DEATH VALLEY'S Best Kept Secret: China Ranch Date Farm Tour

DEATH VALLEY'S Best Kept Secret: China Ranch Date Farm Tour
Come along as we visit the best date farm in Death Valley: China Ranch. This historical spot on the Old Spanish Trail has been the home of Native Americans for over 8,000 years, was a waypoint on the Mormon Road for the Death Valley pioneers, and today is an ecological oasis in the heart of the desert.

[@artistic-off-road]

Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for checking out the video. If you’re ever in the area, there’s definitely an experience awaiting you at China Ranch. -Eric

[@sarahheiman6628]

I work here! I’m the girl with the ponytail and glasses who served you your date shake. Thanks for visiting and thanks for the video!

[@bamarillo]

Yum! Date shakes sound like the perfect refreshing treat after a hike in the desert. It's interesting that no one knows the real name of the man who started the ranch, and how he mysteriously disappeared. Goes to show the complicated history of Chinese laborers in California and how their contributions have been largely overlooked.

[@artistic-off-road]

Agree, and definitely a reflection of how "history" gets written. I can't help but think it's a fishy story when the guy who owns the nicest property in that area suddenly "disappears". Hard not to be cynical about what might have happened to him given so much of the history of the settlers in these lands. On a positive note, yes-those date shakes are INCREDIBLE! (...and the dates are pretty darn good, too!) Thanks for the comments!

[@2jerrysapp560]

Nice video. Been there several times. Good dates

[@rgg7260]

Great find! thanks for the heads up! been decades since I dipped in the hot mineral springs of Tecopa, now I have China Date farm on my list and Tecopa Brewery as well...

[@artistic-off-road]

So worth it. My pleasure!

[@sgrvtl7183]

Wonderful video❗Thank You for sharing, I find abandoned ruins interesting. Delighted to know about the China Date Ranch. HAPPY NEW YEAR‼

[@FernVega]

Great video, and what an incredible landscape. Must have been paradise for those first settlers and for the famed Ah-Foo. I give China Ranch some credit for keeping the story alive by way of the sign. Wonder if there's any other historical evidence of this person's existence. It's really a fascinating story-albeit mysteriously dark and odd. Thanks for this great tour!

[@artistic-off-road]

Only other "evidence" is in the little museum there-there's an old photo-the only one with an Asian man, dressed in a cook's outfit (I believe)-that surmises that this might be Ah-Foo, or Quon Sing. Yeah, kind of a weird story indeed. 🙏

[@monikalenz2559]

Wow, I didn't know about the T&T. I go to DV often but never have made it to the date ranch or Tacoma. It's still on my bucket list.

[@artistic-off-road]

It's a pretty interesting hub of history, and to see the old rail bed, etc., was pretty mind-blowing. Not to mention the incredible dates / shakes. Do it!

[@jamesgillespy4178]

I have been there twice......Love this place

[@mjohanson1281]

Nice vid.. i wanna go one day

[@lvfire68]

Looks like you stopped short of the slot canyon trail. We haven't been there for several years so your video was a nice reminder that we need to go back soon.

[@artistic-off-road]

I think that trail does an even bigger loop along the river which would be nice to do given more time. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@HalsPals]

I live in Amargosa Valley, NV and drink the water from the Amargosa River daily from our 200' well. Lots of mineral content but it is not at all bitter. Our fencing actually uses many of the railroad ties from the old T&T RR. The ties sold cheaply at the local hardware store decades ago. p.s. Perhaps you should look and see how to pronounce "Tonopah" correctly. :P

[@TightwadTodd]

Beatty as well.

[@josephnash3015]

We stopped there in May of 2023, what a cool place. Thank you for sharing your images and videos.

[@artistic-off-road]

My pleasure!

[@VictoriaHeilman-mo3qb]

Spent the night in those caves by Twenty Mule Team / Borax area , it was a full moon and kinda earie really super cool !!!

[@leaningpol4350]

It would be neat to have you visit the area east of the China Ranch date farm. There is a story in the book, "Loafing Along Death Valley Trails" about some men evading hostile Indians and hiding in a box canyon with a very narrow entrance. I wanted to visit it in 1995 but wasn't equipped properly. I think it is around 35 48 19 N 116 08 46 W on Google Earth. You could also check out the old hotel and opera house in Death Valley Junction. The spot was used in a David Mamet film's climax scene. Cemetery there too.

[@artistic-off-road]

That sounds like a great adventure, and something I'll look into. Always appreciate getting book suggestions!

[@leaningpol4350]

@@artistic-off-road Thanks. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If you find an original copy with pictures, the account is the entry right before the picture section. The slot in the canyon is so narrow the riders dismount to get through.

[@jcc777]

If it was a saloon, you have to wonder how many coins were dropped and filled between those wooden slats on the floor

[@oldsarj]

Haven't had a date shake in over fifty years but I remember them as delicious even though I'm not terribly fond of plain dates.

[@beastybear4499]

Nice ❤

[@artistic-off-road]

🙏

[@mjrtensepian1727]

Hi Lenae!

[@VictoriaHeilman-mo3qb]

Up in Veyo Utah the Spanish Trail was run right up HWY 18

[@Denise23451]

It is beautiful! Watch out for tarantulas!

[@doncollins786]

Great video! BTW it is pronounced Tone ah paw.

[@robertleslie2467]

I’m 66 years old, 5’9, 150 pounds walking around. I take no medications for any thang. I eat 10 or twelve dates every day. They are a superfood. Created by the Lord God I Am.

[@artistic-off-road]

Amazing and agree. Food is medicine. Keep doing what you're doing!

[@markvanderstelt8999]

i smoke 30 packs of Cigarettes a day and i am 80 it just shows how Heathy cigarettes are for you just like your Dates.😄😄

[@ThomasCarrels-to5xe]

Is borax a rare earth mineral?

[@scottprather5645]

Are they pumping groundwater? date palms are surprisingly water intensive

[@virginialangford3416]

As I recall (I used to work at China Ranch) water for the dates came out of cottonwood creek. There is a small reservoir for catchment of seasonal flow and from there it runs into a drip irregation system.

[@jhenderson3037]

I love dates

[@markvanderstelt8999]

me too i go out on them Often.

[@MexiKen516]

Go watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark again. You will recognize China Ranch in the movie.

[@WilliamBusuttil]

9-01-2025. Thank you, more please.

[@raywilcox5211]

you missed the slot canyon by 500 feet, ohter side of the river

[@brakesforsnakes757]

Misleading title, it's not in DV. I hate when people do this with full knowledge that it's not based in reality simply for engagement.

[@richardrichard9953]

Home of Villa Anita and WONDERHUSSY

[@elle-lw1rl]

YEAH... A SALOON!!! 😊... DAT's MO BETTA😂🎉🍜🍺🍻🥃🍸🍹🍾🍷🥡🍢🥠

[@artistic-off-road]

😁

[@mikewhite9818]

Very good for diabetes as well.

[@johnberry1107]

Not a secret if you can take a tour bus with 52 other people. Peoples from LA and San Diego and Vegas that enjoy this fruit and surroundings have been coming here for decades. Thank you. Stay safe.

[@artistic-off-road]

@johnberry1107 Welcome. Do they really do bus tours to China Ranch? Seems like a rough road to traverse in one of those things, but undoubtedly good for business.

[@marshallpoe8087]

It's pronounced 'TOE-na-paw'.

[@virginialangford3416]

Thanks! I used to live in Tecopa and it always drove me nuts when somebody pronounced this wrong.

[@LesterMoore]

I'm thinking.🤔 Maybe, just maybe when asked by visiting travelers how was the living out there the Chinese gent replied, ' What you think? It ah foo." 😄

[@bryontharp5790]

Don't go there in the summer

[@tgood5527]

Is it owned by china? I hope not.

[@virginialangford3416]

When I was there, it was owned by a guy named Bryan Brown who was born in the area. I hope he's still there. The ranch was named after a Chinese man who worked the farm (no dates) back in the 19th century. Bryan's aunt brought the dates who grew them from some seeds she got and planted around her home.

[@markvanderstelt8999]

trump got it from china the same place that makes all his crap .