Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

No it’s not. It is at the 190 (actually a little way up the 190 at Daylight Pass Rd.). Check the park website, North Highway, the name of the road from 190 to Grapevine is presently closed. You are confusing this with the long term closure of Bonny Claire Road which runs from Grapevine out to Nevada past Scotty’s Castle. That’s what has been closed near Grapevine (actually the turn off to Ubehebe) for years and years now. The closure the notice you posted is referring to the closure since this August down at/near the 190.

The road names are confusing and people have repeatedly used them incorrectly.

The park hopes to open North Highway at the end of the month, at which point I presume they will let groups meet at Grapevine instead. Right now, for the immediately upcoming tours that is not possible since the road is closed and gated at Daylight Pass Road requiring the hour long escort.

 

followed this car into the San Diego airport today......

 

I sure hope the DVNHA publishes a map.

 

From the DVNP IG
Yoo hoo, Warm Springs & Harry Wade are open.

People with high-clearance 4x4 vehicles can drive over Mengel Pass between Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Warm Spring Canyon Gold and Talc Mining Historic District, Butte Valley, and Barker Ranch are points of interest along the way.

West Side Road remains closed north of the junction with Warm Springs Road.

Harry Wade Road is a 4x4 route that connects Badwater Road to CA-127 on the park’s southeastern corner. The NPS has only completed interim repairs on the road. Extended sections of the road are a single lane between deep sandy berms, with limited opportunities to pass oncoming vehicles.

 

Definitely not as much out there (including people when the rest of the park is open) but I imagine it's a bit busier now. I have only spent a few days in that part of the park but do plan to go back and explore it more. We had good showings of wildflowers and a tax payer funded air show last time we were out there in the spring of 2018 (seems so long ago now...because it was I guess).

 

There is a network of old mining roads on the mesa between DVJ and Furnace Creek Wash, south of the 190, including small portions of the old DVRR grade near the highway. Might even find a good spot to camp just off the highway, still outside of the park.


The Lila C site was somewhat prominent in early mining history, but there's really not much to see there, other than an appreciation for how large this operation once was. Maps and satellite imagery are useless up on the mesa -- of the countless scars carved across the earth, very few are passable/legal driving routes today. But all the original scars are still shown as roads on maps, and can't be resolved in imagery. But you can definitely find signed legal routes up there.


Head a bit further south... may as well check out Evelyn too -- the truth is out there.


What were we talking about again? I was whistling the X-files theme again.


Oh yeah, Greenwater. There's interesting history between Inyo County and NPS there. A federal lawsuit to keep the old country road open, from DVJ to Greenwater -- Potero Road (not Dead Man Pass, which is some distance to the east). This was a much-more interesting route to Greenwater -- a county-maintained road traversing federal lands dating to the early mining era. (Like, for example, South and North Pass routes into Saline Valley, which are also Inyo County roads traversing park lands.) Yet, this one wasn't given a cherry stem when the surrounding terrain was designated wilderness by congress. Perhaps this was due to shoddy WSA investigatory work, or perhaps it was intentional, which would be contrary to the spirit of the Wilderness Act in my opinion. In any case, somehow the county didn’t learn of the wilderness status, so the road kept being maintained and used. And somehow neither NPS nor the wilderness lobby happened to notice the ongoing (illegal) use and maintenance of this road, or at least forgot to notify the county, until, coincidentally, the years-long window of opportunity for the county to legally claw-back their public roadway from wilderness status had just run out.

The county still tried to reclaim their road in court, but did a pretty lousy job of it in my opinion. Their arguments contained a distracting quantity of errors and typos, but most critically, failed to support the single potential argument which could have won the case.

The Sierra Club and other groups elbowed their way in on the case too, to oppose the county, but the fact is that the NPS actually petitioned the court to keep them out. It was already a slam-dunk case, and there was near-zero environmental threat on the table. (At least compared to all the terrible environmental problems I wish these organizations would tackle head-on.) So the way I see it: these environmental groups weren't there to fight for the environment; they were there to fight for joint-custody of an easy symbolic victory in federal court. To trumpet their success to their supporters. And that makes me think a lot less of the Sierra Club, and other environmentalist lobby groups – not because I don’t consider myself an environmentalist, but because I think that once these organizations become larger than any single issue, they lose track of what is actually best and focus on what makes them look best. Supporting them can make you feel better, but won’t do much good in the end. There are far-better organizations and causes to support, they are just harder to find. You won’t get a bumper sticker and glossy magazine out of the deal – and that’s exactly the point.

And that’s the kind of reasoning that leads folks like me to rant incoherently on the internet, and drive around the circle at Evelyn wearing a tinfoil hat.

Here's a cool old car somewhere out there... not on this road, or in wilderness to be clear. But good luck finding it:

 

Thanks. We've instead decided that running one more segment of the EMHT (segment 3) will be a fun way to spend 2 days. Two nice hikes on this segment - to Amboy Crater and up Budweiser Canyon. And by fun, I mean grueling for the later. Plus, it's pretty warm out here, and with no moon, the stars are magical below the Mojave Megaphone.

Also, while I know this is not DV related specifically, there's a lot of overlap with the subject matter, so I offer up my latest trip report:

60 Seconds Out

https://www.youtube.com/embed/j-cQnTFyUng?si=mPRtcYpzeDER_fig
The teaser reel. And yeah, you want sound for this.

 

Where were these pictures taken?

 

Nice view of Ryan. They used to do tours there which are a lot of fun.

 

Here is the lake created at Badwater Basin by a storm system. Too many asshats walking into the lake and leaving large footprint-bulges.

 

That would be Lake Manly

 

I made time one weekend while is remained, drive all night Friday and parked/slept in the Furnace Creek Visitor Center parking lot. Fewer people in the morning, asshats arrived later in the day and ruined good photographs of the lakewide.

I just wanted to see it before it evaporated. Here is the wall of the canyon. Look for the white diamond shape above the person inn green walking, a sign saying "sea level" just to the right. The sign is only 282 feet above the valley floor.

 

Good news!

 

Great news. I'm taking the family to the park for New years and have been following these updates since the storm damage.

 

Sup Dudes,

I'm putting together a trip itinerary for a next fall trip (I know its early, but most of you know how work works this week between Christmas and New years). My Fiancé and are planning to hike Whitney sometime in the fall and then make our way to death valley for a few days afterwards. Maybe ride bikes in Mammoth for a day or two. I'm looking for some camping/wheeling/hiking/activity recs for the few days in death valley. We'll be coming from the north and taking my truck. Does it make sense to start our exploration of Death Valley at Panamint springs, head to Ballarat, go up Mengal pass then wind our way north through the park? What are some key spots to hit? Any dispersed camping recommendations?

TIA!

 

First trip to the park? Here's a big loop that I ran on my first (of what have now been dozens) of trips to DV, which was a great intro to this amazing place and that I thought would allow us to "see almost everything." (ha!) I started on the east side, but it's a loop so you can start anywhere.

Our First Trip to Death Valley (entire trip, a few photos from this trip report below)

• The first post - Intro and Day 1 - A Day of Driving - has the "overview" map at the beginning. I don't have (well, I don't share) GPS/X coordinates, so you will need to read through the report to build up the loop.

• If you're starting in Panamint Springs, you'll join the loop at post 3 (Does It Get Any Better?), then work your way to day 4, 5&6, 1, 2. You get the idea.

• Obviously, you'll need to adjust for the amount of time you have to spend there. You can easily cut this particular loop in half, by exiting on CA-190 after either the northern or southern sections of the loop.

I hope you'll find - as I have - that it DV is a place where distances are deceiving. It's a huge place and you will *never* "see almost everything." I now try to spend the majority of my trips in small sections of the park; on my favorite trips, I travel less than 30 vehicle miles in a 5-day period.

All my Death Valley trip reports: Death Valley – ADVENTURETACO

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I think breaking the park into chunks is the most effective way to explore. I've done a couple of photography trips and it seems like there's always this drive to see as much as you can. When I've gone by myself, it's been most rewarding spending a day or two somewhere and getting to know sections. Just keep in mind that "fall" can still be pretty warm in the park.

 

Thats what I've heard. if you had 4 days, would you stay north? or do a loop like I'm thinking about?