Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I suppose a trip report on a DV trip counts as an "Adventure". Write up in my build thread:

Southern Death Valley

Teaser photo:

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Here is a place to buy some books for your South-West Adventures incl DV of course.... https://trackandtrailpublications.com

 

For those of you with Death Valley experience, is it feasible to make it to the racetrack playa and back in a single day from either the Ubehebe crater via racetrack road through tea kettle junction OR from Panamint Springs over south pass? I really want to try and find a way to see the playa without having to drag the trailer along with me. It may be a pipe dream though that’ll have to be reserved for a future trip.

 

Thats what I was afraid of...

Is the racetrack playa something that I will be kicking myself if I dont make time to go see it? I will have 3 full days within the park to explore. Trying to strike a balance between seeing a lot of cool stuff and burning myself and my family out driving around to see all the things.

 

There are campsites at both the ubehebe crater and Panamint springs which is why I mentioned both of those in my scenario question. I would want to leave the trailer at either of those campsites and go in to the racetrack playa and back in a day.

 

So far I am thinking of coming into the park from Beatty, NV through Titus Canyon and check out the two ghost towns along the way. Once through Titus canyon I would camp at mesquite springs campground. The following day would be checking out the crater and heading to the playa and back to camp at mesquite again. Then I’d probably head south along the paved roads to the stovepipe wells/furnace creek area to check out the more populated and touristy parts of the park like bad water basin. I would like to check out some of the dunes while in the park too if anyone has any suggestions on which ones are the coolest? Eureka dunes look sweet, but they are out in the middle of nowhere!

 

I say go with your plan to come through Titus and camp at Mesquite. Hit Ubehebe and The Racetrack in one day. From there you could do Eureka out and back the next day. From mesquite it isn't that far. The dirt road can be washboarded but if you do The Racetrack it won't be a big deal. If you don't do Eureka you could camp at Furnace Creek and hit several of the touristy parts which I'd say should be seen on a first trip. Get up to Dantes View and Zabriske too. Then back to camp. There are dunes in DV proper near Stovepipe (cheapest gas) which will satisfy the want to see dunes.

Camping at Panamint Springs Resort offers a lot too. Good food, showers, and close enough to get to see a lot of stuff. Maybe PSR for a second trip but it is an option. There are dunes in Panamint Valley too. Not sure how much snow is up on Hunter Mountain but it can get dicey up there with snow or mud. Then coming into Hidden Valley there is an area on the road that is silt when dry. When wet I wouldn't want to try it personally. With the right conditions it is a good way into The Racetrack.

 

The Saline Valley road south of the hot springs was in great shape as of 3 weeks ago. There is no snow on Hunter Mtn at all. Mesquite campground was closed from storm damage but it's not listed on the website anymore so you might want to verify if it is reopened. Dantes View is closed for road construction.

You can pretty easily make if from Mesquite to Panamint Springs in a day. If you take your time and sight see it's probably 7 hours. I would not go to Racetrack and then go back to Mesquite. You are missing out on the best parts of Lippencott and Hunter Mtn Pass. Plus camping at Panamint is better if you have the family with you.

 

Thanks for the intel on recent closures. I would love to go straight through from Mesquite to Panamint without having to go back, but that would mean pulling my teardrop trailer with me. I have no experience with how rough those back roads are so I was going to try and avoid it if necessary. All I read about online are people who say the unpaved roads in DV are so rough and dangerous and eat tires for breakfast. I have to take it all with a grain of salt because they are probably driving sedans on P rated tires. The trailer is currently on 31" BFGs.

 

The road from Ubehebe to Racetrack is horribly washboarded. I wouldn't worry about tearing up a tire though. The problem is that the traffic, other road conditions and hauling a trailer usually mean you can get your speed up high enough to negate the washboards.

 

Probably one of the most important things to bring is a comprehensive tire care kit, especially a plug kit. Airing down will reduce the risk of puncture. Even so, holes happen, even on LT tires. I've plugged 3 holes on two trips into the park on LT Duratracs w/ Tacoma.

 

I'm quite pleased with my Goodyear All-terrain Adventures with Kevlar. So far so good with at least 10k miles between a friend of mine and myself who both run the same tires. Not a super aggressive tread but I've learned that isn't necessary.

 

Exactly the same for me. I was happy for a while, but glad to get rid of them when I did, at 40K miles, mine were smoked. I had one with a sidewall chunk / rip. On the holes, I can't blame the tires. On the first puncture, it was a mangled fence staple (similar to a nail). On the second two, no objects were lodged in the tire, just holes. I did beat the living crap out of the tires the day before in the rocks though.

 

Anyone know if there are any 2m/70cm amateur radio repeaters that provide coverage in Death Valley? I took a look on repeaterbook.com and as far as Inyo county, CA it looks like the nearest repeaters to the park are in Bishop. On the Nevada side there is one in Beatty. Just wondering if they have the reach to cover Death Valley particularly well? Anyone used APRS in the park? Are there enough digipeters and i-gates nearby for beacons to be picked up and displayed on aprs.fi?

 

When we were there a month ago, there wasn't great repeater or iGate coverage. We did a loop around the park, essentially, and got APRS beacons through the iGates in 4 places: Ubehebe Crater, Teakettle Junction,

We did have simplex for a good distance though, since folks up on Telescope broadcast quite a way .

 

I have the same radio as you. Were you blasting out beacons at the full 50W to get picked up by the i-gates or were you using a lower power setting? I usually run my aprs on 10W. I will be at both of the places you mentioned getting beacons out. Where were the other 2 places you had mentioned success at 4?

 

I usually run APRS at 10W as well, but I'd heard that the coverage was poor, so I was blasting out at 50W while in the DV area and SmartBeaconing (instead of timed) to send out even more beacons.

Weird, looks like my post got truncated. There were actually 3 places: Ubehebe Crater, Teakettle Junction, Butte Valley. I got exactly one beacon out at each place, so even there, it was "weak."

 

Heading down to DV in late March on my way to San Diego for an appt on 3/20. Hope to catch the tail end bloom while I'm there but may be too late. Plan is to head in via Titus canyon on Saturday or Sunday and then out via Harry Wade Monday.

After San Diego I'll put my wife on a plane to get home and then spend more time in either DV, Mojave, or Valley of Fire (Wednesday to Saturday). If anyone is free around that time to meet up for a day let me know.

 

I just came out of Saline Valley via North Pass today. Road was fine, but it was about 21 degrees F at the junction with the Death Valley Rd and snowing very lightly. However, to put it all in perspective, in Saline there was a Dodge minivan parked next to me and a Prius two spots down. I am thinking they came via South Pass.