Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Nice! When we there a year ago and I saw the course I wished I had my clubs. You'll have some comforts at the ranch. It's an Oasis out there for sure. Enjoy.

 

Here's a few pics from my second trip to DV that I did last week. Coming from the Bay Area I drove through two snow storms and about 2" of rain to get there. Coming into Saline Valley over North Pass:

Met up with my buddy in his 80 at the warm springs and stayed one night there. Rainy and windy that night but beautiful the next morning:


That morning headed up Steele Pass to the Eureka Dunes:


TBC...

 

Sorry, had to do some work real quick haha.

Our plan was to camp at the Dunes but if you look at the last pic you can see dust at the far end of the Valley. By the time we got down and around to the other side of the Dunes it looked like this:

No fucking way we were camping in a sandstorm. The campers there were getting hammered and packing up. We didn't even get out of our trucks. I'm bummed I didn't get to play on the Dunes but it was pretty cool to see how they were formed.

We took a very cool drive over to DV proper:

On the way we rescued an asshole that went flying by us on a dirt road only to stop his truck on the paved section and then it wouldn't start. Seemed like the starter failed. While we were trouble shooting his truck, a couple of Dutchmen in a rented RV stopped to ask where the closest gas station was. Not close enough. So we gave them 5 gallons and towed the asshole to Mesquite Flats were we camped for the night. Two good deeds done in one day, not bad.

Next day we gassed up and hit Ryolite:


Then we hit Titus Canyon. I didn't take many pics because it was so awe inspiring and I new I couldn't do it any justice. Definitely a highlight of the trip.


Obligatory Titus Canyon shot:

This wall looked like it was stuccoed with about an inch of mud. I hadn't seen it look like that in pics before. The forces working on this Canyon are incredible.

From there we headed west through the park and camped in Alabama Hills before heading home.

 

Very cool! Takes me back to a year ago. This time last year







Base Camp Furnace Creek CG.

 

I was camping in Cottonwood Canyon a couple of weeks ago and when we stopped at the Stovepipe Wells store/gas station we had good cell service-Verizon. They must have installed a new tower/equipment recently as there were lots of other tourists on their cell phones in the area. Furnace Creek area has decent service as well. Saline Valley-nada.

 

Lost the pass. side tail light assembly on my way up to Alabama Hills and Saline Hot Springs this past weekend. Rigged up this 9 dollar stop light from the cool peeps at the Lone Pine Napa parts store. I stuck a beanie with a ziptie over my driver side dust light and was using my passenger side dust light for a blinker, awkward and ghetto I know but it worked.

 

Nice hack!

What took out the light?

 

Yankee Ingenuity!

 

There are a few places in Saline where one can get reception but they are few and far between.

 

I had full bars on a short off shoot from the North Pass road in the Pine Forest Friday afternoon

 

Great! Mow more ass clowns can get lost following google maps.

 

A bit of history...the DV portion begins about the 2min mark.
https://archive.org/details/Chevrole1939

 

Question for your DV pros...

The trail/road from Ubehebe Crater to Racetrack....is 4WD ever necessary or is high clearance more important? I did that road once in a rented Ford Explorer 2wd about 4 years ago and it made it fine (albeit it overheated and smoke was coming out from under the hood) but it did make it back and forth ok. Would my TRD OR 2wd have any issues? I guess the time of year and weather conditions would also make a difference...

Can someone who has done that road multiple times chime in?

Thanks

 

Thanks. I do have the locker as well, so that could be a help.

 

I think you will be fine. Have a full size spare (I suspect you do) and the means to change a tire should one go flat. It is the most washboarded road I've driven in a long time.

 

Middle Park with @blackhawke88 and @jlvhrse

 

What in the hell are those fabric bubbles in between the trucks? That's crazy....

enter sarcasm

 

Looks like he's caught some wildlife and holding it in those nylon cages.

What were the temps like up there?

 

LoL, not for much longer after seeing mine in action..