughts, I was calm. I knew that we’d find the truck or some other situation would present itself to us. After some twists and turns we caught site of the reflectors and headed back to make a fire.
The next morning we rose early. The sun was a glowing orb above the overcast sky. I made some breakfast and we talked about our plans for the day. From our spot, we could look out across the valley directly to Panamint Dunes, where Nuri’s body was found. But our spot just didn’t feel right to me. I felt like we were in the wrong place. If we wanted to contact Nuri, I felt like we had to go to a different spot.
On the way to Death Valley, we stopped at a ranger station to buy a map. The ranger was a friendly person and showed us the local desert tortoise, which had just come out of its burrow for the first time this year. As we were looking at maps, the ranger started to tell us about a rehabilitated miner’s cabin and an abandoned city on top of a mountain. He detailed the route to us and told us about the roads and precautions to take. We were intrigued, but not necessarily planning to go there.
So in the morning light, my colleague and I are trying to decide where to go. I decide to throw the I-Ching, to see what it says. And it comes back with very specific directions. #46: Pushing upwards with moving line #3, changing it to #7: The Army. Rarely have I had such a literal answer from the I-Ching. #46 told us to find the great man, to go south, up into an empty city. There, apparently, we’d find the Army.
We immediately packed up camp and drove down the canyon, south through the valley to the Miner’s Cabin. At the turn off for the road, in the middle of the valley, there was a person standing on a small hill, flying a kite. We turned off the pavement and started to make our way closer to the nearby mountains. The road took us through a small set of hills and into a second valley. At a crossroads we decided to check out the Miner's cabin first. As we arrived I saw a man, and my friend and I joked that he must be the great man. There were two groups of people at the cabin. I explored the area as my friend made an entry into the logbook.
There was a group of 5 people standing by two 4x4 vehicles. I went out to ask them if they knew the way to the empty city and found out they were going there. The leader of the group, was the person my friend and I had joked was the great man. We joined them and caravanned up the mountain.
When we arrived to the top, there was a long flat area and I walked to the edge of it. There were the remnants of a small fire and amazing sweeping view of the entire Panamint Valley. Then I heard the noises. Great rockets of sound blasting through the air. Jets from the nearby military base were practicing manuevars in the valley. We looked to the sky, but could not find them. It was only when we looked down, from our place on top of the mountain, that we were able to watch the jets fly through the valley, veering off to the left or right or straight up into the sky. Here was the Army the I-Ching told us about. I had a very strong feeling that this was the place and my colleague and I decided we would stay the night.
We built a secure fire pit on the edge of the precipice, which was extremly windy. If I was looking for a place to jump off into infinity, this would most certainly be it.
We started the fire well before dusk and focused our intention to contact Nuri. Just before sunset, we attempted to contact her. She was short in her responses. When we asked if Nuri was available, she said “hi”. Then we asked if she made it to the third attention (a question burning on many minds) she alluded to being in a different attention, perhaps the fifth or sixth. When we asked if she jumped alone, she responded “We”. When we asked if she had anything else to tell us, she said “No”. We had nothing else to ask her, so we thanked her and wished her well. Extremly calm and yet excited at the same time.
We then continued to stoke up our fire long into the night and watch the fires burn on the mountains across the valley from us.
| 04/04/06
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