Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

We're planning on being further north, so that we can check out Bodie and Devil's Postpile while Sonora Pass is still open. Might be down to switch things up, though. Send me a PM when you've got your plans sorted?

 

Very soon, you won't be forced on the shuttle at the PP. Then you can wander past the monument and see the beautiful colors.

 

In the 15 years since I was last there, I had completely forgotten about the shuttle. Looks like it stopped running as of yesterday, and the road is closed in mid-October (and closes in October, regardless), so I'll have to put that hike off until next year. Guess that makes it a bit easier to push things towards DV and hit up Bodie on the return drive.

 

Personally, this is the best time of year to visit. Just before the season ends. Warm days, cold nights. Stunning colors. Fewer people.

 

Depending on scheduling and how big of a group I might join you all. If it's a big group I'll pass but 3 or 4 other trucks could work.

We are planning on getting down in November and possibly December/January and then another trip in the spring.

 

Seeing flooding in action (from a safe vantage point) is on my bucket list. Having explored many of the slot canyons and admiring how an entire watersheds runoff (water AND rock) is funneled through a 3 foot gap is just crazy. If I wasn't headed North tomorrow I'd be down there storm chasing... Kay could change the landscape a bit.

 

Storm chasing, what a good idea

 

Badwater Rd. down by the basin looks like it is getting hammered right now. The 190 on the west side Towne Pass also getting a lot of precip.

 

Timestamp in the lower right. Green boxes are flash flood watches.

 

It got up to 110 in Norcal this past week and I felt like I was melting. Can't even imagine how bad it was out there

 

Depends on the humidity. 110 in DV is different than Norcal.

But either way, it’s hell. Some argue once you get above 107 or so, the difference is mostly irrelevant, just feels like death. But 125, that’s just different level.

What blew my mind first time in DV was the “turn off AC during summer” signs going up the passes.

 

Last week I looked at Death Valley temps verses Orange County (CA) temps...it was a couple degrees cooler in DV.

 

190 closed from the Owens Valley (136 junction) all the way to Stovepipe.

While DV holds both the likely false all time air temperature record of 134F (1913) and the reliable all time air temperature record of 130F (2021) those “hot” days aren’t even remotely “hot” in the comfort and life threatening sense compared to other places in the world. The dew point is so low that the heat index is well below the air temperature and so on the record setting day in 2021 the heat index was only about 123F (dew point was about 52F).

A heat index of 123F is no fun, but if you are in the shade and have water you’ll be fine.

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia takes the record for heat that can actually kill you with a temperature of just 108F but a dew point of 95F producing a heat index of 178F (2003). Your body simply has no way to cool you any more at that point since radiation and convection are of no use at 108F air temperature and evaporation is of practically no use with a dew point of 95F. Keep in mind a dew point of 95F means that if you had a warm drink at 90F that you’d get condensation on the glass! That condensation actually heating up the drink more!

 

Knowing nothing about weather, heat indexes, and dew points, I'm trying to wrap my head around this as I find it interesting. Time for me to learn something new

 

Anyone tracking the storms know if Cerro Gordo got hit again?

 

unbelievable video of ancient waterfalls coming back to life, probably never see this again in my life

Flooding in Death Valley - YouTube

 

Major FOMO... Stupid Washington trip

 

It actually happens more often than you think and in various areas in the park. It isn't always witnessed and documented with video.

 

Roads Update! 9/14/2022 4:00 p.m. PDT

Another round of storms hit the Death Valley region on Tuesday, September 13. The weather has been a force to behold but has impacted roads yet again.

Multiple storms have pummeled the Park since late July. Road crews are exhausted from clearing, and then re-clearing, the same sections of roads. Below are some updates.

The west entrance to Death Valley National Park is closed due to extensive damage to California Highway 190 (CA-190) west of the Park’s boundary. Caltrans has not yet released an estimated timeline for reopening.

Most paved roads into the Park are closed. The only route into the Park is from the east, via Death Valley Junction and CA-190.

Visitors can drive only to Dantes View, Zabriskie Point, The Oasis at Death Valley, Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Campground, Harmony Borax Works, Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, and Stovepipe Wells.

The NPS road crew is concentrating on Badwater Road currently. Sections of the road have debris up to three feet thick. Shoulders have eroded away leaving unsafe drop-offs. The Park anticipates opening the road from CA-190 to Badwater Basin by September 24.