Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I hope! this my 3-4th attempt to make this trip happen!!! Something always comes up

 

You will make it!

 

Magnificent! Thanks for sharing.

 

Wow! Never seen snow at Devils Gate as in your first pic.

 

I went to Manzanar on a particularly windy day. The re-constructed housing was open at the time and I went in. Gotta say, I'm not sure winters would have been very comfortable for the residents. Were you able to drive around the camp? I cannot imagine having all the trappings of life outside except the freedom to travel. It's amazing, internees were as committed to the United States' war efforts as they were given the circumstances. The made camo netting, played baseball, grew crops in order to contribute to the war effort. Truly amazing.

 

If you take the tour inside there is a video that plays describing life at Manzanar from one of the internees. It is a female voice and one thing she said has always stuck with me about living there..."the wind, always the wind". I can hear that line every time I drive by and look at the residence buildings.

 

I was fortunate to meet a man who lived in the camp. His wife kept telling anyone who would listen how horrible it was (she was not Japanese), Richard talked about how much life was like the outside-with obvious differences-and how they may have been given lemons but lemonade they made.

It was a humbling discussion in so many ways. One on one. I have always been interested in the camps and always been concerned that it doesn’t happen again.

 

I ran down steel pass with stock taco except for rock sliders. The rock sliders came in handy at the waterfall for what it’s worth. In fact my avatar is of that specific obstacl

 

Yee..... I had some frame damage not having rock sliders.... Maybe i'll skip the duck bath lol. It doesn't look that bad in videos.

 

Where are you entering DV exactly? From the items you're planning to see, it seems like you're coming in through Beatty, so you can hit Titus Canyon (which is one-way, running east-to-west).

(though, that doesn't match with "coming in from the west")

If that's the case, and if you're hitting Racetrack, then you'll get to Saline Valley from Lippincott Pass. You'll never need to run Steel Pass - esp. if you're headed to Joshua Tree (south) after DV.

I agree with this. Stock is fine if you take it slow and stack rocks as necessary. And there are plenty of rocks at the waterfall, even if others have "moved" them for a bit more fun. I'd think departure angle might be a bit of a concern with a 2nd/3rd gen as well - but again, rock stacking .

 

I'll be coming through Paramint springs. Hows difficult is Lippincott Pass? It doesn't look that bad. Bunch of loose gravel. I'll will be visiting Beatty before I go through Titus and Rhyolite and the famous Candy store in Beatty! lol

 

Lippincott is far more than "loose gravel". I still get pucker factor and I've driven tons in our deserts and the southwest US. It's not Black Bear Pass in CO but it isn't easy peasy. There can be washouts and depending on the precipitation, the rock garden section towards the top can get more challenging. Please do not underestimate anything in the region. Read/seek recent reports and plan accordingly.

 

Will DO! I'm just trying to have a good trip! So Lippincott is a no go for me!

 

You can do just about every trail in DV with a stock taco. Just go easy. Have maps and supplies incase you have an extended stay somewhere.

 

rock sliders may not have prevented that. they mostly protect the rocker panels.

 

DV is huge...... should I cut off Saline Valley hot spring and come through paramint spring. Seems like an all day drive... planning on taking hunter mountain road instead of lippincott road. To racetrack. I would like to pm someone ! I got tons of questions

 

I am no expert on DV but if there is any rain during your assent/descent(spelling) of Hunter Mt, it can be a white knuckle ride (at least the tire tracks that I saw when driving up from Saline Valley to the top of Hunter Mt and then back down).

My experience was coming in from Eureka Valley to Dedeckera then camping at near the top of Steel Pass. Next AM down to the Saline Valley Hot Springs to the Bat Pole then jumps then Saline Valley suspension test (45 minutes @ 45 mph of washboards), then up and out of Saline Valley to the T of either exit out (go right) towards Panamint Springs or Hunter Mt (go left). We were running out of daylight at Hunter Mt and returned to the top with the Awesome campsite.

 

Hunter Mountain road isnt too bad...except the downhill portion into hidden valley can get Icy in a few sections where water runs across the road. Lippencott from race track into Saline valley is not to bad because its downhill the whole way. Im 2wd on 35's and I had no issues when I went thru. The 2nd day of the trip I did we went from the begining of Hunter Mt road thru Hidden valley..hit up Lost Burro mine off hidden valley rd..then to Teakettle Junction then to RaceTrack then down Lippencott to SV road to HWY 190 then thru panamint valley rd to Ballarat and up Goler wash to Barker Ranch in 1 day. Though it was dark when we did Goler wash to Barker Ranch.
I attached a .gpx file of the route we took over the 3 days out there.

 

If it were me I'd go up lippincott before doing hunter mtn and hidden Valley when icy/muddy. I've had friends make south pass but got stuck in the mud on top of hunter mountain. Hidden Valley has a section that is silty when dry and a mud bog when wet.

If you are set on the racetrack why not take the route from Ubehebe and down Lippincott. Or maybe check out a different part of the park. It's not going anywhere.

 

From Saline hot spring to homestake Dry camp. Lippcott road going down or up?