Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I've done two trips recently.

Spent Halloween in Saline. Friday night was super windy and Saturday there was even rain. It wasn't heavy but it was there. Nothing like soaking alone in the rain. Quite an experience. Solo trip in with a friend meeting me out there on Saturday.

Depending on the area you go and how prepared you are solo can be ok. Saline Valley Road is pretty well traveled. Should you have a problem you cannot fix there are usually people to help and/or get you to town. I know I've cut a trip short due to helping someone get their rig fixed. Always travel prepared to stay a bit longer should you need to. Regarding our stock tacos they are quite capable vehicles. I took my stock rig all over the southwest deserts before putting on my minimal OME suspension. After that my I put on more narrow tires which then took me many more places. You really don't need a built up rig for most things. I recommend sliders for sure. I still don't have under armor. Just take it easy. The bells and whistles on our TRD OR's do help. I got stuck on an obstacle in the Panamints and the Altrac (SP) got me through after I engaged it.

Second trip was high up in the Panamints for Thanksgiving. Temps were perfect this year. Last year it was super cold. Did a day trip to Butte Valley via Goler and Mengal. There were tons of Jeeps out and about. I'm sure some of the people tromping around were from Panamint Springs Resort and their free turkey dinner. The trip home via the 395/15 sucked due to the amount of holiday traffic coming back to civilization.

 

Just got back from DV. Went up Marble Canyon and Cottonwood canyon for some hiking then up to Rhyolite Nevada to check out the ghostown, and the cool artwork. Then to Titus Canyon for the new people in our group.

Temps were decent for winter, dropped into the 40's at night and 60s during the day.

 

I tried recreating your trip on GPX. We're going to attempt it next week. Attached is my GPS file.

 

If anyone is doing this is January I would love to meet up and make a few days to a week trip. I am out I the military on terminal leave and want to do this along with Moab.

 

I just got back yesterday from another epic solo trip. Here are some highlights. I spent (3) days and (3) nights in Death Valley. I experienced snow and sub-freezing temps (27°F) at Skidoo, freezing wind at Chloride Cliffs (33°F), where I had to perform two emergency self-rescue tire repairs. Due to the winter storm, I had crazy cold wind starting Tuesday evening and all day Wed Dec 31. I have some amazing photos to share. I logged a 141 mile 2-meter radio contact while in the park. Round trip total trip mileage from my home was 960 miles and I estimate nearly 200 miles were off-road in the park. I will post more soon.

I visited:

• Saratoga Springs
• Ibex Dunes
• Harry Wade Road
• Greenwater Valley
• Greenwater Site
• Dantes View
• Furnace Creek store
• Telephone Canyon
• Stove Pipe Wells store
• Chloride Cliffs
• BLM dirt road out to Beatty
• Beatty, NV
• Rhyolite
• Titus Canyon
• West Side Road
• Trail Canyon
• EXIT ROUTE: West Side Road, Harry Wade Road

Hope you're having fun out there.

Awesome! Any pics to share, a few highlights?

Have fun, be safe, and go prepared. The storm from the last two days deposited snow and they're will be ice around some of the higher elevations.

 

I just got back yesterday from another epic solo trip. Here are some highlights. I spent (4) days and (3) nights in Death Valley. I experienced snow and sub-freezing temps (27°F) at Skidoo, freezing wind at Chloride Cliffs (33°F), where I had to perform two emergency self-rescue tire repairs. Due to the winter storm, I had crazy cold wind starting Tuesday evening and all day Wed Dec 31. I have some amazing photos to share. I logged a 141 mile 2-meter radio contact while in the park. Round trip total trip mileage from my home was 960 miles and I estimate nearly 200 miles were off-road in the park. I will post more soon.

I visited:

• Saratoga Springs
• Ibex Dunes
• Harry Wade Road
• Greenwater Valley
• Greenwater Site
• Dantes View
• Furnace Creek store
• Telephone Canyon
• Stove Pipe Wells store
• Chloride Cliffs
• BLM dirt road out to Beatty
• Beatty, NV
• Rhyolite
• Titus Canyon
• West Side Road
• Trail Canyon
• EXIT ROUTE: West Side Road, Harry Wade Road

I left San Diego on Sunday Dec 28, 2014. A view from my back yard.


The sun was setting and it was getting dark just as I passed through Baker, CA.



I left the pavement where CA-127 and Harry Wade Road intersect.



I aired down my tires to 25 psi and drove to to dirt road where the turn off is for Saratoga Springs. I bypassed the Springs, and headed for what on my map was listed as "The Superior Mine" the park service blocked entrance to the old mine so parked at the wilderness boundary and made camp.

I am solo and very simple, so camp for me consists of opening the back of my truck and turning on a propane space heater and deploying a four legged camp stool. Camp setup in two-minutes flat! Temperature was around 50°F and no wind. I proceeded to listen to the sounds of the desert, played some music, read some books, studied some maps before turning in for the night.

 

In the morning [day 2] I explored the various rocks from around the mine site. Lots of variety among the rocks in this area.



I also saw the Ibex dunes for the first time. I drank ice cold iced tea, ate a banana and a cold piece of cheese pizza and headed over to Saratoga springs. However about 1/4 of the way there I could not resist the impulse to park and hike across the open desert to the perplexing Ibex Sand Dune complex. So I did just that. I parked the truck and began the 1.3 mile hike in the nice brisk 46°F weather.

I saw some mining relics along the way.







I finally made it to the dunes.







Looking South from the dunes.




I got my fill of the dunes and left only foot prints, I returned across the desert to my truck.


That is my truck 1.3 miles away.



That is my truck 1.3 miles away, small black dot center.


I made it back to the truck and went to Saratoga springs.







I ate second breakfast atop a rocky outcrop high above the springs. It was very peasant and I had the whole place to myself. After eating, I hiked down to the springs and found two rock houses, both in fair condition given their estimated age.

Next I returned to the truck and made my way back to Harry Wade Road where I discovered three big rigs and a service truck. I followed them for a while, and spoke to one of the drivers. They were on their way to what I believe is Fort Irwin Military Reservation. On my Cal Topo map it's listed as U.S. Naval Weapons center. They were a gov. contractor called Allied Tech, or Alliance Tech, or something like that out of Nevada.

They turned South West on Owl Hole Springs Road, and I continued along Harry Wade Road to the North.









Harry Wade Road looking North and the Black Mountains.



This is the last section of the Black Mountains, where they fade into sand. I really like this landscape.



Harry Wade Road looking West and the horseshoe shaped Owl Shead Mountains behind the Tacoma. This is a fascinating section of the park and really warrants exploration by foot. I will return here in the future.



This strange wrinkled landscape is called "Confidence Hills"



Harry Wade road ends at "Ashford Well (Dry)" on my topo map and connects to pavement. I headed East on CA-178. After I made Jubilee Pass I found this coyote. I read the Coyote's mind, and he was looking for a food hand out which I declined to give. I said good bye and moved on.



I was concerned about the weather over the next few days. The last weather report I had from civilization forecasted cold temperatures and rain and snow for Tuesday and Wednesday. By the time I made Salsberry Pass I finally was receiving a weather station and I listened to the scary storm watch report warning of snow and sub-freezing temperatures and high winds. The report was for Nye County Nevada. I continued on to Greenwater Valley.

Driving on CA-178, looking at what I believe is Nopah Peak (6,394') in the Nopah Range. Seeing snow only reinforced the ominous weather report being broadcast on 162.450 MHz.



I passed through Greenwater Valley stopping at Greenwater site.

Greenwater Valley



I found one camper in Greenwater Valley on the South side.



Greenwater Valley


Greenwater Valley


Greenwater Valley, parked at Greenwater site (not pictured)


I found this camper on the North end of Greenwater Valley right at the legal 2-mile limit for camping.


When my wheels hit the pavement I went left to Dante's View. This is where I made my 141 mile VHF radio contact. If your a radio geek and want to read the tech version click here and here. The short version is I spoke to a radio operator on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, utilizing a repeater on Keller Peak in San Bernardino mountains. Total distance was 214 miles.

Pictured below from Dante's View is Death Valley Proper. If you look at the lower left corner you'll see a dark circle, there is a road down there with cars on it in Bad Water Basin!






It was about 40°F and strong winds on Dante's view. I stepped down the hill a little bit, being careful not to do something stupid and tumble to my death but this is one place I did have cell signal and wanted to send a couple pictures to family back home. Just stepping off the trail about 10-15' and squatting down got me out of the wind and was much more comfortable. The cell signal is provided by Commnet if anyone cares. I roamed on it just fine with my T-Mobile. After sending off some pics I hiked back to the truck. It was interesting to hear all the foreigners talking in their native languages. Lots of people from all around the world were here visiting.

From here I needed to find a place to camp and I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before, but first I wanted to revisit Hole in the Wall. I wanted to see how much the place changed in (5) years. Now I don't know what got into me but once at Hole-in-the wall road I started driving all rally style, hard and fast, and the trail is very rocky, but it was fun! It's really a neat place and having been there twice and photographed it I can tell that my camera or me, can't do the place justice. It's just such an odd place. Best description I can give it would be a 4-story apartment building made of mud with weird holes in it.

Hole in the Wall


After hitting pavement again, I went to Furnace Creek store for a new DV souvenir shirt and some supplies. From there I decided to camp in Telephone Canyon. Telephone Canyon is a neat place in that you can see travelers along CA-190. This area is very near Emigrant Campground, and is in the shadow of Tucki Mountain.

Here are some night shots.





I liked my campsite all alone out there, however I was very exposed and didn't have much in the way of a wind break. I ate, goofed around with the camera, looked at maps and stayed warm with the propane heater. I was parked with the truck leveled so I would sleep comfortable, however the wind was blowing from the West and I was nose East, so it was tail into the wind for me. Before turning in for the night (I sleep in the cab, modified for sleeping) I crawled into the back of the truck to take shelter and stay warm while reading a book. I slept really good inside the truck all warm the second night and there was constant mild wind all night long.

 

It was cold, windy and cloudy in the morning for Day 3. It was 39°F.

I looked around, some sun was shining.







Then I saw my drivers side rear tire completely flat. Haha! I can't say for sure, but I feel quite strongly that it was my rally-style driving in the rocks at Hole in the Wall that did it. It was a slow leak, and all the air leaked out over night. I was not certain if the bead was broken or not. I decided I would ratchet strap the axle, jack it up and pump some air into it to see if it would inflate on it's own. As it turns out, it pumped up just fine.







It was cold! I had the truck running with heater on full blast, and would periodically take breaks from the cold wind to thaw out inside the cab.


Despite my best efforts I could not find the hole in the tire. I inflated it to 35 PSI and still I could not find the leak. I thought about concocting a soapy brew to do a leak test but I didn't have the proper soap and it was f'ing cold. I was supposed to head to Chloride Cliff and see Chloride city ruins, but first I figured I would test out the leaky tire someplace closer first. So I went to Skidoo which was right around the corner from where I was. It was (8-9) miles of pavement and then (9) miles of dirt road to the Skidoo site.


It was at a higher elevation and once I arrived there it was 27°F and windy.




I parked my truck as a wind break wile I took photos. I did not realize how large the town of Skidoo was, or how long it existed, over 10 years!







I will have to return to properly explore Skidoo. I didn't have enough time and it was bitterly cold and windy and it started to snow! I checked my tire, which appeared fine, reversed course and headed back to telephone canyon to explore the trail more than I had the night before. After Telephone Canyon I went to Stovepipe Wells store for a hot coffee.

From there I headed to Chloride Cliffs. The trail is very narrow and quite rocky.



What muddy water I found was frozen.



By the time I reached the location in the picture above my tire had lost 15 psi. I admitted more air, back up to 35 psi and proceeded to climb up to the higher elevations. When I finally reached a nice ridge I stopped the truck and took some pictures. It was 33°F and windy here. This is when I was fortunate to hear the hiss of the leaking tire. The hole had either enlarged itself or whatever was plugged it had dislodged itself. It was a fast leak now. Shit! I had to act fast. I grabbed a marker from the center console and located the hole and marked it both on the sidewall and tread. I was freezing in the wind. I initially tried to prepare the tire plug kit but it was too cold, they were hard as a rock and my manual dexterity was severely diminished in the cold wind. I had already dropped one plug in the f'ing dirt. I reassessed the location and decided it best to move the truck to a location off the ridge a little bit so I could work smarter. I moved down hill and about 20 yards south. I was tail into the wind but it was not as strong and I really didn't have much of a choice, it was better than being perched up on the exposed ridge.

I started the air compressor and put more air into the tire. The plugs however were nearly frozen and very stiff, not at all pliable. I put the plugs directly in front of the heater vent in the cab and after about 5 minutes they were workable.

I reamed the hole, applied the rubber cement and plugged that bitch! It worked, but it was so cold that the rubber cement was very slow to cure, but it held nonetheless!

When I stopped the engine to listen to the tire, I heard air leaking! My plug was solid, except for the rubber cement slow to cure issue. It turns out I had yet another hole in the tire! Thankfully I found this hole too! I marked it with a pen on the sidewall and decided to bail from this location to lower elevation and out of the infernal arctic wind!

At the Chloride Cliff Road sign location with the frozen mud hole, I had a lot less wind, and some sunshine to work in. I proceeded to plug the second hole. It was interesting to note that the marks on the sidewall with the pen were totally eviscerated by the rocks on the trail. I had to re-find the hole all over again.





Lesson learned, it good practice to write on the wheel the location of the plugs so that I can easily check on them later.



With all the air leaks plugged that I knew about, I decided I would make a return trip some other day for Chloride Cliffs. I headed out to Beatty by an unnamed BLM dirt road. Off I went to Beatty, NV where I found a nice gas station and ate a proper breakfast at Dennys. After eating, I when to Rhyolite Ghost Town.

I had a nice conversation with and enduro motorcycle rider who was one of two. We discussed traveling the back roads in the park and he was asking what I thought about his plan for the next day. I told him what I knew of current road conditions through Saline and Steel Pass. I advised him to go around the Pass given reports I had read. Anyways we said our good byes and I left but not before taking some pictures.

Rhyolite School


Bottle House


Ghost Rider


From Rhyolite, I decided it would be fun to go through Titus Canyon. I knew it would be dark long before I got through it, but it would be fun! So I did! There were some major wash outs in the canyon. I don't think any passenger car is getting through anytime soon without damage or getting stuck.





After Titus Canyon I headed for Trail Canyon just off of West Side Road at below sea level. There were three other parties pulled over camping as I past on the way up to the legal 2-mile distance limit up the canyon. I parked nose into the wind and immediately prepared for sleep. It was cold and the wind was howling, so much so that it really rocked the truck at night. I felt bad for the campers in tents, they must have suffered terribly in the night.

 

Post reserved for day 4 trip report.

 

Looking forward to reading about your trip Crom, especially the self rescue tire repairs. I also head out to DV solo because I go at my own pace and see the things I want to. Glad you made it back safe....

 

Nice trip, glad you got out of trouble. Greenwater Valley is where we spotted the badger, surprised the hell out of us.

 

Some pics of our trip to Saline Valley and Death Valley this past weekend (all taken with iphones 4s and 5):


Looking out at Badwater basin from Natural Bridge Canyon in Death Valley


Water in the salt flats of Badwater Basin


Looking back at Saline Valley going up Lippincott Road into Death Valley


Chilling with the codawgs at the Playa


Checking out some tires outside the Saline Valley hot springs


Pushing (JK) one of the rocks in the playa


Mosiac Canyon


Artist Drive in Death Valley


Salt formations in the Death Valley basin


Natural Bidge in Death Valley


Me, Jen and Jasmine at the hot springs in Saline Valley


Tom waiting for a Burro to cross the trail


Leaving the Park

 

Havent been to those places in over 15 years!!! shit I need to go out there again soon! Super beautiful and a special style of desert in Death Valley!!!!!!!!
Aaron and Jen (blackhawke88) you better invite me next time!

 

I definitely will! Too bad it isn't BLM open dez so you can tear through it in your race truck =/

 

Well done! Nice pics! I've yet to visit the hot springs, still on my list. I didn't see Tom or his truck in your photos, but saw Jasmine. I did a quick search and see he posted some pics to TW Live.

Glad you had a good time out there.

 

here you go!

 

^ Haha. Damn Burro wouldn't move!?! I've heard they can be quite aggressive at wanting your food in Saline.

 

Hey nice meeting you guys haha even if it was quick, wish I could keep up with your girls truck out Bat Road, I had too much gear to go fast!

 

Careful what you wish for, we were soaking in warm springs when an old gentleman decided to get in butt naked, it was ok until he got too hot and sat on the edge

 

They were actually pretty friendly, it was hard to refrain from feeding them, so we took some selfies:

Yea, it was cool bumping into you guys. Where did you go aftewards?

Yup, we were lucky and had a pool to ourselves for about an hour. Some an old dude with just a towel walk over slowly and we were like "nope nope nope" and bolted back to camp haha