California, 5th November, Ballarat to Sequoia, via Trona
Our aim was to get eventually to Sequoia National Park, hopefully before it got too late in the day. We drove back Emigrant Canyon Road and exited the park through Panamint Springs. Here we saw our last glimpse of the valley, lost in a heat haze. it was nice to see a green tree after the barren hills. Driving south along the 178 we passed a sign for Ballarat, another 'ghost town'. We didn't like to pass it by so drove up the road to find a collection of rough housing, mainly inhabited and a sign inviting us to stay. We had seen lorries going backwards and forwards under the mountain so guessed that some sort of mining or quarrying activity was being undertaken. Unfortunately we found their notice rather scary as it said we were free to buy their drink and use their guns, so we turned back onto the main road. The first picture is the 178 going south and the next the road up to Ballarat. Our next stop was the town of Trona, a settlement based...