So I have seen the Charcoal Kilns in pictures and had been wanting to see them. But every time I head to Death Valley area I’m on the other side of the mountains. So on this trip, I made sure that I was going to be able to see them. So I left San Diego, drove north up the 15. Drove until one of my favorite exits. Exit for highway 395.
So it doesn’t matter how you go to get there you will have to drive on a dirt road that looks like the following picture.
I thought it was so awesome when I came to the point where I could see the Charcoal Kilns. They have always looked so cool to me. So I was super excited.
So you will see in the picture that right in front of the Charcoal Kilns there is a nice little parking lot that you can park in. They also have a bathroom which I didn’t use so I don’t know how clean it was or what it was like. But at least there’s one on site if you need to go.
So what can I say about the Charcoal Kilns, to me they were awesome. They were built in the middle of nowhere back in 1877 by the Modock Consolidated Mining Company. They are massive thick rock structures. The kilns produced charcoal for the Modock Mine smelter which was about 20 miles to the west. They created the coal by filling the kilns with Pinon pine logs and fired them. The burning of the wood would reduce the wood to charcoal. Which would take about 6-8 days. Then they would have to wait about 5 days for it to cool. After all of this, they would take the charcoal by wagon to the mine.
So after I checked out the structures I decided to walk around the area. When I walked behind the Charcoal Kilns I saw this rock Circle. I don’t know what it is if you know please comment below.
So after you get done looking at these structures and walking around. When you decide to finally drive off you’re going to have another fabulous view of all the mountains surrounding this beautiful area.
If you have been to the Charcoal Kilns please comment below about what you thought about it when you saw it.
