Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Airing down definitely helps smooth it out!

 

If you drag a trailer, don't forget to air-down those tires as well.

 

..I say we blame Toyota for dumbing down their heritage of 4x4 to a level of facebook=instagram mall-crawlers. ....I say we stay off the washboard...stick with the approved Toyota marketing dicks when they suggest a new rugged TRD is just perfect for driving to the soccer field to deploy your drone...leave the washboards of DV to the Subarus or old air-cooled flat four bugs...current Tacomas just ain't it...no way...my 1998 4x4 is far superior to my 2015, just based on steel bed construction...I have a driver cockpit video of me driving 54mph over the washboard toward Eureka Dunes...totally fun and smooth and a wonderful plume of dust...and at the dunes, I'm chastised appropriately by someone "you drive too fast"

 

You may have "drove too fast," but you didn't get as beat up as driving slower! Jokes on them.

 

yep! I feel my 99 was built better for sure. Go ahead 1st gener's you can say it. This truck is more civilized FWTW! Also better for the family and towing our trailer. No regrets since I don't offroad that much anymore. Do enough washboard as MP posted and she'll start breaking apart. Although I have blasted down WB trails I try not to anymore for several reasons, that being #1. As others said air down and find a comfortable speed. Your truck will thank you.

 

Saw a white 2nd gen DCSB with FlipPac on I-15 northbound an hour ago .... @DVexile was that you? I’m heading home after a camp/bike/AirBnB trip to Utah and Nevada. Tested my crawl control to the max in unexpected mud yesterday. It worked!

 

This is why I drive a 1st gen...



I miss my 86 4Runner tho. That was fun, but it smelled like pee. Oh and I blew the 22RTe after 300k...

 

If it was between Basin Rd. and Baker then yes!

We camped Wednesday night down Basin Rd. at the east end of Afton Canyon and were treated to about three hours of strong wind, rain and some lightning flashes. But the SLO fly kept the water out.

Checked out Spooky Canyon in the morning and then headed up to Baker to grab a bite before turning north into DV. So indeed we were NB on I-15 a bit before noon on Thursday I think!

 

Yes, it was near Basin Rd. I was returning from a week in Utah and Nevada mountain biking, after spending 4 days in Saline and Panamint Valleys. We had steady but not hard rain, and a bit of snow Wednesday night in Lovell Canyon, west of Vegas. No winds, but a section of serious mud. Thought about heading home through Pahrump and DV, but it would have been a long drive and then I heard sections of Badwater Rd and 178 were closed, so the easy I-15/CA58/I-5/US99/CA46/US101 route worked out for the better.

 

Be careful you don't drive too fast...

 

But you don't understand, that could never happen to me....

 

..oh shit oh shit...i'm sticking at or below the speed limit from now on..for sure
and besides...my GF don't drive my rig

 

I noticed a FB post from the Park Service advising visitors to check road conditions given the recent rains.

On a side note, they've been discussing the crushing number of folks visiting the traditional flower spots-like DV, Carrizo, and so one . The Tread Lightly message is lost on many and today, I heard a report about folks visiting Iceland and specifically, The Beeb's music video shoot sites, being overrun to the point of closure. I know it's not here, but I don't want to see our places closed because a few cannot be bothered to adult like adults.

edit: Sad to hear of the recent fatality.

 

Luke from 4x4Labs and myself helped with the recovery of that LC, and got it off to the side of the road so it wasn't blocking. We also helped with trying to locate their puppy that took off immediately after the rollover.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bddyb14HJP_/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=gu4ek9naflc8

 

Was it a case of speed unsafe for conditions? That's just so strange-almost like LoC followed by over-correction.

 

Yeah, that was a bad deal. My buddy and I spent over an hour chasing their dog Reno around the desert. I read later that they finally got the dog back. Before we split we offered to roll the Cruiser back over but the owner was kinda shell-shocked and maybe a little confused (understandably). They are super lucky that nobody got hurt.

 

Inexperience with driving fast on dirt, but could've happened to even an experienced driver.

Girlfriend behind the wheel encountered a sweeping left turn with a rise at the apex of the turn. Suspension unweighted and caused the LC to fish tail out of control.

 

My buddy and I were on the salt flat south of the wreck site and watched three trucks zip by headed north, one of them being the Cruiser. Look at the tire tracks from the Cruiser and decide for yourself if speed was a factor...

 

It was just past midnight when they found Reno.

 

Speed, inexperience, and high center of gravity with the items on top off the roof all played a factor. The Road was just recently groomed, and there was a fairly longish straight section right up to the sweeping left turn.