Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I think we should let the gun thing go and move on to the ultimate beauty of the place.

 

What if you stumble across an illegal grow site or meth lab with the operators still present, armed, and potentially hostile to anyone observing their behavior? Like an old fashioned wild west shootout. I sure would feel better carrying than not in that circumstance. Same way I feel better in mountain lion territory. You better believe that I'm going to defend myself given the opportunity. I don't want to kill any wild animals but if it comes down to it do you just become cat fodder?

 

Here's a screwed up truck with a great story behind it...from the northwest part of the park.

 

2nd that

 

When it comes to defending my life or the life of my family: Better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6.

That's a truck? How far did it fall?

 

This wasn't in DV (I was working in Orange County), but mountain lions can be... interesting to find...

Mountain Lion by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

I found out it was there by the sticks cracking on the game trail that I was using about 25 feet behind me. That photo was with my phone and isn't cropped or zoomed in at all. Don't listen to headphones while you're out wandering around, folks! That could've ended differently had I not been listening...

 

Fell from the top of the roadway up to the left of the truck. The driver lived to share the story and died at age 98 in Petaluma.

That "Oh Shit!" moment when you find it there in the pic. I scanned and scanned then read your comment on the bottom of the pic. CRAP!

 

Happy camper

 

Haha, everyone has that little jump reaction when they spot it. The best part was I did everything you're supposed to, making myself big and yelling as loud as I could, and it just slunk off and disappeared in the brush next to me. I noped on out of there and went straight up the steep, eroding slope next to me and was fine. No need to continue that interaction!

 

Ha! Good for him. That's the epitaph I want on my gravestone: "Damn that son-of-a-bitch was hard to kill!"

This is why I always carry when we're hiking or hunting. It's actually the only time I OC. Up here in Prescott we get mountain lion, even the occasional black bear.

Of course, you could always just hit the kitty with a cast iron frying pan.

 

Wassup guys. Ive been to DV 3 times and twice camping. Once @emigrant and the other at the racetrack?
What is another good spot not near the Masses?

 

Holy crap! That's insane!

I'll never carry a gun for wildlife defense but maybe I'll start packing my cast iron... just tuck it between my back and my backpack, right?

 

Last Year while at the Geologist Cabin we came across donkey that had a stillborn fetus hanging halfway out of it's vagina, and it was obvious the adult donkey had been in this condition for sometime due to it's emaciated condition. A mercy killing was suggested and debated over a great length, but ultimately it was decided to let nature take it's natural course. It was a tough decision to make but was agreed upon by everyone. One of the talking points that came up several times was that discharging a firearm would be considered a negligent act inside the Park and would the Park Rangers justify it?

 

To put in my 2 cents:

It's incorrect to say one can discharge a firearm if they feel their life is in danger. You can if a "reasonable person" would. Some people are deathly afraid of dogs yet their shooting of a stray dog, for no other reason other they were deathly afraid of it, would probably be ruled unreasonable. So if you are caught shooting something and say "I was in fear for the lives or great bodily harm of myself and those around me", it can help you, but someone else will determine if you were reasonable.

If you feel the need to kill snakes for their potential harm, then you should put a lot of effort in to identifying snakes you may encounter. Remember they live there, you are a visitor.

 

To get a bit back on topic - yes!

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The southern area is on my short list too.

 

Except for one time with my family, coming in from the south after a few days at Joshua Tree, I’ve never been south of Badwater. Thanks for the suggestions for the south ... need to get down there. I’m thinking of a solo trip in February; the long term forecasts seem pretty dry so risk of getting snowed in at Saline seems low.

 

Saline is northwest but if it's dry the whole park will be accessible.

 

Well, since Death Valley has been converted to a National Park now, instead of a National Monument, you can actually camp anywhere that camping is not restricted. The NPS took down the backcountry roads map (it's my personal belief that they do things like this because they don't actually want people driving and camping on the backcountry roads, but I digress) but you can still find a copy of it here. You can camp anywhere that isn't highlighted in yellow. Some places I've camped in the past that have been fun have been Chloride City, several different places down in Butte Valley, including Russell's Camp and Stella's Place, and this last trip we camped at Eureka Dunes and at the top of Coyote Canyon.

 

That'd be fine by me! Put signs on all of them telling folks certain death awaits them if they continue!

But anyway another reason it may have been taken down is that the regulations written on it are no longer accurate. In an unexpected twist the regulations are actually more permissive now! The map sets a two-mile limit from paved and "day use" roads and the new regulation is down to just one mile.