Thanksgiving Death Valley Trip

TW Fam,

The GF and I have been discussing what we are going to do for Thanksgiving this year. She has typically gone to Glamis, but the increased crowds and stupid people have really detoured our desire to head out for large weekends.

We did the Mojave Trail back in 2020 with @hoarder23 and had a great time. Froze our asses off, burnt our T-Day dinner via the Dutch oven, had lots of laughs. Looking to do something similar in Death Valley this year but have never been, so want to discuss potential points of interest and areas that we should plan our trip around, or where to avoid such as the Racetrack.

So far its just us in one vehicle. I'm happy to open up the invite and discuss having others tag along but we will have our two dogs that aren't other dog friendly so that typically puts a damper in things.



OP

 

I was out there a couple weeks ago, took our time and spent four days on the road heading east to west.

The road is pretty much in good shape throughout the entire length. Between the 95 and heading up the Piute Range the road was pretty rough (rocky) due to wash out from last winters rains.

The drop into Watson Wash is a little chewed up, mainly from vehicles heading west to east, and fairly slick from the loose dirt on the hard packed soil. I stayed on the left side and went down with no issues.

Heads up, the rail road is doing work at Afton and filled the river crossing with rock. Apparently this was done without permission and there is an ongoing investigation into this. The rail road has come out and said they will remove the rock, we'll see about that.

Go out and enjoy yourselves, lots to see. I plan on going back out a few more times to check out some of the sites I didn't have time to visit.

 

Filled the water crossing with rock? Just want to clarify I read that correctly.

 

Yes, filled with rock. There may be a video on Youtube by now.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr_iw6YjlvU&t=1501s

 

The end of the crossing is about a foot deep, enough to wash your tires.

 

Wow that water crossing sure is different now, that's lame. It could get pretty deep before. Last time I did it I nearly flopped my truck over trying to hug the right side of it to keep my intake above water (pre-snorkel install). Hit a big rock or root or something under there.

Right when I smacked whatever it was

 

Damn, that sucks in a lot of ways. At least I know it's passible now without concern.

 

Went on Halloween weekend, East to west. No school bus. Mailbox site was much smaller than I remembered (toy car rock all gone). Everything was passable. Yes the water crossing was filled in with rock.

 

I bet the Army Corps of Engineers and Cal Fish and Wildlife are going to be on it, whoever did it needed a streambed alteration permit (section 1602) to do it, and I doubt the railroad maintenance crews cared when they dumped the rock. They’ll just use the crossing and then have to mitigate for it by cleaning it up when they remove the material.

Don’t be surprised though if part of the mitigation includes them having to put in a low water crossing or some other improvements like a culvert- that will protect the water from oil and silt when vehicles cross through, something that will take away some of the fun but will protect the water quality there.

 

Tis the week!

Spent the weekend doing prep work to the truck and planning the route. Should be a solid trip.

 

just ran it in Sept pretty much smooth sailing



DR thread with some photos.

https://www.dezertrangers.com/threads/dmc-mikeys-last-ride.239826/

Wed- sunday We'll just outside of Afton canyon off Basin Rd. Welcome to camp/cruise by if you need a cold beer or some smoked meats.
Hit me up I can send you the cords.

 

]

You're going to be out there this Wed-Sunday? Yeah, send me the cords and I'll add it to our route!

Damn, that looks like so much fun. What section of road is that?

 

Sent.

That's the whoop section after you cross kelso cima rd. heading toward lava tubes

 

Very nice! My truck would not handle that section nearly as well but maybe one day! lol

 

Damn this sounds like fun. Look forward to a trip report as I want to run this in the next month or so.

 

After reading that DR thread, you guys know how to party and how do I sign up!?

 

yea It's pretty hammered through there. In my tacoma, I'd be doing like 5-10 mph through all of that.

I think we were doing like 40 ish.. as you can see and hear in the video almost got a little too pitted. I was giving her the onion as @DMCtacoma was literally a car length off my bumper through all that

 

Updated thread OP & title! Figured the first thread never really took off so why start a new. Any recommendations of good destinations we should try and go to?