Exploring lands just off the beaten path “Olancha CA”

Take a trip with us off the path to some areas forgotten long ago.
Don’t forget to enter for a chance to win the Ranger XP1000. We will be giving that away out at the Mammoth motocross races on Labor Day.
Enter to win here:
www.mammothmou...

[@JanisLC]

Great video! Really enjoyed the drone footage. That lake dried up about 100 yrs ago thanks to LA taking all the water from the Owen’s valley. Always interested in the history of that valley and the water rights and how it all came to be. A really facinating story behind it all. Nice to see it with water again.. I hope the coming years snow fall run off can keep water in it .. Thanks again for stopping by and sharing this video!

[@mikesadventures]

The sprinklers were part of the court ordered mitigation plan for LADW to keep the toxic dusts down from the dry Owens Lake bed. LA purchased and drained most of the lake for part of the city water supply aqueduct system. They are still working on engineering methodologies including drought plantings and gravel coverings. When the wind blows it can be harmful and visually hazardous. Dust clouds can even obscure Mt Whitney up near Lone Pine.

[@briane173]

17:00 You essentially have it right. The idea was to irrigate the area with sprinkler water enough to get desert grasses to grow that are able to survive in sand, and creating these grass fields more or less stabilizes the soil and keeps it from getting picked up by wind and throwing dust all around. JUST enough moisture to keep the grass rooted and slightly saturated soil at the surface, and that does a lot to cut down the dust pollution. LADWP was forced by the courts to spend a bunch of money to do something about the toxic dust pollution out here, and that is one of their solutions. There's a couple other projects of different types out across the lakebed, but of course they're now sitting underwater and sorta ruined. As it turns out, the managed vegetation project proved too expensive and required so much water to grow these grasses they've pretty much abandoned that part of the project, so I guess the sprinklers are no longer in use. The remainder of the project is being handled by laying gravel over fabric -- I can't imagine how many thousands of acres of fabric they gotta use for that -- but that's the chief mitigation strategy now.

[@joed.3334]

Such an interesting video. I have passed Olancha a million times on the way to Mammoth and never knew anything was out there. I've seen the jerky place and never stopped but will the next time. It would be cool to see a video with the Rangers out there. Great job!

[@sierraastrology9975]

Lake olancha is great!!!

[@bobdrane5224]

Nice one Ben.You have so much space out there. Love from the UK

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

5:58 Your property in Olancha is close to the Cerro Gordo Road which is a very popular ghost town!

[@harpymcmic]

Great video - I was missing my MML fix. Love the drone footage👍 Be well Ben (Sadie / Bud).

[@davestevens4263]

Owens dry lake was one of the worst dust pollution around, so they started flooding it with water & im sure water sprinklers . Thanks l.a. for taking all the water in the 30’s

[@wildrabbit1095]

Wonderful job with the drone! I wonder about the pollution dust and the brightly colored patches. If they are the pollution? Or just the dust moving? Maybe volcanic glass, hence Vog? Vog is the micro glass from volcanoes that's airborne and hurts your eyes and can really hurt your lungs. The place where you would put the decks for camping? I hope they are on high enough ground to not have a flash flood go through. If that isn't a problem, it looks perfect! Secluded, quiet, wildlife including snakes. I would camp there, if there was a place to get drinkable water not too far away. Again, Thank you for your time and what you recorded. I have never been in such a dessert. Closest I have been to a dessert is the beach on Long Island in the 60's and 70's.

[@-108-]

Another great video! 1 thing that would make them even better is if you would always be conscious of the camera focus. When you shoot through glass, the glass takes the focus & the scene is blurry; And when you shoot out your driver side window, the mirror takes the focus and makes the scene blurry. ;-)

[@schlaut1]

Think a good drinking game could come from everytime you say "actually" :)

[@sierraastrology9975]

Olancha cartago awesome

[@bmepdoc9675]

Tex Watson and another Manson groupie hung out in Olancha just before the entire crew was nabbed up in (relatively) nearby 'Barker Ranch'.

[@kenhoughton7659]

those are bubblers and are part of the owens lake restoration project meant to keep down the dust and restore habitat. Lots of detail online.

[@theathjr]

Pretty sure Ben those sprinklers are for dust control. LADWP program to attempt to grow grasses to mitigate dust. I could be wrong.

[@aceyorba]

Wow almost 100k subs...

[@andytrue8821]

The drone footage was way cool with the different colors due to the minerals. What was the soundtrack?

[@briane173]

16:20 All that water I guess has screwed up the dust mitigation infrastructure they put in place in Owens Lake, which they'll have to spend money to repair after the lake dries up; but you wanna talk about dust pollution mitigation? There's probably NO dust flying around there now. I'm really anxious to see how the southern Owens Valley looks now with water in the lake. I'll be down there next week in fact.

[@GT-mn3bx]

There is blowing dust every where around there not wet.. Eureka dunes area to the NE and Panamint valley to the East.

[@IanWhelan68]

The sprinklers by the lake look like salt beds. They sprinkle water onto the land it evaporates and leaves the salt behind

[@user-rp6nf9sz6t]

Howey Ben...

[@hoagybob]

Do you need 18.5 acres of commercial/residential/multifamily in Ridgecrest? The town really needs your ambitious talent. Right on Bowman/hiway 178 one street east of the Walmart. 850k

[@user-rp6nf9sz6t]

Oops, Howdy.

[@celestall.Rocchick]

Water gas oil. Scientology maybe. It used to be restricted. 😊. Thank you. 😊

[@DavesW]

Be careful with those coyotes and your dogs. Coyotes can take out dogs twice their size in a one on one match. Not all dogs, but certainly the softer retriever breeds.

[@bmepdoc9675]

Absolutely right, Dave. with relative ease.

[@davestevens4263]

That’s not far from dirty socks hotsprings & then Keyler down the rd . The only gas station in olancha has some bomb ass pizza 🍕 every time I go by to mammoth or saleene valley I stop & get a slice . Under $4 a slice & it’s yummy.

[@clydeneclinger5888]

Your tax dollars at work. California Owens Lake dust abatement project

[@elffirrdesign2063]

not your tax dollars as much as part of your DWP water bill

[@charliefite5143]

How long does it take to drive from Mammoth to down to Bakersfield on 395?

[@theathjr]

Depends on if u take 178 or 14 to 58

[@theathjr]

4-5 hours tops

[@dethray1000]

@@theathjr depends if your driving 85 like everybody does during ski season