Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I think that's the road where everything shimmers in the right light. Bet it is cold up there tonight.

Once in a while I go back through this thread. Thanks again to my friend Crom who began this thread and without TW I may have never met. This is one of the best threads I've been a part of on TW.

 

I want to say October-ish. I had never heard of a "season" per se. My wife had just been reading about sidewinder tracks on the dunes when I was inquiring about back country conditions at the Furnace creek Visitor Center. When I mentioned Chloride as our destination for that night, deathly afraid of snakes she jumped in and said "will we see any snakes up there?". The Ranger, as if he was sad to disappoint her said "no, but it's Tarantula season!". She was not amused. He went on to say the season was highly dependent on temp and elevation. "You should start seeing them on the road (Daylight Pass) between 3 and 4K feet". The season would apparently "move" with conditions like the spring bloom does.
Sure enough just before the lower turn off to Chloride we saw countless "splats" and lucky survivors on the road. By the time we reached Chloride proper they were fairly scarce.

Me thinks that is the spur to the Calcite Caves. If so, they are about another 100yds down at the very end on the uphill side. As of 20 years ago there was no netting over the 8-10 openings or the dangerous open vertical shaft up top where the spur leaves the main road.

That would make sense if it's the one I think it is.

When ever we hit mine camps or ghost towns, I like to locate "the dump". The Chloride town dump told of the main staples. Tins and cans from condensed milk, what looked like sardines, Prince Albert tobacco and corrugated calcium carbide cans. The Carbide can tops were embossed with "Union Carbide" and their logo with the slogan "Highest Gas Yield". This "gas yield" became a running campsite joke when ever chili/beans were on the menu.

 

I agree with all of the above, although I believe the increased media is probably the worst and the litigious nature of our society that causes increased maintenance to provide easy access, doesn’t help either. Add an unhealthy dose of idiocracy and behold our manifest destiny.

Solutions- maybe minimal to no road maintenance and monster fines for stupid behavior and disregard for the fragile environment that makes up the SV area.

Interesting the parallels I see between these off-road wrecks and major breakdowns- mostly speed related- and watching the idiot show after the first sizable snow fall in the Anchorage metro area.
Tricked rigs will mess you up as fast as anything if you don’t know how to use them...

Back in the day there were LE rangers at both Wildrose and Emigrant RS. Of course it doesn’t matter if they are staffed if the staff is just marking time before climbing to the next park....

 

1)It has been my experience that lower tire pressure does increase traction on certain surfaces, and also improves ride comfort.
2) As far as stability no, if anything it makes it worse especially at higher speeds off road.
There are a few heavily dented trucks in my past that confirm statement 2

 

Apologies, maybe even this forum isn’t a safe place to disclose on. I am just happy to see a group of folks enjoying the area of my misspent youth...
Seriously this is a pretty decent group of folks that really care about the place, and are decent stewards of this spectacular area.
I remember back in summer/fall of 84 seeing my tarantula migration riding my bike on the bike path from Harmony to the Ranch one night looked like the ground was moving, next day you could see my trail of carnage on the path....

 

I concur with that technique, we used to roll on a lot of vehicle rollovers down there, people drift off the edge and then over correct= instant shit show.

I fell asleep driving back from Ridgecrest one night after taking my dog to an emergency vet, fell asleep out in Panamint Valley drove off the road at about 50mph- woke up and eased off the throttle and basically drove back onto the road- only a slight bend in the tie rod when I checked out my truck the next day. Same day I put a sleeping bag and pillow in the big toolbox....

 

No apologies, totally agree, I was attempting humor.

 

Copy that, I wouldn’t have shared even that with just anyone, but this is a pretty good mob here.

CC was a favorite ride hike on mine, I remember flying down the CC road on my mtb listening to the Top Gun soundtrack on a Walkman- that’s right a Walkman about the size of a paperback book.
Riding in, hiking all afternoon and ripping the downhill, back to the truck then heading back to Cow Creek. Mtb riding through Titus was still the best way- can’t go too fast and you get a much different perspective.

I spent a lot of good years down there in the valley of the shadow, no regrets, it was awesome! Looking forward to getting back down there and playing tourist instead of working, 2 day weekends are barely enough when you live there....

 

Back in the days when we were doing youth trips to DV we would camp the night at Chloride City, then in the morning after we packed up camp the drivers would drive the vehicles back out to Daylight Pass while the rest of us would hike down Chloride Cliff to Keane Wonder Mine. The drivers would take the vehicles down to Stovepipe Wells and gas up, refill the water, take a break, then meet us at the mine. It was a great hike.

 

Was that the fall (or early winter) of 1984? I was there the day after ... pretty wild. Although the big flood around 2010 (?) was intense also.

 

That flood was 2008 if it's the same one that took out the Whitney Fish hatchery and a large portion of 395 just north of Lone Pine.

 

Oh brother...

 

I’m thinking it was early fall, maybe even late August.

Correction: it was mid August, the overnight rainfall in the Wildrose area was 6.75”. It washed out the recently upgraded water system we had just put in with a YCC crew earlier that summer.
Took out about 9-10 miles of Ca Hwy 190 between Dante’s view road and Zabriskie Pt.
Washed out the Wildrose canyon road, my Boss and I drove down through there with the FHA engineer in a Ramcharger(I think) a day or two later for an assessment.

It closed the road to Scotty’s Castle, lots of alluvial fan debris in several swale on that route up 2-3’ of muck. It also took out the gate at the exit of Titus canyon- found it about a mile down the wash.
Harry Wade road was flooded and some stretches of the West Side road were under water for about a month or so.
On Jubilee pass it cut a slot through the road about 75’ long and about 5-7’ deep. Slides on Townes pass closed it for a couple days, the only paved road open was Daylight pass, had to clear it up with a plow truck to get 2 lanes through. It was a lot of fun, and a big mess.

The humidity was brutal, Lake Manly was resurrected, about 75% RH and temps in the low 80’s a big switch from 5% @115F.
All in all a fine cap to my first summer there.

 

The decals on my rear shocks had burned off in the first 5,000 miles on my truck and I BABY THAT THING OFF ROAD.

 

Yep. That was the first time in 8 years that I didn’t make it to Death Valley. I truly should have. That place does my head and heart so much good. I am so glad I stayed home as that Friday we found out that my better half’ mother had NO SIGNS OF CANCER after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

I know most all of you may have been programmed to believe that God doesn’t exist but her faithfulness, confidence and prayer, I am certain, led to the miracle of her current health. - about 11 months ago she was told there was no chance for survival. She was told to seek comfort and be with her family.

With her faith, she assumed she would soon meet the fate as they had described. She was confident. She worked on putting her last chapter together and being with her grand babies. Oh yeah, she spent most of her spare time praying with friends and family by her side.

I am not the most faithful guy but I know that without her faith and belief, we would have been preparing for her passing. I am thankful we are not.

I know I went off on a small tangent but I thought, if even one of you may be inspired, healed or comforted through a faith greater than any Tacoma, she would would be proud.

Do I dare say, God bless you all?

 

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Some new to me awesomeness explored in Death Valley just this week... Trip report eventually!

 

Don't get caught in the rain there.

 

It's a mess in there this morning for sure.

 

I was bummed to read on a facebook post.

Seems like a lot of things that become really popular and attract people who don't give a shit.

 

Road conditions. They are a changing...