Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Doesn’t look like 127 is going to open anytime soon. Hilary covered it with sediment, which they cleared in about two weeks. Now the pavement is gone. Going to be a District 8 repair, rather than 9 so hopefully that means it isn’t distracting from 190.

 

What a crazy couple of years. I'm still not sure if this is the worst I've seen or heard of during my 15 years of exploring DV. I'd love to be able to get out there asap but work and life are taking a priority these days.

 

Umm, I prefer unpaved roads anyway?

If only it were so easy.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Except I was thinking all time. In the past, it seems like most of the damage was concentrated in a couple of places, like Scotty’s Castle was the first time.

 

Any word from Cerro Gordo? I going to guess the main road washed out but hope none of the structures were damaged.

 

Road gone, as usual and as expected, but sounds like everything else fine. Owner sent out an update to his fanboys post storm. He’ll probably end up doing the road repairs himself as in the past instead of waiting for Inyo (though he does have to get permission from Inyo to do that).

 

Lee is fine and most definitely stuck as stuck can be. You could get a rig through what remains of Batrock to the springs at this point, but you can't get a rig to the turn off via either pass. Steele and Lippencott have not been surveyed (unless Lee took a long walk this week) but given the other observed damage they are going to take serious work to re-open. Been quite the year given the snow and subsequent South Pass rescue of the Land Cruiser party.

 

West Entrance Estimated Opening October 15th

Well, I guessed wrong! I was expecting the east entrance to open first but it turns out the opposite is planned. The only entrance will be from 395 via 136 to 190. The 190 will only be open to the Badwater turn off and Badwater will only be open to mile 17. (Mile 17 is the gate just past the Badwater parking lot) No access from Trona as Panamint Valley Road is closed. So yes, they are opening the typical segment of road with the most attractions first. But no, unlike last year the east entrance is not opening first.

Details here:

https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/routes-into-death-valleys-west-entrance.htm

For the lazy, the map of the proposed open route:

 

Flying around the mountains that ring Death Valley in California, I came upon a very interesting set of structures on top of a mountain overlooking Death Valley. This is a short film I made a while back about this discovery I made from the air and my trip back to walk the grounds in search of its origin.

 

Good news from the DV fb page:

 

Such a great video. You're living the dream. Where are you based at?

I'm glad you noted this is outside the park. I've seen pics of a certain taildragger that landed on the racetrack. Once the pilot was made aware that landing on the racetrack isn't permitted, the photos disappeared.

 

Sorry for my poor communication skills -- the text above was copy/paste from his YouTube channel, his words not mine.

 

How could anyone with a pilot’s license not be aware?

 

People see a big spot and aren’t 100% sure where they are. Maybe engine trouble?

 

Engine trouble is the excuse I would use. If only I had a pilots licence. Flying low over the Sierra has always been on my bucket list. So, it's either rent a pilot and plane or start wing suiting. lol

 

When Steve Fassett went missing, I followed that. I was one of the things that made me question my desire to fly in the eastern Sierra--I would charter since I'm not a pilot. But the winds can be pretty crazy.

 

Galen Rowell probably has something to say about charter pilots in the eastern Sierra…

 

I sure they did. And that was coming off his wife's big trip.

 

Option C: Paramotor

 

He was very aware and took his photos off the interwebs quickly. I have copies somewhere.