Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

You will prolly be alright. I did it years ago in my '03 Tacoma. Granted it had a shorter wheelbase, but pick your lines right and you should be ok. Could always stack a few rocks in key places.

 

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! - Akiro 'The Wizard'​

 

This is your brain



This is your brain 30+ days into quarantine

 

The new owner of Cerro Gordo may be a Tacoma owner too...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...California-mining-town-trapped-snowstorm.html

 

Tacomaworld resupply mission ?

 

I think I I seent it.

 

Death Valley carnage - Well this litter bugger caused me a great fright in the middle of nowhere, when my batteries shifted due to the battery mount giving way the positive terminal contacted the metal tray causing a short, luckily this ground wire was low gauge broke the short.. note everything is fused. This was directly at the terminal.

Shop fixed/beefed up the mount, should be good for now. May eventually relocate.

 

Yikes!
That goes along with the lame core support. I'd like to relocate my battery too.

 

Yeah, even 2nd and 3rd gens. If you actually use the truck it likes to crack apart on you. Guess it was finally my time.

 

Holy crap. I can't believe they can just close a place as big as Death Valley. That's insane.

I mean, I wouldn't want to deal with flocks of idiot tourists during a pandemic either. But fuck, that place is the ultimate social distancing, and I want to go there!

 

It's not just social distancing. Most travel several hours on highways making the risk of an accident or contacting someone or something that is infected as well. Never mind that travel in the back country carries its own set of risks that might require emergency personnel and resources needed for those infected.

It's difficult decision for sure. And I hope they start to open places like DV so people can at least try and get back to some semblance of normal.

 

When I was out there before the shutdown there were so many foreign tourist crowded around Badwater and the camp sites were packed. So yea, even as big as death valley is it could still turn into a viral hot spot at the main POI. I did have some concern when I was out there with the amount of locals and foreigners crowded around.... its an international destination.

 

Yeah, I didn't mean to question the logic or wisdom of the decision. Just wanted to vent on the internet like an entitled middle class American. I can't imagine how tough it is for emergency responders these days.

To daydream, I long for the sights of the park, to see the big tourist areas, without the throngs of tourists littering everywhere and trampling everything.

Before the total lockdown, I spent the last weeks of March living in Anza Borrego and working remotely. My cellphone bill was insane. But it was so profoundly beautiful and inspiring to be there. The closest humans I saw the whole time were buzzing over me in apache helicopters. Which is terrifying to wake up to, but otherwise awesome.

Starting to get cabin fever for sure.

 

Nice! We were just out at Borrego Springs RV/Golf resort! It's open to 60% capacity. We were happy to get in there with our trailer, along with our friends. Anza Borrego SP and Ocotillo Wells OHV are closed still. But got in some wheelin closer to Salton Sea. Man it was good to get away for a few days. Golfing and fishing with my daughters didn't hurt either. That poor catfish had 3 hooks in him including mine! He's the one who got away from a couple of other fishermen. LOL
It's catch and release there so I removed the hook(s) and set him free to the delight of my daughter who was the one who grabbed the rod and hooked him.

 

One thing I've enjoyed about the SIP thing is reading through some of the DV history. You never realize all of what happened in DV until you start reading all of the stories.

 

Like what?

 

Like the Marble Pools.

 

Is there more than one?

 

I've been having a "thunk" sounds since the trip, finally got under the truck and started poking around. Found one of my body mounts came loose. Busted out the impact drill, hope that got it.

But seriously the washboard roads in Death Valley are no joke. Exsepcially heading up crankshaft and Saline Valley, need to check every bolt when your done with that place.

Also sad I missed the bathtub, was too distracted by everything else.

 

Glad you found it.

Yes of those inspections. Before trip, and after trip inspection so important. Even when stopping for lunch. Especially if a rig has been wrenched on recently. Most of the threaded hardware on my rig are indexed with paint match marks. that way I can glance at them with a flashlight and know if they've moved or not. I seem to recall one of my cab mounts bolts in the rear move on me once, I think I blue loctite it it when I put it back together. Some of the bolts I've double nutted too, like the core supports, and the battery hold down hardware. My upper ball joint boot ripped again. Ugh.

Several years ago I was thinking of doing telescope peak as a day hike. It's achievable in the warmer months due to the elevation. It's starting to heat up out there again.