Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Thx for posting.

VSC safety feature saved me from a similar fate in DV in '09. Learned a lesson!

 

And many times, and this may be one of them, where people think they are going to correct while headed for a berm - but no. A berm is a great launch ramp for a barrel roll. I was taught while I was a test driver for GM, that in this situation, it's better to launch than it is to correct. - They would suggest that we steer so that we, 'jump the curb.'

Every situation is different. Getting in above our heads? That is very easy. Stay safe.

 

It was ONE TIME damnit

 

I'm just talking in general. But at least you were able to make the necessary corrections and pulled it off without barrel rolling us off those huge berms on either side. Not bad considering you were at almost 40mph going into that almost 90* turn with a g-out!

 

At least my record is roll-over free

 

one roll-over and too many flops to count, not counting the 2 flops that landing on the roof.

 

and I was driving a completely appropriate speed no matter what he says

 

So irresponsible

 

Did a quick trip up to hang out with a work buddy at Dumont Dunes and then screwed around DV for a couple days. Everything seems to be rolling fine in the rear, just need an AAL or something so I'm not on the bumps all the time.

After spending the night at Dumont drove up Sperry Wash passed through the Talc Mines and headed down to the southern border of DVNP.


Stayed at the cabin just outside the boundary of the park and screwed around with the drone over the evening. Fucking thing dropped right out of the sky after switching it over to sport mode. Luckily I found it, all the propellers were damaged but after replacing them it seemed to be running fine.


Someone was feeling festive and put up some battery powered christmas lights in and outside the cabin.



Over the stay at the cabin I realized I didn't bring any way to conveniently transfer gas from the Scepters on the roof rack to the tank, didn't really have a plan anyway, so headed up through Furnace Creek gassed up, pass through Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs and went out to an unnamed overlook viewing Saline Valley. View is pretty damn good from there but not very photogenic. You can see Saline Valley Road & Lippincott Road Junction to the Northeast and Racetrack Playa in the background. Directly north you can see most of the rest of the valley and Hunter Mountain to the southeast.


Leaving the overlook.


Stopped another cabin on the way out to see how it was holding up over the years, people seem to be taking pretty good care of them. I wonder how long it will be before some idiot ends up burning them down.

 

All great spots. How were the temps in those areas you visited?

Stovepipe always has the best gas prices compared to Furnace Creek and PSR.

 

knock on wood

 

Unless the ones burning them are from a government agency. If it's not there anymore it doesn't need management.

 

Stay safe out there guys. Rolled up on this yesterday on Saline Valley Rd.
The two people made it out safe, but I'm not sure if they found their dog.

 

I hope you are wrong, but prolly not a good chance it survives if they didn't find him the first day. My buddy and I spotted and tracked it (German Shepard) but we may have done more harm than good and scared him off.

 

Looks like a scary crash. Hope they find their dog.

 

How on earth are they OK? The roof is completely collapsed!

That'll teach Inyo County to do such a nice job grading the road. Leave it washboard hell to protect morons from themselves!

Thanks for posting - we can all probably use frequent reminders to slow down.

 

On a related note temps in Panamint and Death Valley proper were perfect on Tues/Wed/Thurs for us. Not too cold at night around 1000 ft in the FlipPac and midday at the Charcoal Kilns was surprisingly pleasant.

Crowded as effing hell though. Haven't been to DV between Xmas and New Years before and likely will never do that again. It was like wildflower bad. I thought with the Ranch torn down there'd be fewer people but I was wrong.

 

You are wise beyond your words...!

 

This type of siphone works great for transferring gas from the scepters without removing them if they are on the same side as filler.

 

Temps weren't bad even up on the overlook at around 6500ft. Usually the wife gets up and starts the truck to warm up but she didn't bother, so it wasn't too bad even for her. I thought it was going to be windy as hell up at the overlook but the evening winds died down and it was freakishly quiet and still the entire night.