Barker Ranch Traditional Cache

Although the ranch is technically just inside the boundaries of Death Valley NP, I don't think the NPS wants anything to do with it, so it may actually be under the jurisdiction of the BLM. There is definately alot of garbage, gun shells, and other signs of vandalism over the recent years. Due to this fact, I seriously doubt park rangers will remove this cache as they have with other caches in Death Valley. People have been known to camp there as well, and we saw another group of off-roaders leaving just as we entered.

The ranch can be reached from 2 directions:

- From the east via Death Valley NP on the Warm Springs Canyon Rd.
- From the west via Goler Wash near the town of Ballarat.

Either way is very rough and will require a good 4WD vehicle with high clearance. I don't mean an AWD SUV; we made it all the way through (from Death Valley to Ballarat) in a 2001 Chevy 2500 HD, and we should have had a jeep. Parts of both trails are very rocky and require a short wheelbase and spotter. USGS Topo maps of this area will be a big help, and the National Geographic Illustrated map of Death Valley (you can get this anywhere in the park) has the actual road to the ranch on it, but most other maps do not.

The cache itself is located within the boundaries of the ranch. It is a small coffee can that originally had the following contents: - Red LED light thing
- Extreme fridge magnet
- Small Canadian Flag
- 25c guilder coin from Holland
- Pikachu spinner toy
- 1 Pen
- Notepad to be used as logbook I apologize for not putting in a proper logbook or cooler stuff; it was sort of last minute. I also didn't have a Geocache information print-out, so if you plan to visit this cache maybe a new logbook and the prinout would be great.

Good luck, and do a bit of research on Manson and the ranch before your visit, as it is quite the place.

- Jabber