Death Valley - Barker Ranch

That sure looks like a very exciting trip. I'm going to try it one of these days if I ever head into California again.

"Manson and his followers were at this remote location called Barker Ranch on suspicion of auto theft. Police did not immediately connect them to the murders.



A little about Barker Ranch...

The Inyo County sheriff department, California Highway Patrol, and National Park Service law enforcement captured the group in raids on October 10 and October 12, 1969. Manson was caught hiding under the bathroom vanity. At the time of his arrest they were unaware of the magnitude of their find. They wanted to prosecute the persons responsible for vandalism within Death Valley National Monument (the monument and additional surrounding area was taken over as a National Park 1994) further north, unaware that they had a mass murder suspect and his followers.

Barker Ranch is located in a rock and boulder filled valley in the Panamint Range. It is only accessible by sandy, primitive and rugged roads. Streams feed this little valley and provide much vegetation. There is a small one room guest house located to the side of the main house. There is also a makeshift swimming pool (this was probably a cistern to store water from the spring) made from cement and rock boulders towards the back of the property.

Today the remnants of the ranch belong to National Park Service. Due to a fire in May 2009, most of the structure has been destroyed with only the concrete and rock portion of the cabin still standing.

Barker Ranch was built by "recreational ranchers" who moved to the desert to enjoy the solitude and simplicity of living far from civilization.

Butch and Helen Thomason moved to the area in the 1930s to try their hand at gold mining. Around 1940 they constructed a small cabin and out building, with electricity provided by a windmill and generator, and drinking water from a nearby spring.

In 1955 the ranch was sold to Jim and Arlene Barker, who moved to the desert from Oklahoma. To accommodate their family gatherings, the Barkers enlarged the house and constructed more out buildings.

Latest news...

(CNN) After 19 denials, Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten is a step closer to being free, after a parole board panel recommended her release, a spokesman for the California department of corrections said Thursday.

The full Board of Parole Hearings will review the decision during the next four months, then could send the case to California Gov. Jerry Brown, according to corrections spokesman Luis Patino.

Brown will have 30 days to decide whether to approve or deny the recommendation.

Van Houten and others were convicted for the 1969 murders of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. Van Houten was sentenced to death in 1971 but one year later the death penalty was overturned. Her first conviction was overturned, too, because her lawyer died before that trial ended.

She was tried twice more (one ended in a hung jury) and in 1978 was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1994, Van Houten described her part in the killings in a prison interview with
"I went in and Mrs. LaBianca was laying on the floor and I stabbed her," said Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the murders. "In the lower back, around 16 times."

Van Houten reportedly has apologized to the LaBianca family.

She was not directly involved in the killings of five people at the home of film director Roman Polanski, near Hollywood. Among the victims that night was Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.

Van Houten, 66, was convicted of being involved in the conspiracy of those killings and for the murders of the LaBiancas the next night.

She has been described as a model prisoner who worked with other inmates and who earned a college degree.

Leslie Van Houten, Manson Family member, recommended for parole - CNN.com

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https://thedesertfiles.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/barker-ranch-last-hideout-of-charles-manson/

puddle hunter said:

Going down Mengel Pass is way easier than going up!

BTW, what camper shell is that? I need to get one soon, and yours looks clean.

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Yes it is way easier going down. We had that exact discussion about "what if". I dont think I would have continued on.

Its a LEER, I actually have been contemplating selling. Love the utility of it but just have a feeling Im going to sling it off one time on an excursion. Happy to show it to you to see if you want to buy a new one.

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jdruzik said:

That sure looks like a very exciting trip. I'm going to try it one of these days if I ever head into California again.

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I highly recommend it. I cant imagine how the hell they got a bus up the waterfall (graded now). Just a great trip.

Looks like a badass trip. Was in the area for work but I wasn't about to take a rental Camry on an off-road expedition.