Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I was up at the Salt Tram Friday night till yesterday morning and the storms were interesting to say the least. Got hail at my campsite Saturday afternoon. I was between two cloud formations producing rain. One in Saline Valley and the other in Owens Valley.

 

I also got a piece of those storms yesterday, and it was really nice to cool things off in Inyo. We avoided the heavy downpours by chance, but watched on with great wonder.

 

Inyo County is saying that Cerro Gordo and Whitney Portal, plus others are closed. Also Hwy 190 from 395 through DV and past Badwater. Is that pre-emptive or are they really washed out?

 

190 near stovepipe

 

Kelbaker road mile 17. About 4 miles before the lava tubes. This is in the Mojave Preserve.

 

Yowza! Fingers crossed that Saline Valley Road has multiple washouts over both North and South passes and it takes Inyo County forever to regrade it. I’d love to be able to visit the springs again yahoo free for a bit…

That said, looks like backroad conditions are going to be poor over a wide swath of the desert this fall.

 

Desert storms and flash flooding are no joke. Still extremely glad that the short storm that rolled through when we were mid-hike at Capitol Reef last weekend turned out to be light and brief (and we were able to finish our hike, drive out of the wash, and be on the road to Ely by the time they closed everything due to the real storm rolling in and the ongoing flash flood hazards).

 

This is a proper monsoon set-up. We haven't had one in 5 years in the Owens Valley. I'm sitting inside typing this and watching things go from grey to almost black above the Whites and Sierra. 50% chance of storms for the whole 10 day forecast. Bring it. Just let it get dry enough for me to cut my grass one day after work. Today is not that day. lol

 

Saturday July 30th 2022
Saline and Owens Valleys as the strorms build up. These were separate cloud formations that finally came together in the evening.


Sunday July 31st




It was pretty epic and I'm glad I made it out safely.
Apparently reports about roads in and out of Saline Valley are that the roads are free of destruction.

 

Great pics @ETAV8R

Here is an Eastward look across Owens Lake, at the deluge that pounded / closed CA-190 on Sunday.

 

Interesting article on mountain lion predation of burros at springs in Death Valley:

https://www.science.org/content/art...ys-death-valley-suggest-big-impacts-ecosystem

 

I’m always fascinated by the “not native” claims as they apply to plants and animals. I mean nothing is really native in the grand scheme. It moves or is brought by birds or animals (seedlings) or migrates because a food source exists. Or in this case, man. Burros have lived in the valley without the help of man (except when it was convenient) for decades. Doesn’t that make them native? Sort
Of the natural cycle. If they kill all the donkeys, what happens to the cats? How does it affect wildfire? Or the insects and critters that live at ground level?

Be interesting to see just what happens when the donkeys are gone.

 

good point. lots of human altered areas seem natural at first glance.
conversely, protection of unaltered natural areas becomes even more important.
in BC there are passionate folks trying to save remnants of coastal old growth forest.

 

Old growth forests are a big deal here in Northern CA as well. In fact, NPS announced a $5k fine for people found at the site of the world's tallest redwood.

Here's an interesting "whatif" argument. Horses migrated to North America several million years ago but became extinct (at least in North America) about 10k years ago. Their re-introduction by European or Spanish settlers would put them in the same category as donkeys. Why aren't we offing horses (not just the Wild Mustangs) as the park service proposes we do with Donkeys?

 

feral horses here too.
was there not a sterilization and cull program somewhere in your western states?
extinction of pre ice age horses etc, due to evolution and natural conditions not introduction by humans.
humans are clearly part of the natural order and shape the world we now enjoy.
where and how much human influence is acceptable is the great debate.

 

The BLM has published plans for wild horses and burrows in the past. But, as you might imagine, they were sued.

There are a lot of invasive species. Not just horses and burros. Grasses and plants, water plants, etc. If you look at human influence, you'd see people planting trees that don't belong--especially giant palm trees or eucalyptus. All that in addition to horses and burros. It's a lot to consider when you decide to start culling something to the point of getting rid of it. Heck, even today, you cannot take domestic stock into some wilderness without guaranteeing they won't poop invasive plants

 

A related question that has been receiving more attention recently is the role of aboriginal peoples (Native American tribes in the case of the DVNP area) who were present and shaping their environment as that environment underwent slow but dramatic changes in the transition from the last glacial period. As they were driven off the land and NP regulations further restricted their previous activities the environment has been significantly altered in the past 150 years. Springs are significantly more overgrown than in the past restricting access from larger fauna. Native Americans tended the vegetation around springs to keep them more open better supporting populations of game they hunted. Pinyon pine trees in photos from the past are actually shaped differently than they are now because Native Americans actually tended the stands to better promote Pinyon nut growth.

Is an environment devoid of all human activity more natural if the activity you are restricting is one that has occurred for the last 20,000 years as the ecosystem evolved into the drier interglacial period? Or is removing that human activity actually, and semi-ironically, causing “human caused environmental change”?

 

there is no turning back on most of these issues and impacts.
unpopular as it is, restricting (vehicle?) access can be part of the solution.
it would be nice to preserve select areas that maintain a natural template for future study.
we dont need roads and trails built to every single corner.
you are correct in that indigenous people shaped their environment just as we do today.
Hawaii offers great examples of messed up ecosystem due to invasive species.

this is somewhat of a first-world debate.
billions of people struggle to survive and could never afford to preserve prime habitats for posterity imho

 

Humans are self-aware. Because if this they think grand thoughts. What most fail to grasp is the we are also part of nature and the ecosystem. Our actions when it comes to non-native fauna and flora make me laugh. A lot.

George Carlin said it best:

"It wanted plastic for itself."

 

The definition of what defines “natural” isn’t an easy one to answer. If it was, we would be cleaning vehicles before and after visits to “pristine” places if we were allowed to visit at all.