Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Ok cool. And your thoughts on the harder route that think I can handle?

 

Tire plugs…

 

In my former life, I ran the Amtrak Desert Wind between LA and LAS. For a number of years I made three count trips a week, which makes six days a week I was going thru that canyon one direction or the other. You get a totally different view of the place from a locomotive.

 

Lippincott and Steel Pass are the two 4x4 trails, you will be going the "easy" way on both (and yes, down the stairs to Eureka) but I would be surprised if you didn't need help on both. There are just a lot of boulders to climb over. With optimal driving and spotting perhaps you could get through under your own power--more likely you'll need assistance with a tow strap, and in the worst case you could end up doing some real damage.

Backtracking around to Eureaka is all graded roads, some paved. Either way, if you go all the way to to the dunes you might wind up stuck in the sand there. It's like driving through flour. Or maybe baking soda? I'm not a geologist (and I'm not that good at baking either!)

Please pick up my broken taillight if you see it on Steel pass.

Edit: To conclude, this seems like a reasonable plan for a 2WD traveling with other 4x4s

 

You’ll be just fine on that route. It largely follows the routes I took on my first two trips back in 2018.

you can read through them here, to see what you’re in for. It’ll be a great time.

https://adventuretaco.com/tripdest/death-valley/?order=asc

 

Lipincott was a piece of cake going from Racetrack to saline. There was one rock garden that I got thru without hitting anything at all. I'm on 35's 2WD with sliders...never dragged on anything..no spotters. Cant speak for Steel pass yet.

 

Been five+ years since I did Steel Pass, take this will a grain of salt. From the springs you will be headed gradually uphill, rocky, but when you hit the stair steps, you will be going down. In my opinion, they are of minimal concern (we went up the last time). I'd be concerned about no 4 low, might not be smart to go that way. Others will have more current info.

 

I’ve never done Steel Pass but about 35 years ago I started to go the opposite way, from the dunes, in my stock 4wd Ranger and turned back because the sand was deep and I was alone. I was a lot less experienced then and my truck was on the OE all-season tires (can you believe it came from the factory with 195/75-15’s?) but I was also young and foolish so in hindsight I’m surprised I turned back.

 

Lippincott downhill with 2WD in a group should be no problem.

Steel pass running south to north you will go through a boulder garden a bit below the pass, probably fine 2WD in a group. You will go down the stairs in Dedeckera which are in about the worst shape possible at the moment - ignore any reports from people the last few years as they were quite improved until this August when a storm cleaned them out. Going down I suspect 2WD will be just as good as 4WD but you certainly run the risk of minor damage with any rig unless you pick a good line. Going in a group so you have spotters and help should make it a doable adventure. If you don’t have a high clearance bumper and still have the trailer connector in the factory location expect to lose it…. Past Dedeckera you’ll go through some pretty soft sand along the backside of the dunes. Momentum will be your friend in 2WD and having 4WD friends to extract you if necessary should make it low risk.

All the above assumes a couple inches of lift and tires with good sidewalls aired down.

Given you’ve got a group of 4WD folks willing to take you under their wing on a route that you’d likely not take solo in 2WD this seems like an opportunity to take for sure.

If Steel worries you then just go over North Pass out of Saline instead and meet them at the dunes.

 

I sure wish that train still ran today!





Sorry folks I'm double posting this one from the 395 thread, it was the night's best shot!





Trip report time, I guess...



After a fun night of trainwatching and a particularly delicious camp meal, we discovered that my old man had left his CPAP in his rental car, which he had returned earlier that day. Fuck! So we packed up the tent and drove back to LA. I wish I was kidding.



The next morning we tracked down the rental car, retrieved the equipment, and by the time we hit pavement, the freeways were already stopped up. So I drove up Cajon following the tracks. Not a single damn train!



By mid-afternoon we were back at Afton, only 6 hours behind schedule. We wouldn't have time to follow the trail to Kelso, the lava tube, or the cima forests as planned, but I did take a quick drive through the canyon anyway. Too bad we had to skip spooky canyon too, we would've had it to ourselves, and with Halloween around the corner, I'm sure it would have been extra spooky. And nope, still no trains.



The river crossing is still filled in with rocks, it's getting deeper, but nowhere as deep as it used to be. Maybe two feet deep at most. Didn't have to dry the carpet this time.



Then we hopped back onto the pavement -- I was hoping to take him to Badwater Basin with at least some daylight remaining.



There must have been some sort of event happening at Dumont Dunes that weekend. It seemed like we were the only ones on the highway not going there. We had to wait for several minutes while a bunch of impatient idiots with toyhaulers blocked the road to make sure we wouldn't cut in line.





So per usual, the stupid sun set ahead of schedule. But we did get to the bottom of the valley with some lingering daylight.



Then we finished the drive up to Beatty in darkness. Little did I know, but it turns out that last weekend was Beatty Days, and even at night, Beatty was packed!



Our hotel was preparing a float for the next day's parade. Looked like it would be a good time, but we weren't going to stick around to find out. We had deserts and ghost towns to explore...

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I think I'm going to take this opportunity and go with them. Yeah I have eload Toyo AT3s that I've been wanting to get dirty. Sliders and a 3-in lift. I have plenty of experience around Southern California mountain terrain in the summer, not much desert and deep sand. But I have recovered myself in deep sand with traction boards and it was no problem. I'll let you guys know how the trip goes. I'm really excited to get out there

 

I've read a ton of your articles, especially the ones about death Valley. Great work man

 

We began the next day by heading to Rhyolite.



Some folks have reported this to be an underwhelming experience, but I for one enjoyed seeing the scale of the ruins there. It was a serious city back then. And a nice set of signage had been recently installed by the BLM.



Lol I properly butchered that one in photoshop!



A $500k starter house by LA standards!







Look, the sculpture lines up with the statue, what were the chances?



Then we headed into the park.





Finally saw the crater...



Google maps had suggested it would take me two and a half hours to drive to the racetrack (from Titus), but I was at the tea kettles in like 20 minutes after departing the crater! Guess the traffic was lighter than Google expected.



Suddenly ahead of schedule, quite the rarity for me, I decided to swing up into Hidden Valley to show my dad some old mines or something.

I was about to head up to the Lost Burro when I saw another road going in a different direction. I had this vague memory of Dan posting some awesome photos from a Talc mine somewhere in the area, so I figured we'd roll the dice and hope this road would take me there.

Of course this was the wrong road and it didn't lead to any major mine workings, but I kept pressing on in hopes of finding something noteworthy. We wound up getting an awesome view back over the valley, with the exit of Titus Canyon invisible at this resolution, but located towards the left of the photo.



Near the top there was a collapsed cabin, which wouldn't have seemed that interesting on its own...



But sitting right there on the table was a fresh apple. Perhaps some campers had left it there a day or two prior... or perhaps... was the place haunted?



With it being Halloween Eve, I decided to leave the cursed apple alone.



Hey we can see the Sierra range from here!

But now we were an hour behind schedule, and I was worried about making it to Copper Top by closing time.

I paused to look back at Hidden Valley one more time...



Sorry folks, I thought it was funny!

 

The other hidden valley.



What kind of a racetrack doesn't allow racing? ZERO STARS.



Lippincott was a lot rougher than I remembered from last year, so we missed most of the sunset, and I really started to worry about making it back to Big Pine in time for BBQ.

And even though I had been there just a week prior, I thoroughly underestimated how long it would take to drive north out of the valley. Plus, I missed the shortcut, so when 8PM (closing time) rolled around, I wasn't even back to pavement. Instead I was... well, wherever I was, so I paused to pout for a while, then to take a mediocre night shot or two.





Don't worry though, we got our BBQ the next day.

 

I'm laughing at the bottle of ranch too man! Great photos

 

Damn.... I don't see my teakettle anymore

 

Copper Top BBQ! Yum If I have my way I'll hit it on the way back from Mammoth in a few weeks. Nice report and pics

 

After much thought and reading all the advice here... We're going to take Lippincott with my 4wd friends down to Saline hot springs and head home (Southern California) via North Pass to Big Pine (I suppose this road is doable since cars take it to the springs). I'll save Eureka dunes for another trip. 1. We will be short on time after the hot springs and 2. Don't want to attempt steel pass this time around

 

DV takes a lot of driving and days... I learned my lesson the first time........

ROUND 2 COMING THIS WINTER!

 

North Pass is very 2WD-able, assuming no snow but at the risk of sounding like an old geezer, resist the temptation to carry momentum up the steeper bits in the canyon at the top. I have encountered some huge RV and trailer rigs coming down and sight lines aren’t great.