Death Valley (Apr 6-10)

Trip dates moved to 13-17 FULL MOON


My wife and I are planning a trip to Death Valley before the weather really starts to heat up. The plan is to leave on Tuesday afternoon, hit the west entrance and divide the park into 3 or 4 sections and be home by Sunday night.

I set up a page for reference and links:

http://www.mikenhiroko.com/?p=237



If anyone is interested hit me up, if I get a bunch of responses I will definately head up the planning.

 

A beautiful place, a place I love very much. I made a thread dedicated to Death Valley.

Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I did a 5 day 4 night expedition in 2009. It's truly a magnificent place, so much to see...

I'm curious about your map. Did you build it by hand or did you use some automation to make all the POI?

 

I actually read your post, I was going to put it on my website as a link on the Death Valley 2011 trip info...maybe I should.

The map is a collection of many websites and GPX files I found online. I put them all together and started to verify them the last couple days. They look pretty legit, I just need to decide what route will be best, connect the dots and verify spots.

I have been getting caught up almost every night it seems reading personal accounts, historic facts, events, and pictures on this place. Death Valley is simply an amazing place!

I saw on TV a couple days ago, Badwater has more water this year than normal, alot more. There are people kayaking on the lowest/driest place in the U.S., that's pretty cool!

 

Right on. That that makes sense. I forgot you could import GPX files and build KML / KMZ files. Thanks for the reminder.

I did the same thing before my trip. Lots of reading and studying the history of the place. There is so much to know and understand if one has the time.

Here is a visual of my trip from in 2009. The house icon represents Ballarat, the town where I started the 4x4 journey.


I don't know if you're into hiking but one really great resource for Death Valley hiking is Jim Boone's site. Very good.

I had a baby girl in September last year and my life has become incredibly busy. If it weren't for that I'd try and join you for a day in Death Valley. I worked it out with the wife so that I could go back this year in November which I am looking forward to.

If I can offer any advice to you it would be that the place is huge, and it does lend itself well to being explored by vehicle. But if you try to see too much in a small amount of time you'll spend a great deal of time in the truck. Not that that's a bad thing but it's nice to be outside too. And remember you can always make another trip to see what you didn't see before. That's how I have been doing it and it has seemed to work out pretty well. When I go back in November, among other things I am going to explore The Corridor, (map).

EDIT: You probably know this but the park service publishes a morning report which lists the conditions of the back country roads. In April I don't think too much would be closed but I would check it anyways. It looks like Titus Canyon is closed right now due to snow and ice.

 

Thanks for all the info, I appreciate. Jim Boone's is a great site, one more to add to the list. Congrats on a girl, I know the transition, I went through it 7 years ago. I have been checking the morning report for a couple weeks, some roads are closed still but looks like they should open up real soon.

The Corridor will hopefully be one of the stops on this trip, I am really curious about the left fork of Echo Canyon, I have seen some pictures and video of some terrain...looks challanging.

Thanks again for the info Crom, much love

 

Thanks for the info Crom, I changed most the trip(looks a lot like your last trail route in 2009). After reading endless websites on this place, this route looks great.

 

Looks like a great weekend trip. I may have to try this some time.