Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

It is! Following a Knife’s Edge to Ubehebe Peak

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Is the south pass usually passable after a mild snow fall? lets say 3-6 inches... ??

 

More of the good stuff, I see.

 

Death Valley's wash
board roads claimed more of my Tacoma this weekend...

Solar Controller..


One of new Lights..each one weighs 5 lbs, pretty hefty..


Partially my fault for the Light Bar Tab failure, since I had opened the hole larger years ago to help with the alignment/spacing of my old lights




Side note: was the first trip out with the new lights, (Nacho Lights - Supreme 100) probably now one of the better investments made. They were pretty amazing with the long distance beam throw, near distance light pattern overall color and intensity of the light output.

 

Were you able to retrieve the light?

 

Saturday/Sunday Saline/Eureka Valley trip report:

Hunter Mountain - Probably passable, but we turned around at Jackass Springs because there was just enough snow that we really didn't want to spend most of the day finding out.

Warm Springs Campground - More public nudity than anticipated, but that's OK, because the water was real nice. Amazing stars, and makes me wish I could go back for Dark Skies this coming weekend. Somebody was camped out with what I think was a Piper Cub on the Chicken Strip. We unfortunately missed the Warm Springs vs North Springs baseball game, because we had thought it had already went down, only to discover at Dedeckera that it hadn't happened yet.

Dedeckera Canyon - Really needs to be done southbound from Eureka, because going downhill in the northbound direction is super tame. Getting to the waterfalls and watching a #deathvalleygerman fail to get up them in a Unimog while his wife angrily scolded him and made him turn around was pretty entertaining, though. (I did offer to try and be a winch anchor, but the wife wasn't having it all. Probably for the best, because that thing must have weighed ten times as much as my truck.) To the nice retired couple we met and didn't think to ask if you were on TW: If you're on TW, it was nice to meet you.

Eureka Dunes - Most strenuous short hike ever? Totally worth it, regardless.

Starlink - Cut the trip a little short due to a family emergency that we wouldn't have been aware of until today otherwise, and let us check the fastest route home and book a motel and redeye. Found out that packing up the RTT and camp in extremely short order is very much possible.

Bishop to Minden 395 Midnight Run - I really should have made coffee in Bishop, because this was brutal without caffeine. Definitely didn't expect every single gas station store to be closed, much less the casino at Topaz Lake to have nobody manning the bar.

Photos coming soon enough...

 

Saturday/Sunday/Monday -- Saline/Eureka

Seems like we were in the same area this weekend. We had 5 other vehicles with us.

We arrived to Saline Valley after visiting the salt lake and a hike to locate a mine. We had concerns about the snow levels, and since we were coming from San Diego, we opted to use the south pass. The drive was un eventful and beautiful. We arrived to the warm springs around 3 pm. The upper springs were packed with people. The main springs were less congested but still a steady flow of people in the pools. There was kind of a party going on at the upper area cause the music was pumping passed 1 am.

We left Sunday morning around 10 am towards the Eureka Dunes.... the weather again just perfect, and we opted to go look for the real Marble Bath (not the one by the road) but after a checking a couple of canyons we had to finish our hike early. We will be back to go find it.

One of the cars in our group got a flat in Dedeckera canyon on the V shaped water fall. Took us a while to fix but got to Eureka Dunes about 1 hour before sunset. It was a lovely evening with no major winds to make our stay unpleasant in the sand. The Sand Dunes are massive and just so enjoyable to look at.

We drove out by way of stovepipe wells.... had lunch at the saloon and got back home to San Diego in one piece. Overall a great weekend.

Toyota needs to make the gas tank on these trucks about 5 gallons bigger.

 

Pretty sure I saw you drive in to Warm Springs (we were at the campsite immediately south of the entrance to springs) and definitely saw you on our drive up the valley yesterday morning. That camper is very distinct.

We skipped the real marble bath (since I wanted to hike Eureka Dunes instead), but did check out the bathtub. NPS must have cleaned it out somewhat recently, because it didn't have nearly as many marbles in it as I expected. Just barely enough to cover the bottom.

 

I was lucky that I did, and it was by accident when I noticed that it was broken. I had stopped to refill my water bottle and decided to give a walk around before continuing onward.

 

The tub was like that a few weeks ago when I stopped by, not even a rubber ducky in it this time lol. I mainly stop to see if there are any stickers that need to be peeled off

Edit: Steele Pass Road is currently in the best condition out of all the years I've been traveling on it

 

The bathtub has a new resident a red ducky. His name is Third Wheel, as he did not have a partner yet managed to join us to other hot springs, in the past, during valentines but now Third Wheel is in the tub with others of his kind. I am sure he is loving it!!

 

@essjay I was 1/2 of an anchor team to winch a Unimog up Walker Hill on the Rubicon almost 30 years ago. I was impressed with the strength of my OEM bumper/crossmember on my FJ80. Those ‘Mogs just look heavy, and of course they are.

 

Yah, with @essjay this weekend at DV. At Steele pass/ Dedeckera, this was the Unimog that tried to climb the first waterfall towards Warm springs.. I think he would've made it. We would've winched him with both our tacos. But after the 2nd attempt per the spotter, the wife wasn't having it and told the hubby to turn around..

 

I'm a bit surprised that didn't walk right up the waterfall. Was it a width or wheelbase issue or driver/spotter issue? Even my heavy 2nd gen with a GFC and trailer in tow rolled through there in 4lo without locking the rear and no spotter.

 

@essjay, hopefully everything is okay with the family/family emergency.

@el_turks, what were the overnight temps like near the dunes?

 

How do you get the dog in the back?

 

Width/height and what I presume was an inexperienced driver. The couple I mentioned (they're standing up in the photo) was trying to assist by spotting them up the waterfall, but said that the Unimog was very close to taking body damage to the camper from the driver-side canyon wall.

Thanks. The lady is still in Georgia at the hospital, but it sounds like everything's going to be alright.

He's very flexible, and fits neatly between the tonneau and RTT. I got padded ratchet straps and he's ironically been trained to use a Camelbak.

 

Our different trucks had us at 32-35 degrees in the morning. I think we were in the high 40s most of the night. It was not windy but if the wind picks up it will feel alot colder.

 

Passed by you guys last weekend. right passed lipincott. This photo was up at Dante’s view