Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I tried to fix the link. Is it blocked by TW?
I perused their forums and find it amusing how much they love the term "overlanding". Chic and trendy. At least here in the states. People have always taken vehicles off road and camped.

I can understand worrying for one's family but to blatantly leave debris, any size, in a national park is not ok. Since it is DV and those who travel in that part of the park are fairly self reliant this isn't getting much attention other than on forums like this. I'm glad the family is safe but he needs to get this resolved. Comments like "The only people making a big deal of this are the ones that have no reason to be concerned" do not sit well with me. It is a national park and we should all be concerned about what happens there. Good or bad. Then this comment concerns me as well "the information on DV is extremely sparse and as a result.. we went over prepared, which turned out to be a blessing". Not sure what over prepared means in this case. We all travel with varying amounts of gear and do our best to prepare for what might happen. The variables are infinite. But to say that the information on DV is extremely sparse is laughable. Before my first solo trip to DV over ten years ago I did as much research as possible and bought at least one book. I had my girlfriend and daughter with me. I did my due diligence in researching and planned my route to be as safe as possible. We were very cold out at Eureka Dunes. We survived and learned a good lesson from that trip. I learn things on every trip.

In the screen shots posted he mentioned his route. I try to picture the route and it isn't making sense. The replacement axle was in Ridgecrest. Why drive all backcountry roads to go get it? Maybe after dropping off the family at the springs and out through south pass but on the return trip 190-395-168-DV road to Eureka Valley and up Steel. Fuel on that route is far more accessible and more highway time. Once back at the springs either north or south pass to pavement. Again, I don't think he did his homework in regards to his trip.

In the end this axle will be picked up and the story will be mostly forgotten. It is great to see the support of the offroad community regardless.

 

Yups, that just about sums it all up.

The complete housing swap was totally unnecessary, all that was needed to perform the repair was a replacement axle, gasket maker and gear oil.

 

I suppose there are a variety of reasons you'd do it his way but whatever. Leaving your shit with no intention of retrieving it endangers our enjoyment of the backcountry.

 

Anyone report this to nps yet?

 

No idea. I'm sure, given the extensive inventory they recently made of damage, it's on their list.

 

Just reading thru his overland bound thread, what a joke. If I did that I would’ve got it fixed, brought my kids to a hotel in big pine, turned around and gone and get it. Max 6 hrs, I was at the springs apparently when this happened, and I never heard of any of this, or I’d have gone and got the axle and carried it out. It all sounds a bit suspect to me to me and as others have said full of excuses/bs.

 

When I first read the story here I was pissed. Now that I've read the guy's posts I'm a lot more lenient on judging him.

He admitted to it, says he informed the NPS, and posted the location of the axle. Even if he lied about informing the NPS, he will be very easy to find and I'll be very surprised if others haven't already contacted the NPS.

Now the question is who wants major brownie points in retrieving the axle? Maybe a combined effort?

37° 3'29.92"N 117°38'19.53"W

 

Maybe he pay's Miller's to have it done. No need to get any brownie points. I help people in the back country when they need it. He is safe at home and too busy to take care of what he left behind. The park service will take care of it one way or another...or he does. It is on him. His responsibility.

 

Well if he has actually contacted NPS and is attempting by hook or crook to eventually get the thing out of the wilderness himself or coordinate some good Samaritans to get it out then that's fine. It isn't going to hurt anything sitting there for a few weeks or months. The BLM and NPS are usually OK with leaving something be until the owners can remove it, but if it goes on too long they get it removed themselves and send the owner a bill.

As to the melodrama in his account of events - well people have been exploring that area for decades before there even was cell service. As all the photos and stories attest Steel Pass is practically a freeway these days as far as the number of people traveling it goes. There was no time at all in this it sounds like it was at all dangerous to anyone. Certainly very inconvenient and ruins a family trip. But the "why won't someone please think of the children" stuff is over the top.

If from the start though they just made some less than ideal choices and decided to leave the axle behind for awhile to be recovered later with the NPS notified what was going on then in the end no big deal. It will go away one way or another in not too long and the responsible party is known and not trying to hide it or anything.

 

It is not about leaving it there for a bit, what is getting people upset is he is making no attempt to go get it. He is in Utah, 5-7 hours from there and the entrance should be a lot easier without his travel trailers. That entire road is easy not in excluding dedeckera, and that is by no means difficult. They could walk the 200 m to the axle pick it up and bring it back. Sure it might be tough work to do but, think of the good feeling you went and saved your own bacon.

I've thought about packing my bags, bee lining down to go grab it by myself drive back thru Utah and stick it in his driveway with a bill attached, but I don't need another trip to DV any time soon, nor do I feel I should be picking up this guys trash which he obviously doesn't give a shit about.

He probably also only contacted NPS after a stink was put up about the axle being left behind. Normal people do not just leave trash lying around. Also from his bad decision choices he made, I cannot imagine he is capable of making good judgement calls as it is..

 

Most people bury there shit.

I’ll be doing DV IN March if it’s there I’ll cut it up with a 4 inch grinder and pack it out.

 

They seemed like nice folks - maybe a bit unaware family - but hey, I'm glad my childhood wasn't documented on here. I say that because I visited the families while the husbands were off an Georgie kept wanting to go back due to all the food scraps scattered about. I know I can be a litter Nazi but trash bags are a good thing to use. Especially if you don't want coyotes stealing your steak or your dog, and it's nice when you don't have to see others' trash no matter how small.

And I have no idea where Monkeyproof was when I noticed that his truck was open with probably $1,000 worth of goodies that could have gone missing had we had thieves nearby.

 

Edit: I thought you meant real shit.

I should introduce you folks to the "Murphy Method" (named by the Derpster ) and out there it does include packing your crap out and eliminating your chances of having trace amounts of fecal matter anywhere on your person.

 

I thought those 10 bolts were made out of sheet metal.

 

I'm going up there next month for our annual trip, I'll keep my eyes peeled. If it's still there I'll grab it for scrap value.

 

FYI from Inyo County Sheriff’s ... credit card skimmers at gas station on 395

 

As if the $4.95 per gallon wasn't stealing from customers enough...

 

I always drive out to Beatty to get gas. To be honest I have yet to ever need my extra tanks. I could use them, but I typically drive around the north end, hit up saline valley, lippincot, steel pass, eureka dunes and the crater. Then scoot out to Beatty as I am in need of a resupply, damn dogs food takes up half the 65l fridge.

Anyways, cheap gas, can grab a hotel if traveling with the misses and get a shower, granted the saline valley one I love. Nothing like gearing down and taking a warm or hot shower in the middle of the desert. Then, I typically head back into the park and make my way south to stripped butte, GOLDER wash, etc and maybe come back up and head over to the other side of the valley to get. Some of the harder trails. Damn I need to go back.

 

Sounds like a damn good trip!

News from the Saline board:
"On Feb. 18th, Superintendent Mike Reynolds and several members of his staff came out to Saline Warm Springs to hold a meeting with the SPA Board. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce a couple new staff members to the Springs and to SPA, as well as to discuss the final Management Plan for the Springs and the MOU between SPA and the NPS. All of the SPA Board members were present, except for Michelle Hamiltion who had a prior work commitment. Since I am Michelle's husband, I was invited to attend as an observer to relay to Michelle what went on.

Superintendent Reynolds opened by announcing that the Management Plan is completed and is scheduled to be sent to his boss, the Regional Supervisor this week. After he approves it, it goes to Washington to get the final blessing from the Secretary of the Interior. 30 days after that happens, the plan goes into effect. Reynolds and his staff were sure that this approval process is almost guaranteed and there should be no further delays. He also suggested that as soon as possible after the plan is in effect, he wants to sign the long-awaited MOU with SPA.

Oregon John reminded him that since SPA still doesn't know exactly what is in the final plan, he couldn't really comment on anything. The Plan is not yet ready for full release to the public, but Reynolds and his staff gave us an overview of what was changed since the Preferred Alternative was published, based upon the several hundreds of comment letters they received from the public. Here are a few highlights:

The perimeter fencing plan has been scrapped altogether. Now the plan calls for "Decorative Fence" around the source pools. The example cited was the existing fence around the lawn.

The grass on the lawn has been reclassified as "Invasive, but Contained". That means that as long as we don't allow it to spread, they won't rip it out.

The existing "mature" Palm Trees will not be removed, but new growth will be stopped. At this time, they weren't able to say exactly how tall a Palm has to be to be considered "mature", but at least there's hope.

There will be NO FEES charged for camping at the Springs. As it has been, we still need a Death Valley Entry Pass or Annual Pass, but the camping will always be free.

In time, as the budget allows, NPS will be providing standard Park Service fire rings/grates that will replace the larger rock fire rings that folks have built over the years. SPA will be able to provide input to the number and locations at that time.

The Burro Spring siphon will be removed by Park personnel. The Park's Botanist has convinced the Superintendent that the established Mesquite trees don't need the water to survive, and that stopping the flow will assist in keeping non-native grasses from becoming established in the draw. We'll see.

We obviously didn't cover the entire Management Plan, as the meeting only lasted a little over an hour. I did hear enough to believe that Mike Reynolds and his staff actually did take our concerns and comments into consideration, and that wherever possible, found a way to incorporate them into the final Plan. Several things have changed since the Preferred Alternative was published and it seems like they are the things that we complained loudest about. I'm cautiously optimistic that the Management Plan, while not perfect in my view, will be something we can live with for a long time, and it's a hell of a lot better than it could have been!"

 

Reserved for my final opinion or comment. The park's going to do what the park and Washington Bureaucrats decide to do.