Feature > Backcountry Adventures
Climb This Fat Hill
Fat Hill Road
story by Angela Titus
photos by Bushducks
The arid climate in the Owens Valley preserves this wooden
aerial tramway tower. Many towers from the old salt tramway remain perched high above the Saline Valley.
Hidden in the remote Inyo Mountains is the ghost town of Cerro Gordo, (Spanish for “Fat Hill”). Although isolated by the barren Death Valley to the east and the formidable Sierra Nevada to the west, Cerro Gordo was once one of the busiest mining districts in California. These mines produced the largest amount of silver and other minerals in the state.
Believe it or not, Mexican prospectors discovered silver there in 1865, but it took two years before anyone staked a claim. Miners from the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, flocked to the region when they got wind of the strike. Cerro Gordo was born and boomed.
Numerous mining ventures sprung up. The largest investors built the steep Old Yellow Grade Toll Road. They charged exorbitant passage fees that bankrupt smaller claims. Although hard to envision today, the large mining companies even developed a ferry system to freight silver over Owens Lake. A violent 1872 earthquake altered the bed of Owens Lake, which is completely dry today.
At the start of the trail, this Historical Marker commemorates the huge amounts of silver and lead ore extracted from the Cerro Gordo and Swansea mining district.
The ghost town of Cerro Gordo is privately owned, but tours are still
available by appointment.
Cerro Gordo is accessible today along a well-graded, steep dirt road, which follows the route of the old toll road from the town of Keeler on California Highway 136. More 4-wheeling excitement can be found by accessing the remote town site from another ghost town, Swansea, also located on Highway 136. Swansea was once the site of three smelters that processed the huge amounts of ore extracted from Cerro Gordo mines. Little remains at the town site except some foundations and a crumbled stone building that was once a stagecoach stop. The thrilling single-lane trail leaves Swansea and heads toward the Inyo Mountains.
This remote, rugged trail climbs into a canyon and follows a moguled, loose, gravelly wash into a corridor through the Inyo Mountains Wilderness. Use caution navigating steep sections of loose shale and narrow, rough segments of shelf road you will encounter climbing to the ridge tops. Summitting the Inyo Range, you are rewarded for your 4-wheeling skills with spectacular views of the Owens Valley, Sierra Nevada, and surrounding landscape.
Some of the few remains at the town site of Swansea.
This old tramway is part of the Morning Star Mine workings, located along the old toll road from Keeler to Cerro Gordo. |
The Old Yellow Grade Toll Road traveled the best possible path through the steep and rugged canyon from Keeler to Cerro Gordo. |
Following the rim of Craig Canyon presents a dizzyingly sheer drop-off and overlook into Saline Valley. Old aerial tramway towers also come into view, standing out starkly on the crests of the hills. They are the well-preserved remains of an ambitious salt works at Saline Lake.
During its time, the 14-mile tramway was the longest in the world. Twenty tons of salt per hour in 300 buckets ran from the salt works in Saline Valley, up 7,000 feet over the Inyo Mountains and down 5,000 feet to Swansea. The salt was reportedly so pure that it was sold at market in an unrefined state.
Wild burros range in the Lee Flat area at the end of Cerro Gordo Road.
The trail winds down off the mountain range and ends at Cerro Gordo ghost town. The town is private property but tours can be arranged by calling ahead.
This information and much more is available in the whole Backcountry Adventures series of guidebooks. These books, which cover Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Northern and Southern California, help 4-wheelers locate and navigate the best 4-wheeling destinations in the western states. Trail directions with GPS coordinates, maps, and color photos ensure you’ll never get lost. Need-to-know historic accounts of ghost towns, mines, and other amazing sites help ensure unforgettable trail rides. Find these trail guides at www.4wheelparts.com, 4Wheel Parts retail stores, and local bookstores and map stores. For more information, call 866-SUV-TRIP.
Buy the Southern California Backcountry Adventures Trail Guide from www.4wheelparts.com.