Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Weather Underground, wunderground.com, will show you weather stations in a given area. For the most part, they're pretty accurate but if you want to be sure, check a few. The other thing, the weather station is for that location only and given the terrain, 20 miles or even a couple miles makes a difference.

If you want to know if it rained, check a couple of stations in the area. Look for the weather history and there you go.

 

Despite the facebook page saying open, Titus Canyon is closed right now. I drove all the way there to see the road closed gate lol
I checked all the weather websites in the nearest places in the area and each one said different things about rain and snow so I decided to just go.
All good though, I checked out some other spots I have never seen before in the park.
Park is packed with people right now also

Here are some pics! I went to Twenty Mule Canyon and met a very nice family in their 4runner

 

Thanks for the ground truth! Yes the park is often very busy Christmas to New Year timeframe. Will be adding ourselves to the pack starting Friday.

 

Yeah, it feels weird not saying Hi to people. Normally I like to talk to people along the trails but in the more touristy parts of the park, they find that to be weird.
Have fun on your trip!

 

Just got back from a Saline Christmas. One day it rained but I stayed nice and dry in the ARB room.

 

This post will be a little off topic from Death Valley, but the folks who hang out here seem wise about travel in California. I have used CalTrans Highway info since the days of calling 1-800-427-ROAD from a landline, and then the clunky but concise website. But the new QuickMap site or mobile app seem like a giant step backwards. So I am heading south from NorCal down to San Diego tomorrow. As of now, I5 is closed over the Grapevine due to snow. And this is a screenshot from the CalTrans QuickMap:

And other highway info has looked like this all day. Check this out for Hwy 78/79 in San Diego County. Interesting reading, but not very useful.


It’s still possible to view info by individual highway number, but the old map with clickable route info seems gone forever. A moment of silence for one of my most frequently accessed sites over the last 15 years

 

Wife and I are heading out to DV between now and sunday. Hoping for good weather. Was really hoping to go down titus canyon to give her an amazing entrance into the canyon. Any other must see canyons that may be a good backup?

 

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/photosmultimedia/videos.htm

Has some info on Scotty's Castle restoration.

 

Echo Canyon, just outside furnace creek is a easy 4x4 trail that will take you through twisty narrows , high canyon walls with an abandoned mine camp at end of trail that makes for good photography. Look for the eye-in-needle on your way out.

Recommend “Death Valley SUV Trails” by Roger Mitchell for list of most well known and some lesser known trails.

 

I would recommend Echo canyon too, but Echo mine is not the end of the trail, at least not for modified trucks.

 

Yes, Inyo mine was end of the trail for me. There is a trail on left towards echo pass that is rated class IV or V in Mitchell’s book

 

Mitchell's books are part of my library. I've even got some of the older versions that were more like booklets.

 

Just goy back last night from my trip. Left the 26th and half way up the 15 CHP decided to close it. Stuck on there for 4 hours. Tried again the next day and made it to the park. Because of the delay only had 2 days now to explore. Never been there so I wanted to see all the famous stuff. Park was over crowed at the attractions. Titus Canyon was Closed. Scottys castle was closed which I new about already. The race track was flooded and the trail out there was covered in snow. On the morning of the second day I lost my 4WD so the other trails were out.
I still had a blast. Going to try to make it back out in late spring. It’s a pretty cool spot.
On the trail out to the RaceTrack I came across a Chinese family in a Lexus with a blown tire. They had a 6 year old daughter with them. He didn’t know how to change the tire or get the spare down. After I help out he decided to keep going to the RaceTrack with no spare. I’m sure they made it but I kept thinking ... what if he gets another flat. He didn’t have anything with him if they got stuck and had to spend the night out there. It got down to 25 where I camped.

The RaceTrack


Trail to the RaceTrack

 

If you have service just go to the website and enter the freeway you want information on. It’s updated pretty regularly.

 

When it rained on the 23rd I thought it may have gotten snow and ice up at the racetrack. Sure enough. The following storm didn't help either.

 

Has anyone been to Brigg's Camp?

 

Possibly.

 

in the end of it all, it'll be the NPS who will be responsible for killing the Hot Springs...

 

I ran into a similar situation several years ago, on one of my trips there.

On the side of the road (paved), was a fairly new Suburban - with a tire leaning on the vehicle, and 2 women sitting in chairs. We stopped to see what the problem was. Two blown tires. They went out to the RaceTrack, and did not air down. The tires objected. The husbands of the 2 women caught a ride to somewhere, to get help/tow truck. Before they returned, we plugged the holes in the tires, aired them up, and mounted them on the truck. The women left to go find their husbands. We heard from them once or twice afterward - they had no other problems on that trip.

It certainly pays to be prepared.

 

Sigh... one of these days I’m hoping there will be a general awaking at which point it will be the “social media coordinators” who are first lined up against the wall...