Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Wild. I got 0.34 inches here on the western slope of the Central Sierras. Our local median precip for the month is zero so fairly significant.

https://apnews.com/article/floods-n...and-politics-7e823cb4ab832c8a69587020c3a4eb2a

 

And DV just got hammered again. All park roads closed. About 1,000 folks stuck in the valley for the moment until they can get some roads open (sounds like some roads are likely intact but just need to be cleared of debris). Looks like the 190 to the east past Zabriske is ripped up much like a decade ago but I need to confirm that (I’m basing this on a photo I saw but I may have misidentified the location). Parking lot at the Inn inundated and vehicles partially buried.

 

According to the link @nDub posted above DV got 1.7" today. Yeah, that's a lot of water. lol

 

Photo from the NPS which I believe is the 190 near Zabriske.

EDIT: Actually it is mud canyon.

 

Read here that Furnace Creek averages 1.9" per year, and then they got 1.7" in a day. Last time they recorded that much in a day was over a hundred years ago, crazy

 

There are some crazy photos out there today.

 

That is an impressive photo. That is also a metric shit ton of road damage. When you see asphalt the size of a sheet of plywood laying on the road it's never good. lol

 

Again. Impressive. Gotta love how nature is putting DV back to it's natural environment. Who needs pavement anyway? Not most of us. lol

 

Someone call in a traction board air drop

 

"The all new 2024 Honda Accord. Now with lockers." lol

 

You live back East now, you don’t have to say “the” 190. It’s just 190 Seriously, there has been some weird weather, way beyond the normal summer afternoon thunderstorms, in the Sierras also. We’re heading up to the west side of Ebbets Pass area for the weekend, and sections of Hwy 4 east of the summit are washed out. Hwy 89 further east was also washed out but has been cleared for now. A friend of mine has been trying to get me to join him on a trans-Sierra motorcycle ride but I’m glad I wimped out.
This site is interesting. August monsoons can be pretty severe. https://www.weather.gov/media/vef/Climate/Death Valley Climate Book/Twelve Significant Weather Events.pdf I was there in (I think) Thanksgiving 1984 and 190 was very washed out, 4wd only in spots, and Titus was closed, but it doesn’t even make the list.

 

Imagine what it was like if you were in a room looking out at nearly 2" of rain falling!

 

Or getting a coating of hail on the ground at 9k feet in the Inyos.

 

It rained hard enough in Bishop to wake me up at 4AM. The skylight in the bedroom is like a drum when it rains hard. lol

 

Impressive display of nature. I would have liked to witness it. One of the reports of the sound of boulders rolling out of canyons sounds intriguing.

 

I agree with the following statements. Aside from any property damage and the cost for road repairs, seeing the aftereffect of mother nature as she visits the park and surrounding environs every decade or so is impressive. The road damage will reduce visitation and the park will be a bit more quiet. Thank you mom.

 

About twenty years ago I drove just above Ballarat and if I recall correctly it was Pleasant Canyon that was running from a thunderstorm right over its drainage. The sound of the wash was so threatening my girlfriend (these days wife) made me stop the truck and not even approach to within sight of it. Besides a general roar every so often we'd hear a deafening clap much like a gunshot that I presume were boulders in the wash smacking against each other.

 

We drove into the campground in DV at about 1:30 am a few years back, and the temperature was still over 100 degrees. I saw a clear star-filled sky when I went to bed but then just a couple hours later it started raining really hard along with a lot of lightning. The temperature dropped fast and there was a lot of wind as well. The roads were wiped out the next morning, and there was a lot of standing water everywhere, but the sky was completely cloudless. That was an impressive summer storm!

 

Could mean the park or parts of the park of the park are closed for some time to all.

 

Oh wow. The Diesel Brothers seem to be working in Cerro Gordo. Complete with commercials