Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

its a mazda miata on a stretched samauri frame. yeah smoke never completely cleared. got better as the week went on. still great night sky viewing when the moon wasn't blinding. springs weren't too crowded. tubs were empty so that's been keeping people away. saw quite a few people roll in then turn around when they saw empty tubs.

 

Thank you for the info. I've seen that Mazda in pics somewhere before.
Smoke ebbs and flows. Today started off ok but looks like there's another easterly wind pushing the smoke into DV. I'm surprised people aren't aware the tubs are empty. That would really suck to travel from far off to soak and find the water isn't flowing. They really need to replace the valves already. The reasoning for closing hot springs is ridiculous. My buddy just got back from Idaho and checked out several hot springs. All open. Mono County is open too.

 

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/news...ZW72Hgs3DpiBwkoUFlZp0OGR41t4YlnVkjtc2Ly5l3-Fg

"DEATH VALLEY, CA – A suspect has been arrested for a fatal shooting that occurred in Death Valley National Park.

Zachary Salyer (34), of Amargosa Valley, Nevada, called Nye County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 7:15 on the morning of Sunday, October 11 to state he shot the victim. Salyer reported that the victim was on a dry lake bed in Amargosa.

Salyer was arrested by Inyo County Sheriff’s Office, charged with first degree murder, and transported to Inyo County Jail. He is being held on $1,000,000 bail."

 

Wonder what went down with that.

 

dude shot another dude

 

Curious what the back story is on this one.

 

No kidding. But it sounds like the two probably had some history.

 

And thats another Quick Mystery!

 

holy moly

 

My guess is woman, money, or drugs.

 

currently 7051 ft amsl with 360* view. despite the haze and resudual smoke, it is pretty dam nice out here. gonna see some
asterisms after twilight. calm! minimal breeze, this camp would be difficult when windy. temps resonable at this elevation.

 

dinner in DV

 

Man, those Partner stoves are great! I just got a larger one for 2x 10" pans.

 

big fan of build quality. mine is a 22inch. sometimes wish i had a 16inch double burner, or the single burner version

 

Saline Valley Road seems to have a different surface each time I drive it. From Lippincott road to North Pass, the road was mostly rough. Intermittent hard packed gravel with sections of loose cobbles, but mostly sections of washboard alternating with sections of very fine high frequency wave patterns that would shake the truck rapidly and cause me to drop speed from 25MPH to 5MPH. I just have a low tolerance for the transition from reasonable speed into moments of feeling like the truck is skating across gravel due to rapid bounce from washboard, then back up to 25MPH and on into a section of cobbles again. I was thinking that either I enjoy driving this kind of road, or, why drive this road again? As i climbed up the North Pass i caught a glimpse of a reddish horizontal crescent moon just above the Saline Range, I stopped, I watched it rise and disappear into a dark overlaying cloud of Creek Fire smoke.

 

Same here. But I'm actually OK with more room.

 

This isn’t really off-road related but, last time I was at DV on field work, we came across a mass trilobite grave I believe near Titus canyon. Seemed wrong to step on all the loose shale but still amazing!!

 

@sawbladeduller, what pressure are you running in your tires and are the tires e rated? The heavier tire is more unsprung weight that the shock needs to deal with in addition to the stiffer sidewall that doesn't allow the tire to deflect as much. Only real options are airing down and dialing in your suspension.