Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I am open to all options for base camping, and I certainly need to have backup plans if places are full upon arrival, etc.

The campsites next to mesquite flat dunes, is Stovepipe Wells campground as best I can tell by looking at maps. Mesquite Springs Campground is in the north, close to Ubehebe crater, and Scotty's castle. I will give Stovepipe a look when we pass by. It is pretty central to the park and would give more options for us like visiting Badwater.

Switching subjects now, I was looking at the DEVA NPS PDF maps that DoorDing linked to on my Nexus 7, and I discovered that Adobe Reader has a "night mode." I like it a lot! The maps are slow to redraw on my device, but I suspect it's the way the PDFs were constructed.

 

Those mesquite flat sand dunes are a lot of fun for kids in the winter when it's cool enough.

 

We were there on January 1. It was like 70 degrees.

 

Wow, I did not know that place existed! Looks interesting! Elevation there is 8,200'.

 

I'd have to agree with this

 

One day, I'll have to take the Tacoma to Colorado. Looks good!

Speaking of elevation, Death Valley has Telescope Peak (11,043') in the Panamint mountains. I've not yet hiked up there, threatened to a few times, but have yet to make it. There is a trail from Mahogany Flat campground 14 mi round trip. And for those who love brutality and punishment, you can hike it from Shorty's well (-262'), for a net gain of 11,311'. I may try that one day.

 

I plan on being there in June!! Can't wait, I camped in Silverton last May and fell in love with the area.

 

Is the road to mahogany flat back open? It was closed last winter.

 

We went in late June and a lot of the trails were still closed due to snow (alpine loop was open). you might want to consider moving the trip to July or august

 

I have to kind of balance the time I go. I am going thru Silverton on my way to Phoenix for two weeks and it will be way too hot in July or August. I know it will be chilly in the Rockies in June but it won't be too hot in Phoenix. It dropped to 31 degrees one night in Silverton in May. It was cold but not unbearable, at least June will be a little warmer. I was there toward the end of May, I plan next year being there the end of June. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

Yes it is open.

It took a while because they are down to one heavy equipment operator in the area, seems that a couple of summers ago, an experienced driver left without water and radio, ran out of gas and left the equipment to get help. He didnt make it.

 

I like that map.

I see Skidoo, there , there is no town left but if you go past where the town was there are some really cool mines, they are all covered by grates but some go straight down over 100 feet. and one is a long trench that is held open by logs, very cool to see. I will find some pics

here, you can see the blue glow stick we dropped down:


And this one is from a web site, they are both covered by grates and safe to walk on and you can look straight down them.

 

I remember the story. It was September 19, 2013 and it was Chuck Caha age 64. It was the case of the dreaded double failure, with the fatal decision to leave the vehicle and walk on foot in triple digit heat.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/little-things-went-awry-road-workers-death-death-valley

Great pictures, would love to check it out. I've been in the area, camped at Wildrose...

 

I missed a few details, I got it second hand from a bartender in Panamint springs. Thanks for the link.

 

You should have thrown a couple beer cans down there while you were at it

 

I know, it was one of the 'adults' that did that. we had a lecture on littering after that event...but it was cool watching it go so far down.
We picked up a lot of trash in the area, we always do, but I hate being part of the problem.

 

Pack out more than you brought in! You can't control other people's actions unfortunately.

 

Hey Matt wanna do a Death Valley New Years trip? Huh? Huh?

 

Possibly, what days?

 

Heading down New Years Eve then spending a couple days down there.