Death Valley

Ladies and Gents,

I will be taking a trip to Death Valley over the Thanksgiving holiday. Do you all have any recommendations on where to go and what to see? Thanks for your time.

 

Barker Ranch. Titus canyon. the racetrack.

 

Saline Valley Hot Springs are nice. Yes on The Racetrack via Lippincott Road.

 

be sure to post a trail report if you don't mind. I've never been but would like to go soon.

 

The Saline Valley Hot springs does get busy around Thanksgiving time just giving you a heads up.

How capable is your vehicle/ driver? The reason I ask is that depending on the weather, and route, you may need something capable to explore the backcountry. The places already mentioned in the two posts above mine are very good suggestions and are mostly accessible by a rental car.

Mengal Pass is another good one but does require something with higher clearance.
There are lots of cool things to explore (and cabins) in the Panamint Valley which are out of the way enough if you want a challenge (Jail cyn, snow canyon, lookout city are some of my favs).

@turbodb has some fantastic pictures and knowledge of DV if you search for his ongoing thread

Search for @turbodb 's thread

 

The popular attractions and camping areas in Death Valley will be crowded over Thanksgiving weekend. There is still plenty of room out there to escape, if that is your plan.

 

OK, so I wouldn't say that I'm a DV expert by any means. I've been three times in the last couple years, and you're more than welcome to check out my thread for the trip reports, though it looks like I need to update the remainder of this year. I've bolded the DV trips for you.

Alternatively, if you want just DV stuff and a bit nicer viewing experience, go here: AdventureTaco Death Valley Posts

Trips

1. May 2016 - Owyhee Canyonlands, OR - Want to skip work on Friday?
2. July 2016 - Icicle Creek, WA - Mileage milestone - 60K
3. September 2016 - Crater Lake, OR - A volcano. In a lake. On a volcano.
4. October 2016 - Stage 3 of the WABDR to Sleeping Lady
5. December 2016 - Christmas Tree, Sledding, and Recovery…Oh my!
6. May 2017 - Oregon
   1. Chapter 1: Oregon bound - Pickup and installation of the CVT
   2. Chapter 2: Exploring Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
   3. Chapter 3: Mission Impossible: Running Oregon's Backcountry Discovery Route
7. July 2017 - Canada Adventure (Glacier, Yoho, Banff, Jasper)
8. August 2017 - Return to the OBDR [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7]
9. September 2017 - The De-Tour [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7]
   [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13a] [Chapter 13b]
10. November 2017 - Day After Thanksgiving...Must be Christmas Tree Time
11. December 2017 - The Tacoma Zone - 957 Tacoma's
12. January 2018 - Death Valley [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5&6]
13. March 2018 - The Maze District, Canyonlands NP [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3]
14. April 2018 - Back to Death Valley [day 1,2] [day 3] [day 4,5]
15. May 2018 - Big Sky and Green Hills - Montana in May [Day 1, 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5, 6]
16. June 2018 - Family Camping in the Cascades
17. June 2018 - Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR) [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5 & 6]
18. July 2018 - Two-and-a-Half Days in Idaho [Part 1] [Part 2] [Epilogue]
19. July 2018 - Somewhere in the Sierra's [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]
20. August 2018 - The Re-Tour [day 1] [day 2] [day 3] [day 4] [day 5] [day 6] [day 7] [day 8] [day 9] [day 10] [day 11] [day 12-14] [rig review]
21. October 2018 - F.U.Rain (North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Bears Ears, and Capitol Reef NP) [day 1&2] [day 3] [day 4] [day 5] [day 6] [day 7] [day 8] [day 9] [day 10] [day 11] [day 12] [day 13] [day 14 & 15] [rig review]
22. October 2018 - Hot Springs and the Alvord Playa [part 1] [part 2]
23. December 2018 - The Mojave Road [part 1] [part 2]
24. February 2019 - Hiking Death Valley [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [rig review]
25. March 2019 - Double Fun @ Anza Borrego [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [rig review]
26. March 2019 - Ruining Around in Utah [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [rig review]
27. April 2019 - Alvord Desert - We Return to Explore [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [rig review]

It's a beautiful place for sure. Have fun!

​

 

I've always wanted to climb the striped butte

 

I want to thank everyone for the replies. I will be going out with my wife and five year old son so we are really just looking to see some of the park. Nothing too extreme. The goal is to make sure the boy appreciates the outdoors from an early age. I trust everyone here over the typical travel sites or standard national park websites. I will post once we get back to let you all know how it went. Thank You again!!

 

If you choose to take Lippincott to the racetrack make sure you are well prepared and have the offroad skills to handle it. There is a wealth of information out there on it and you can always ask questions in the DV thread here from others that frequent the park more than myself. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/death-valley-off-road-adventures.60777/

I recently had a friend ask me about Lippincott and I shared this link that I found online.
https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/998-lippincott-mine-road-usa.html

 

Racetrack and lippencott fo sho!

 

I'll skip Lippincott due to the family being with me. I don't need to risk it with them on board. We will definitely check out the racetrack though. Thank You.

 

South from Teakettle junction, the road quality is literally from the depths of hell

I'd recommend taking a trip up and over hunter mountain. its a good scenic climb that can be realistically done in an 80's mustang.

 

DV is on my "to do" list, never been there before.

How nuts of an idea is it to do solo?
Pretty experienced offroad driver, reliable, well equipped truck, ride really heavy when it comes to recovery and preparedness gear, food, water etc.
I also have sat communications, HAM radio etc.

 

Hard question to answer, since solo exploring is a spectrum - some people are fine with it, others aren't so much. So, I find it best to ask questions before giving a blanket answer...

1. Where in DV are you considering going?
2. What is the most remote solo trip you've done previously?
3. How far do you think you could walk in a day if you had to (assuming you're not injured)?

 

1. Whatever trails are appropriate for a lifted, armored vehicle with a winch and good tires (along with a hi-lift jack, recovery ramps and some sort of winch anchor). I wouldn't try to do anything insane that should best be left for group runs, vehicles with lockers and/or larger then 33" tires.
2. I have been through a fair bit of Ocotillo wells and the Anza Borrego area solo, in a far less well equipped, less reliable truck.
3. Tough to say, dependent on terrain and how much gear I tried to haul with me on foot ( my 3 day bag weighs about 30lbs). I am in my mid 40s in decent shape, would imagine I would take as much water as I could comfortably carry along with my bag and coms if I had to try to hike out.

It would probably be best to go with a 2nd vehicle or group at least for the first time to get my bearings.

 

So, Anza-Borroego is a great comparison - thanks for that! I would say that Anza is a bit less remote than DV - or rather, there are more places in DV that are more remote than Anza-Borrego. From your description of yourself, I'd say that you'd probably be fine - especially if you kept to many of the popular (unpaved) routes - but I think your own insight is probably the most valuable - best to go with a 2nd vehicle or group at least for the first time to get my bearings.

DV is a great place - just got back from another trip down there - so definitely find someone to head over with and enjoy exploring!

 

Likely, you're fine. The trails are pretty well-traveled in most cases and it sounds like you have the ground clearance & mindset. Like I said before, 80's mustang will get you most places.

I've seen first-hand alot of people doing stupid stuff on the trails but realistically there are only a couple tough areas in DV. Though I have yet to head up Echo canyon so ill exclude my opinions on that haha.

 

The trip was a success! Although we didn't get to see everything that we wanted to it was still a great trip. We got to see most of the tourist spots which was nice but due to the rain and snow that the park received days before and as we were driving in some of the trails and passes were closed. We opted not to go out to the racetrack. We regret it after speaking with some others that had gone out there but that will be saved for another trip when we have friends in another 4x4 there to assist if we get into trouble. I don't think that wheeling or going out into the middle of nowhere by yourself is a good idea so we played it safe. Either way it was an awesome trip.

We also had the opportunity to assist a young couple that had gotten their BMW into a deep sand situation on the way out of the park. A quick tug got them back on their way. They seemed grateful.

I appreciate all of the recommendations from the group. It was good to talk to @turbodb on Facebook after the trip and see the posts from your trip. We appreciate you getting out there and sharing the world from your perspective. Thanks again everyone!

 

Cool post. I don't remember seeing it in the DV thread which Crom started years ago. If you haven't seen that post it has a wealth of information. Glad your trip was successful.