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Goler Wash, Mengel Pass

1 Review
Location Trona, CA
Rating Difficult,
Length 11.8mi
Time 3hrs

Vehicle Types

Overview

See Charles Manson Hideout and cross into Butte Valley.

This trail is a real backcountry adventure; you never know what to expect (see rating below). Features along the route include Newman Cabin, Lotus Mine, Manson Hideout and Mengel’s grave. End of trail reaches Butte Valley, where you can explore a network of roads that lead to three amazing cabins, shown in Trail #47. Street-legal vehicles only in Death Valley N. Park. Park pass required.

Rating

Difficult
Trail Ratings Defined

There’s one rocky section descending the north side of Mengel Pass that will always be difficult for stock vehicles. The balance of the trail ranges between easy to impassable, depending upon recency of maintenance. We drove through while the trail was being graded. The graded portion was very easy, but the ungraded portion was extremely difficult due to major washouts (see photo above).

Stats

Length

11.8mi

Time

3hrs

High Point

4,292ft

Best Time To Go

October-April

Current Conditions

(760) 384-5400, (760) 786-3200BLM, Ridgecrest Field Office,Death Valley National Park

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Reviews

Rate this trail on a scale of 1 to 5.


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Whitney Wyatt says

This may be a little out of date, but since no one else has even reviewed this I thought I would drop this. Did this in November of 2024 with my boy going from death valley/Butte valley side to Panamint valley. The 200 yd climb to hit the top of the pass and Carl Mengels grave was almost impassable with our lifted Jeep and lockers front and rear. At the top it was 100% sidewall grip on the right side with me pushing as hard as I could on the roof of the Jeep as my boy gunned it the final 20 ft that got us over without disaster. Funniest thing of the whole episode though, was the full size RAM pickup truck full of dudes who were either drunk or just severely challenged that we ran into at the bottom of the climb who were contemplating the best line for them to hit with their 3-ton, 30 ft long ocean liner. 😄 They were actually the nicest of guys though, and they filmed our whole butt-puckering ascent and later emailed it to us. Proving once again that you always meet the best people in the remotest regions. After that it was mostly good, except for one pretty long stretch of severely washed out whoopty doos in the descent after the barker ranch turn off. Hi clearance and real good approach a departure angles were key here. All that being said, this is one of the most iconic and beautiful routes in all of Death Valley or Panamint Valley history, And if you're real desert rat, this has to be on your bucket list.
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