Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Negative. It is not Steel Pass. As quoted, it is South Pass on SVR.

 

Which FB page is that?

 

Maybe Death Valley Road Conditions

 

That's what I thought too but I didn't see anything about the past weekends conditions. I wanted to make sure i'm not missing valuable info.

We had a choice between DV and Mojave and decided on Mojave based on having limited time.

 

Saline Warm Springs page.

 

Part 2

...we looked out over Saline Valley and watched the chaos that was this popular place on a Friday night. Saline Valley Road, North Pass, and Steel Pass were repeatedly illuminated by the army of people making their way to the Warm Springs for the long weekend.

We were glad to be alone up here, away from it all, enjoying the best of what Death Valley has to offer.

Eventually we found ourselves ready for bed - the stars bright above us, and another great day in the books. Except that the day wasn't, quite, in the books. As we climbed up the ladder, I setup the camera for a series of long exposures - and it wouldn't be until later that we could really enjoy the end of this amazing day!

watch us on Steel Pass, and in the even sketchier San Juan Canyon in
Old Roads and Star Trails - In Search of Overlooks #2​

https://youtube.com/embed/HbrJXykW_T8

catch up on the whole story [part 1] [part 2]​

 

Some nice star trails. Speaking of which, I was looking at a tracker from MoveShootMove yesterday. I think it’s probably good for a lighter weight set up. Like a 5d and a 85 at most. Couple hundred bucks. Seemed like a good option for WA shots. Prolly not great for deep field tho.

Anyone use something like the MSM star tracker?

 

I am heading out to DV next Mon-Thurs and wanted to hit Titus Canyon again, time permitting. I checked the road conditions and it is currently closed, and it looks like it is raining in DV today. I am not sure if the closure is due to today's weather or carryover from previous storms.

Do you guys know how long this trail is generally closed due to storms? I am hoping to be able to drive it next Tues or Wed if there is isn't anymore rain after today (which forecasts say there shouldn't be). Do you think that would be do-able?

 

It was closed last week because of the snow. Now it will probably stay closed because of the rain. They do try and get it re-opened pretty quick after a storm.

 

30+ years ago I went into Titus Canyon on my dual sport with a few friends, and went around a "Road Washed Out" sign as the road started to climb in from the East side. After a sketchy descent through mud and snow into Leadfield, we encountered a Ranger (I think it was still a National Monument then). He gave us all citations (our argument that the sign didn't say "Road Closed" was ignored) AND made us turn around and ride out the wrong way on the one-way road. Climbing back up was not easy. And federal tickets aren't cheap.

 

There are some impressive photos of SAR operations and some perhaps familiar places in the Inyos covered in snow on their FB timeline.

Bruno looks vaguely familiar, not sure if I've maybe seen him at the springs before. Hope he's OK but not an encouraging story at this point...

 

Part 3

...Soon enough, we found ourselves high in the Inyo Mountains. This was a spot that I'd fallen in love with as soon as I'd seen a similar photo from a fellow explorer, and I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint. We arrived just as the sun was setting, a purple hue cast over and area we'd spent the last two days exploring.

Read the fully story
To Thunderbirds and Beyond - In Search of Overlooks #3







catch up on the whole story [part 1] [part 2] [part 3]​

 

Sadly still no word on the Inyo SAR effort other than weather is really not helping things. A family member of the party missing posted this on another forum:

He lived up in the canyon near Beveridge for a couple years in the mid 90’s until BLM politely asked him to move along. His Saline Valley stories include towing a camper trailer into the valley with a Honda Civic, driving out the south pass in a compact Chevy with only the e-brake functional, and knowing which canyons stayed the coolest during summer… if anyone knows the area and was aware of what it takes to survive there its him.
​

Sounds like many of the Springs regulars know him well also.

 

It seems like protection should mean closed to all, not some.

 

Hmmm.... By that logic if it is open to hikers it should be open to OHVs?

There is very little literature I can find on "sand sport" environmental impacts but at least in DV they chose the dune systems on which to permit it and to prohibit it based on those dune systems with endemic plants on steep slopes. Hikers avoid steep slopes and thus have minimal impact on those plants. Sandboarding of course heavily impacts those slopes.

In general I'd like the NPS to keep as much open to as much that is appropriate rather than making draconian blanket decisions. So in this case they have not blanket closed all dune systems to sandboarding. And they haven't blanket closed entire dune systems to all activities either. Seems like a sensible and balanced approach to use and conservation?

 

I might not have been clear. The dunes are closed to sand boarding but open to hiking. They are closed to one activity for preservation. Why wouldn’t you ban hiking too? Doesn’t make sense. If you wanted to preserve something, wouldn’t you want to limit all activity?

 

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough either.

What you close an area to is dependent on what you want to preserve. In the dune systems they have closed to sand boarding there are endemic plants (i.e. plants that exist nowhere else on earth than on that particular dune system) that tend to grow on steep slopes. So they want to minimize the use of the steep slopes in those particular dune systems. Hikers don't go up steep slopes in dunes, it is pretty much impossible to do. Thus hikers have low impact on these plant communities. The whole point to sandboarding is of course to go down steep slopes. So sandboarders do have high impact on these plant communities. Thus if your goal is protect those plant communities you don't need to close the area to hiking but you should close it to sandboarding.

This really isn't different from hundreds of other use/preservation decisions made all through out the parks. Just because you want to preserve something doesn't mean you have to close it to all activity. The stated goal of the parks is balance use and conservation and within NPs specifically a heavier emphasis on conservation than say BLM or NFS. But it is still a balance and they don't close what they don't have a need to close.

With sand boarding they say what they are trying to protect and why sand boarding specifically impacts what they are trying to protect.

I can't understand why we'd want to close things to more activities then we need to. Is that what you are advocating? I mean as a photographer I'm not a big fan of hikers on the dunes since they leave unsightly footprints that screw up my photos but I don't see any justification to banning them as they aren't having an environmental impact.

Similarly I really don't really like sand boarders for similar reasons but I see no reason to ban them from all the dune systems in the park. Right now they only ban them from a few systems where their impact on steep slopes matters.

EDIT: And I should add a separate question is whether sand boarding actually does impact the endemic plant populations. I couldn't find much of anything on this with a quick Google search. Another objection to restricting access to areas or activities is that the claimed impact isn't actually an impact. I have no insight into whether sand boarding actually threatens those plants. But assuming the impact is real the activity restrictions in place (no to sand boarding, yes to hiking) makes sense.

 

I was under the impression that sand boarding activities were not allowed within DVNP. There are plenty of areas outside the park to use a sandboard. I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding and have boarded dunes elsewhere. It isn't that fun compared to snowboarding. To each their own I guess but leave some places alone, which is what the park service strives to do.

 

That’s what I had assumed but after seeing sledding going on at Mesquite a couple of years ago I checked and sand boarding is specifically allowed at Mesquite dunes. No commercial operators though of course.

It’s been a long time so my memory may be fogged but I think the issue was primarily fought over at Eureka back in the late 90s soon after the dunes moved from BLM to NPS. IIRC there had even been some commercial operators bringing people to the dunes. The Superintendent at the time was allowing boarding at Eureka until there was some justification for prohibiting it but the commercial tours without permits were already out of bounds. But there were no resources to patrol the area back then either.

I lost track at that time and never followed the outcome but at some point they did close most of the dune systems to boarding in the park. But Mesquite at least is permitted. I see contradicting information about some other places like Saline Dunes but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to board on the Saline Dunes as they are tiny.