Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Ah, that was you!

Here's the link to my story, though it looks like some image links might have broken.

 

Next time just get a hold of me. I've lost count of the rigs I've pulled out of bad situations in the Owens Valley. Don't call me if your hosed in Death Valley. There's enough traffic there that you'll be unstuck before I hit dirt. lol

 

A gentleman and a scholar! If I do call upon you I'll be sure to reimburse you with beers or other victuals of your choosing.

 

We just got back from a few days in Anza-Borrego and a few days in Joshua Tree, the latter over the weekend. JTree was a worse s**t show than anything I’ve seen in DV.

 

Wanna be really entertained? Hit Hidden Valley Campground on New Years Eve. Think Barnum Bailey meets Woodstock.

 

No more Rainbow Canyon flights ever again apparently...

According to the DVNHA at the Park's request the Navy has made restrictions of overflights of Rainbow Canyon permanent. I don't know any details but my best guess is they continue with the restrictions put in place since the crash in 2019 (which is 1000' AGL above the canyon rim). I don't understand the reference to the Navy specifically as opposed to more broadly including the other services. This is not particularly surprising to be honest. It was hard to imagine below the rim flights ever restarting.

Personally I think this is the right decision these days, unfortunately. The flight path worked perfectly well with relatively low impact (besides noise) for decades. What changed was the usual YouTube, Instagram, general social media shit-storm that resulted in the place being overrun in the past ten years or so. If you've visited the area over many years the impact was just glaring. Use trails all over the goddamn place, really visually obvious ones given the rim is mostly dark desert pavement over light colored soil. It was like a freaking NASCAR mid-field up top a lot of the time. Near as I can tell the military didn't change much of anything over the years, but all the Internet fueled gawkers overran the place and that was what created the biggest impact I could see. So once again, social media ruined a unique experience. Hopefully all the ass-hats out their "monetizing" their pathetic lives enjoyed the half a cup a coffee they earned off of the clicks. Oh, and get the hell off my lawn while your at it!

Anywho, some memories:

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The times they are a changing. You, I and many others will never have the same lawn. It least we can crunch are member berries and laugh at the shit show some areas have become. The other areas aren't far behind I'm afraid.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhP9yrRnSSM/


https://www.instagram.com/p/BhQJ2ignPyj/

 

Internet Love is a thing and I suppose we are all a part of it. When I first went to DV, 4WD was not a common thing and finding someone at the Race Track meant a long ass drive in a station wagon or pickup. Same for the crater.

I think I said a couple of posts back that some points in the park are a shit show even when it's "slow". I honestly don't know if the cause was the change to NP status or just bound to happen. idk. There's a list of places that will go to reservation only this or next year. Yosemite is considering it because of all the construction happening in the park. It disappoints me that parks are going toward reservations--I don't know what to do about it but it seems like it won't be long before you'll have to pay yet another company in addition to some outrageous admission fee to visit our parks.

 

Chilly evenings in Saline Valley this weekend.

 

There are other places along the sidewinder route to see similar passes. It just takes a bit more work and off-roading to get to them. Rainbow canyon was too easy to access so it became heavily used by all obviously. Hopefully those other places don’t get burned. I’ve yet to find them on the interwebs thankfully. The photogs that go to these places have done a good job keeping the spots secret.

 

Stovepipe Wells and Nearby Developed Areas Improvement Plan

Some of the proposed projects are:

Replace parts of the potable water treatment and delivery systems at Stovepipe Wells and Emigrant.

Replace parts of the wastewater collection and treatment systems at Stovepipe Wells and Emigrant.

Rehabilitate and interpret the historic Emigrant Junction Ranger Station and surrounding area.

Replace Stovepipe Wells Visitor Contact Station, and add an adjacent day-use area with picnic tables and outdoor interpretive signs.

Replace the emergency services building, which is currently too small for the park's ambulance to fit inside.

Redesign Stovepipe Wells Campground, which is currently is a gravel parking area with one restroom. It would be redesigned to have a second restroom, better separation between sites, and amenities like shade structures, fire rings, grills, and picnic tables. Some additional sites would have RV hookups. The campground would be expanded to the east.

The existing paved Stovepipe Wells Airstrip would be removed, and airplanes would be redirected to Furnace Creek Airstrip (18 miles away). A helicopter landing pad would remain for administrative and emergency use.

Night sky viewing area: The eastern end of the former airstrip could be rehabilitated for use for large night-sky viewing events.

Improve Mosaic Canyon Road, parking lot, and trailhead. The NPS will consider a range of surfaces to reduce dust and stabilize the 2.3-mile unpaved road leading to a popular short hike.

Improve flood control.

 

We drove through El Centro a few days ago and the “air show” in the middle of town at mid-day was pretty amazing. I didn’t realize those afterburners generated such dense plumes of unturned HC’s. Fun to watch, but not sure I’d want to live there. Cheap gas though.

 

I was there on Saturday. It was the Blue Angels practicing. It was show smoke that you saw supposedly it doesn’t harm you. Back in the 80’s I know they just shot 10/10 oil into the exhaust to make the show smoke…my bet is they don’t anymore. It was the oil we used to preserve jet engines in storage.

edit: El Centro is the blue angels winter home.

 

Looks pretty nice in the pools though. Were the springs a zoo this weekend? Seemed like quite a lot of traffic.

The bath was considerably colder up the hill...



In fact I'd say it was downright frigid! An astute passerby noted this trucksicle (?) behind my tire Sunday morning:



Which means my freshwater plumbing has sprung a leak Luckily the plumbing itself didn't freeze.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg (lol sorry) -- my now-frequent trips to the park this year are starting to destroy my truck! As of last night, my hood is jammed shut, my air compressor regulator is destroyed, my water is leaking, my washer fluid tank is cracked, and my headlights are totally misaligned (probably broke the tabs, need to get the stupid hood up first). Oh, and my front diff has continued erupting oil from the vent, and has now blown the axle seals and might be making noise. Shit!

All this despite the fact that much of Saline Valley road is in great condition, owing to grading operations presently underway:


Spotted just south of the lake

Here's how the road looks between Lippincott junction and a few miles before the hot springs turnoff:



However, the last few miles before the hot springs turnoff are extremely washboarded, and while my bright idea to float over it without slowing at all was quite comfortable from a ride-quality standpoint, hindsight has proven that this was a terrible decision. I should have heeded the warning signs when the violent shaking of my hood started flinging washer fluid from the nozzles. Oh well, I assume it'll all be smooth soon, if not already.

This weekend was my first time driving the highway down to Panamint Springs--what a beautiful road! Guess I should have bought the truck and started exploring a few years earlier, when the jets were still flying there, I definitely missed out. Thanks for sharing all your epic photos over the years.

Planning a mid-week trip to Eureaka this year (fingers crossed) in hopes of at least seeing some cool airplanes in action. I saw this amazing video the other week shot from the mouth of Dedeckera... I don't know how that guy managed to keep it in frame though, whenever I hear an approaching jet, I lose all motor function to gleeful exuberance.





On the topic of the fuel gauge and capacity in 2nd gen Tacomas:

My gas light came on right around the hot springs. I figured there was no way I'd make it all the way to PSR before I ran out of gas, what with over 50 miles of dirt up and over south pass between me and the pavement, and my tires aired down for the ride. But I've always been curious how far that needle goes below "E" so I didn't lighten up on the skinny pedal for the drive -- and made it, apparently with some to spare.


Note: Just a couple weeks ago I observed (and posted here) that PSR was charging "normal" fuel rates, but this time, it was 55 cents higher than at Trona. I guess it's just a crapshoot. I had to run the card twice to fill the tank!

The rated fuel capacity of my truck is 21 gallons. This time it took on 19.15 gallons after driving about 60 miles with the refuel light on, and according to my records, the lowest I've ever pushed it was to 20.49 gallons. That suggests to me that there is perhaps 80 miles of range remaining when the light comes on, which is actually quite a lot, considering the fuel light usually comes on 160-180 miles after a fillup. I'm left to conclude that my gas light comes on at a third to a quarter tank, not 1/16 of a tank as is usually indicated on the gauge.

Of course, fuel gauges are approximate at best, gas station pumps are sometimes miscalibrated, and the shutoff point varies considerably between fuel nozzles, weather conditions, parking angle, and planetary alignment. But I wanted to share my observations anyway. YMMV... literally.

Note 2: Pricing for a burger and a sarsaparilla remains the same, and damn, it sure hits the spot after a hike!





Anyway...

I saw some awesome places and met some awesome people on this trip.







Managed to make a contact from here to a guy in Fish Springs using my cheapo handheld. He could barely hear me but I was still impressed. This trip also marked the first time I've seen anyone else on APRS within the park, and the first time I've even picked up local radio traffic in the valleys. It sounded like there was a big Jeep club on an organized trip working their way down to the racetrack in the morning, then down Lippincott in the afternoon. They pretty much talked the whole time and it was fun to listen in.



I didn't make it to my intended destination; the morning hike took too long, so I improvised and picked somewhere closer. Even then I largely missed the sunset. I couldn't stay late either so I didn't wait for the skies to reach their full darkness. Airglow and scattered light from a distant sunset, plus a nice streak of zodiacal light to the west made for a reasonable shot. Probably plenty of light pollution, sensor noise, and processing artifacts in there too, but whatever, I like the picture.



It seems ridiculous to me that they want to delete the runway at Stovepipe to make a night-sky viewing area. I know they have very low light-polluting lights installed there, but the fact remains that 99.99% of the park is better for stargazing than right next to a town and highway. It's like building a wave pool on a tropical island.

I scampered down for one more shot with the LEDs. Even my dude Orion showed up to pose.



It was a slow drive home since I wasn't able to air up for quite some time. I couldn't find a functional air compressor in Trona, and after giving up on finding an attended gas station in Ridgeway, I eventually shelled out $6.00 in quarters just to get 30 PSI in the tires for the rest of the drive home. Might be some time before I'm back--I gotta fix all this broken stuff.

 

Jealous. (Aside from the air pressure issues.)

 

Interesting to hear this. I've talked to several folks over the last couple of years and every time I've mentioned that I don't think they are flying through there again yet, largely because of the 1000' foot floor (I've been telling people it was 1500', which must have been my misunderstanding). Doesn't surprise me really either; they've found their new routes (which, I personally like better as they are "more in the park" and so I'm more likely to see them. Selfish, I know.) There are some really consistent/great places now, and I look forward to each trip to those areas. Weekdays only as well, by and large, it seems to me.

Last week I got to see 2 C-17s at sunset, and a gaggle of F-18s and A-10s (my first time seeing A-10s). Super cool. To get above them now is a hike, but it'd certainly be doable if one were willing.

They were chilly! Did you arrive Friday night? I counted more than 80 vehicles (headlights) entering the springs area between about 5:30pm and 8:30pm, from a vantage point far(ish) away. I was surprised to see how many came from North Pass, but that's probably b/c I've always come from South Pass. Obviously North Pass is shorter on dirt, so preferrable for many.

Well, now I need to research the "sidewinder route." I probably wouldn't ever do a trip just to watch planes, but I do like understanding the lay of the land as it were.

Astute? Oh please. Don't try to mislead everyone, you'll lose credibility with the few who have met me.

Also, I wish I could process photos as quickly as you. I had to rush this one off the camera, and won't really process it for another week I bet.

Love that bath photo.

 

I came into Saline Valley Friday evening around sundown so I was one set of headlights you witnessed. Friday was nothing compared to Saturday in regards to traffic. It was a great weekend with comparatively little traffic/campers overall. One of my friends noted 29 degrees Friday night but when I went to soak it was about 42 degrees. The coldest it got on North Pass Friday coming in was 23 degrees. North Pass is very washboarded and the shitter at Palm Spring is full. The pump trucks will be there soon to finally clean them out. This is the longest I've seen between toilet maintenance. Sunday I exited North Pass and noted the washboarding in uphill sections. Overall it was a nice drive out of the valley and I took a random road and found a new to me summer campsite which I look forward to visiting when there isn't snow everywhere. Made it to Bishop just after noon on Sunday. Schats was packed with southbound traffic from Mammoth. If you are a veteran they offer a 20% discount but will not apply it after a sale is made. Oh well, next time.

 

re washboard roads in Baja, we say "10 mph is too fast, 60 mph is too slow"

 

Manzanar Volunteer Archaeology

Greetings!

You are cordially invited to help uncover and preserve Manzanar’s history. Our projects this year will be at the Hospital, the Children’s Village orphanage, and the Administration and Staff Housing Area. Work at the Hospital will include rebuilding a collapsed rock wall, removing brush and dead trees, clearing flood deposits, resetting building footers, and excavating landscaping features. At Children’s Village we will be rebuilding rustic wood fences, exposing building footers, and clearing brush and downed trees. In the Staff Housing Area we will be doing a controlled surface collection of artifacts and repairs to a soon-to-be returned staff apartment building.

This year’s project dates are:

March 24-29: Spring Break - Hospital Area, 8am-4pm

May 27-31: Memorial Day Weekend - CV or Admin Area, 7:30am-3:30pm

September 2-6: Labor Day Weekend – TBD, 7:30am-3:30pm

We will be able to accommodate up to 30 volunteers a day. Volunteers must be at least 15 years old and be able to work outdoors. Volunteers must sign up in advance and may work any number of days or hours, but a full day or multiple days are preferred. Work will be conducted regardless of weather, so please come prepared, bring water, lunch, snacks, sunscreen, hat, and work gloves. There will be a port-a-pottie and hand-washing station at the work area. We will meet each day in the visitor center parking lot for introductions and a safety briefing. We will be following CDC and NPS COVID-19 protocols in place at the time of the project.

Participants will be emailed additional information about a week before each project starts.

To reserve your spot reply to: jeff_burton@nps.gov

Hope to see you at Manzanar – Jeff