Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Yes you can hike over from Johnson Canyon, from Hungry Bill’s Ranch. Might even find some apples there. They used to grow figs, apples and peaches and pack them over Panamint pass to sell at the mine.
Pretty nice hike, a buddy and I hiked over the range one weekend, spent the night in Panamint City and hiked over the pass to his truck which we staged at the mouth of Johnson canyon.

 

Looks kinda like a chuckwalla. They can bite and it isn’t very pleasant....

 

Yup, but these were very mellow. The kid that caught them is like a lizard whisperer

 

Very true, sometimes we get cut by the 2 edged sword.... I worked there in the mid 80’s for about 4 yrs. jonesing to go back and just trip around for about a month.

 

I have used a AAA maps and found them good for mileage and such, not so much for elevation, but that was quite awhile ago. No experience with Nat Geo map

 

That sounds like a good setup, otherwise we’ll end up fulfilling the prophecy/documentary-Idiocracy (maybe Marching Morons was the inspiration?)

 

Don't know why I wasn't aware of this before, but the NWS has an absolutely awesome dedicated weather page for DVNP:

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/vef/rec/index.php?loc=DV

 

News to me. Good find. Looks like some of the features aren't set up yet. The radar/precip buttons don't work.

 

Being lurking on this one for a while but finally planned a trip to DV in April 19.

I haven't grabbed a map to get the scope of the place but I understand it's large.
Is there a list of places to see, visit, avoid, etc?

 

Wife and I are planning to be there over Christmas.
Will go to Alabama Hills as well and a few places in Nevada.

 

Largest size national park in the lower 48.

 

I remember that flood that washed out lower Wildrose canyon, never was very bad, I seem to remember that since it was FHA funding, they opted to spend most of the funds to repair the 9-10 miles of Hwy 190 that was washed out during the same flooding event. For a few days the only way in and out of the valley was Daylight pass. Those were fun times....

 

I always enjoyed going to Chloride city, I used to ride my mtb up there and hike down into the Big Bell mine which is between Chloride and Keane Wonder, that is a steep one though, 20 mins to hike down and about an hour to hike back up. There is and old road, and you can still see some of the steel anchor pins they put in to winch the trucks down into and up out of the mine. Lots of relics in decent shape due to the difficulty of access. And a great fun downhill back out to the truck!

 

Yep, I hear you on that score. I remember reading an Outside magazine once and saw at the end of some destination write up, -‘Have a favorite place you want to share? - that was enough for a real gut check on disclosure....

 

I guess I'll have to cross the Big Bell road off my list of DV secret spots.

Heck, Chloride is full of secret spots. So many folks breeze in, poke around some ruins, take in the view from Chloride Cliff then head off to some other destination. Some may stay the night and take in the spectacular sunrise over the valley. If one takes the time to explore all the spurs, even the faintest two tracks, the rewards abound. One favorite is a small ordinaryish mine that immediately broke into natural caves lined with large Calcite crystals and the odd Hematite Flower. You get the feeling you have found King Solomon's Mines. Then there's the summer long, naturally air conditioned camp spot. It's the lower of several mine portals with connecting vertical shafts reaching out the top of the ridge. Air in the vertical shafts gets cooled by Mother Earth and sinks. This now 60° air continuously wafts out the bottom portal cooling any campers who picked "the spot".

The whole area sports extra fascination during "Tarantula Season", they are everywhere and some are pretty quick.

Calcite and Hematite, don't take it with you.

 

Those views from CC are quite good.

 

It can be a little spooky too.
We arrived cliff side from LA late one Friday night, up that very trail I believe but looking the other way down on DV proper. After a few minutes watching headlights in the valley I hit the power button on the radio. A little dazed from the commute I heard a familiar tune and a station identification from KLSX Los Angeles, just like I had recorded off the air on a cassette. Then I realized there was no tape in the player and I was listening to an LA FM radio station as clear as could be. Moving the truck 20 feet back caused the signal to fade to static, moving forward we could never pick it back up. Then suddenly......................

 

When is tarantula season? I have only seen tarantulas when I was canyon ripping with my 916 in Pine Valley, SD county.
And why can't you take the Calcite?

 

Love me some CC!

Trail to Oblivion!

 

Because it's a National Park. Take only pictures.