Craig Canyon is one of the most remote and least-visited hikes in the Inyo Mountains, just outside Death Valley. Hidden at the bottom is a five-stamp mill from the 1880s—one of the few still standing in such an inaccessible location. This guide covers the history, route, and what to expect if you attempt the hike.

They tell a lot of stories in the old west. Most of them, when you run them down, turn out to be just that: stories. Whispers and legends, lies and dreams, tropes and tricks of memory dressed up as history. As the caretaker of an old mining town, I’ve heard most of them by now,…