Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Going on a DVNP trip in a couple weeks. Looking for recommendations of cool stuff see along my route mentioned below.

What would you guys do for day 4?


Panamint Valley – Day 1

- Ballarat down to Coyote Canyon Rd to Barker Ranch

- Barker Ranch to Geologist’s cabin

- Geologists’ cabin to Warm Springs Camp

DVNP – Day 2

- Warm Springs Camp to Badwater

- Badwater to Furnace Creek

- Furnace Creek to Ubehebe Crater

- Ubehebe to The Racetrack

Saline Valley – Day 3

- Racetrack to Lippincott Pass Road

- Lippincott to Saline Warm Springs


OPTIONS OUT – Day 4

- Saline valley road south pass (easiest, best if snow or rain, shortest) to Olancha.

- Saline valley to Keeler via Cerro Gordo road, could see the tramway stations on the way out (difficult).

- Saline valley to Big Pine via Saline Valley North pass (second easiest, sometimes washes out, very icy), could see the ancient bristlecone forest off white mtn road

- Saline Warm springs north via Steele Pass Road to Eureka Dunes (difficult, longest) to 168 to Big Pine

 

@Ez2typethis you may be trying to cram too much in. Also, though we’ve had a very light snow season this year, the Bristlecone Pine Forest may be inaccessible. I think the road is usually closed at the Hwy 168 turnoff in winter.
Edit: also your day 4 options should consider where you’re going. If north on 395, North Pass. If heading down to So Cal or Vegas, South Pass.

 

Those are long days but doable.
Day 1 why not camp in Butte Valley?

Regarding Saline Valley Road North Pass vs. South Pass: I wouldn't say south is better/easier than north. I like north better personally.

 

This is true, the biggest cause of flat tires on gravel/ two track roads is usually excessive speed. My weekly commute to work is via 85 miles of well maintained gravel road- for tourist buses. When I first started working there I was driving an 84 Toyota LWB 2wd pickup. Since it was my third Toyota 2wd truck since being in AAL, I had amassed a substantial collection of extra mounted tires 12-16 winter and summer tires all in <40% wear left and all P rated. I would average 2-3 flats a trip( of course I would bring 2 spares on top of the shell and kept a couple tires at both the road camp and out at my work site)
I’ve experimented with different speeds(35 is posted so there and lower) and definitely found that lower speeds could reduce my flat tires by around 60-70%. The boss told me I should get LT tires, and I eventually did, but managed to wear out all of the 14” P rated tires I had over the years before it was necessary to sell the old truck.
That said there is also a correlation between how recently the roads have been graded- earl season there are a lot of broken shard type rocks and it definitely paid a dividend to go even slower and pay closer attention to road surface.

That said even going slow and watching the road closely was enough at times, this was spring about 3-4 yrs ago prior to the Tundra Brake mod and up sizing to 16” tires. As stated, this event moved up the timeline on the tire size upgrade. This trip out with C rated P235/75-15s two flats in about 10 minutes at around mile 73, towing a box trailer of course. Since the road was still closed it was awhile till another worker came by and gave me a lift on out to the Ranger station so I could plug the other tire( yep, left the plug kit in the toolbox of the 85’ - won’t happen again, have one for each now.
So the obvious benefits of the LT rated load range E tires can’t be denied, as far as best tire- not quite sure yet....

 

Likely the best way to do that hike- might get a slight case of the Kaibab shuffle, I generally either drove up to Chloride and hiked down and back up, or road my mountain bike up from the mixing table on Daylight pass-via the road of course- then hiked in an out, 20-30 minutes down, 45-90 minutes backup. Those were the best days...

 

Definitely a better idea, then you can explore and enjoy more of the south end....

 

There used to be a wading pool for the kids there as well, used to know quite few folks that worked at the Billie Mine- we had some fun times on the 4th down at the FC ranch...

 

Might be an option, depends on how the day goes i think...

 

Any recommendations for how much extra fuel I should bring on the trip i mentioned in post #3633

 

I stopped bringing extra gas. The prices in Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek are pretty reasonable. Just not in Panamint Springs or Shoshone.

 

I agree with some of the others, don't try and cram too much in. That said, we usually go twice a year.

 

Saw this guy on the way down from Gem mine in Jail Canyon....I actually said to my buddy "that rock looks like a lizard."

 

Eureka Dunes


Camp near Hole in the Wall

 

I’d carry at least five gallons. You might not need it but someone else may and that is massive karma points.

 

That's true.

 

Im the over prepared dude that always has everything, including (3) 5 gallon cans that will hold 6 gallons each much to my relief. And exactly like you have said, someone that we may come across will need some gas.

 

I was told this by a Yukon or maybe NW Territories road crew worker in the ‘80’s. He told me he never had flats, kept his speed down to 75 km/hr (45 mph or so). Good advice that I’ve remembered, though i suspect he was exaggerating about NEVER having flats. And he did have LT tires on his Ford F-250.

 

thanks for the heads up! I was gonna pump at panamint springs!

 

Cool video about current condition of Lippincott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=365&v=ji0KSas3McI&feature=emb_logo

 

Thanks for sharing that video. I'm surprised to see how much erosion and change has occurred since my last trip down it. Then again that was a good 25 years ago...