Panamint Valley

Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus Range and Slate Range, and west of the Panamint Range in eastern California, in the western United States. The northern end of the valley is in Death Valley National Park. The valley lies in a north-south direction, and stretches from the Panamint Dunes in the north to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in San Bernardino County in the south. The valley is approximately 65 miles (105 km) in length, and is more than 10 miles (16 km) wide in the Hall Canyon area.

Features

* The ghost town of Ballarat is located in the Panamint Valley about three miles east of Trona Road, near Happy Canyon.
* A radar station is located near the town of Ballarat at the south end of the valley.
* Multiple sites along SR 190, which crosses the north part of the valley, provide excellent vantage points to view low altitude military aircraft operations.
* Barker Ranch, the last hideout of Charles Manson and the site at which he was arrested in 1969, is located at the southern end of the valley off Goler Canyon Road.

Military Use

The airspace over Panamint Valley is part of the US military's vast R-2508 Special Use Airspace complex [http://r2508.edwards.af.mil/index.html] . The Panamint Military Operating Area (MOA) covers the entire valley north to Hunter Mountain from 200' AGL up to FL180 with an ATCAA located above the same are from FL180 up to FL600. The airspace is primarily used by military aircraft from Nellis AFB, Edwards AFB, NAWS China Lake, and NAS Lemoore for high and low altitude mission training. Military aircraft utilize radio communications on 291.6MHz or 120.25MHz while operating in the Panamint MOA; however, military aircraft throughout the R-2508 complex often use 315.9MHz when conducting low altitude operations below 1500' AGL.

References

*
* [http://r2508.edwards.af.mil/maj_work_areas/chap4-4.html R-2508 Panamint MOA/ATCAA Operating Procedures]
* [http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/mar/stories/Goler2.html Panamint Valley Areas of Interest]