Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Cima photos, sans colorful night shots.

In a forest of dead trees and invasive grasses:


A baby Joshua Tree set free on the Dome.


As others have said, there is lots of new growth coming up from roots that survived the fire. It's really good to see life taking hold.


Our lower-elevation (3700') campsite between the work days -- a smooth, sandy wash perfectly suited our needs.

 

Very unique experience...time and place...I didn't fill my 5gal at all on my recent trip but there have been a few times where I was on the cusp of running out of gas.

 

Thats why I'm always minimum of two cans on my trips but mostly 3 cans.

An update on Steele Pass that I did yesterday from the Springs to the Dunes.. its pretty smooth its almost a paved highway.

 

How deep were the silt beds...when I went through in May they were pretty bad.

 

Its deep and this bad...and this is what's lingering after the drive back to L.A.




Unfortunately the new paths bypassing around the original track is just getting wider and wider.

 

They should drop some boulders blocking the bypass.

 

I fill up my tanks at the cheapest place I can find (preferably in NV) pretty much anytime I'm heading east of the Sierras. Filling up in Cold Springs, Sonora, Bishop, Gardnerville, or Beatty is usually a hell of a lot cheaper than Bridgeport, Lee Vining, Olancha, Trona, and DVNP.

 

Last time I was in DV (Furnace Creek) gas was $6.50/gallon. Last time I was in San Diego it was $6.50. It was only in the high $3.xx in PHX at the time.

I think 20 oz bottles of water at the Furnace Creek store were $6.50 as well ...

 

Always in NV but rarely there. Costco is usually on my route...Palmdale is better than Victorville.

 

Poking around this morning and found this huge pile of silt on top of my skid plates..carrying around all this extra weight really hurts the MPG's

 

I can relate...this is the trail of silt from when I rinsed my skids when I got home. I had to shovel out the gutter in the street the next day where the sediment dropped.

 

Looks familiar...my first wash after any trip is at the self car wash to clean out these areas. It gets into the cross member too.

 

I was my truck on my lawn...I have the strangest weeds and grasses growing there.

 

Do not worry ... state law lets you grow "personal use" amounts now ...

 

Looks like Scotty's Castle is opening up...
https://dvnha.org/program-events/scottys-castle-flood-recovery-walking-tours/

 

Flood recovery tours but I'd recommend. I went with my step brother and my son and it was great. Only one other person came along so it was 2 rangers for 4 people. Got lots of info and had a good time.

 

More Stupid Commercial Driver Tricks (aka Fires)

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/news/fire-2024-11-21.htm

Continuing the ever repeating theme of the underpaid and moronic, not only does commercial truck driver manage to overheat brakes and set trailer on fire, but also manages to do it on roads closed to commercial vehicles!

 

Bingo!

 

Stumbled on this, which was especially fun given our recent hike up Cowhole Mountain, but can't read one word... "Views as ___?____ as from..."