Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Good advice. I'll adjust my planning. Very excited about this trip. I've been to Panamint Valley several times over the decades, but never made it into DV other than the fringes. I know it's a bit of a hit and run trip, but when the schedule opportunity opened up I figured it was better to go now and enjoy it than to wait for perfect timing.

 

I'm using Wells & Peterson's Guide to California Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails (2014) to find trails of interest. I have topo maps on my tablet which has worked quite well in the past. I am ordering the NatGeo map and have 11x17 printouts of the NPS maps of DV for an overview. I have a few other guidebooks (Geology Underfoot and books by Death Valley Jim). On day one, we will stop at the Visitors Center and get updates on road conditions.

Travel wise, day 2 a 155 mile day, but a lot of that is on dirt roads or worse. I figure Ubehebe crater is an early decision point. If it's getting late, we can back-out while still on pavement. If we are at The Racetrack and don't have confidence we can get over South Pass before nightfall, we can drive back on Racetrack Road and pavement at night. If we leave Beatty with full tanks, fuel should not be an issue. Even if we have to backtrack and add ~80 miles to the day, we would end up driving through Stovepipe Wells and could refuel there.

 

You guys might enjoy http://www.californiatrailmap.com/

 

It looks cool and I may buy it at some point, but from what I can tell it does not cover DV (yet).

 

Inyo County - New!

• Death Valley National Park
• Inyo National Forest

• All BLM land

 

Just a little snippet. Can look more if you are specific on an area to compare to.

 

Nothing in DV showed up in the "trail finder" so I assumed (incorrectly) that it wasn't included.

 

I'd be interested in seeing the level of detail covering this route (and options in the area):

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tea...8!1m0!1m3!2m2!1d-117.6258463!2d36.3640361!3e0

 

This is what I could come with on my iPad.

 

So to clarify my recommendation. When I say "Hunter Mountain" is not worth trying I'm talking of the road that goes *over* Hunter Mountain and into Hidden Valley. In the winter that gets more than one scary ice section, the top can get too deep in snow or otherwise become a slushy mud bog.

I was considering two routes, starting from Teakettle Junction and getting you to South Pass:

• From Teakettle continue down Racetrack Road through Racetrack Valley to Lippencott Road and then exit south on Saline Valley Road which will climb Grapevine Canyon to South Pass.
• From Teakettle turn off Racetrack Road and onto Hunter Mountain Road/Hidden Valley Road which heads east and then south through Hidden Valley and then climbs over the top of Hunter Mountain and descends to meet Saline Valley Road at South Pass.

With either route from South Pass you continue south on Saline Valley Road to the 190.

I recommend the first route using Lippencott this time of year, and second DoorDing's recommendation that you want to do it in the light because the views are awesome. Fading light is fine, really beautiful at sunset and twilight.

The second route over Hunter Mountain itself is likely to encounter all sorts of snow, ice and mud situations that are actually worse than Lippencott.

 

Thanks for the clarification,; that was very considerate of you to put in that extra effort. What you are describing is what I thought, but I still had some concern that I might have misunderstood the proper route. Now I am completely clear.

 

Good point, there are a couple of glorious spots along the way there. Thanks for reminding me of that, mental note to plan to do that one day.

Agree! Especially be sure that you can stop and savor the 20 to 30 minutes or so right after sunset without being cooking or some other distraction. By which I mean civil twilight and the sun being below the horizon and not just behind a mountain range. That light is just magic and to me is the best 30 minutes of the day in the desert. Sometimes I'll plan to find and setup camp in the dark just so I can stop and experience that 30 minutes in peace somewhere extra special. I can strongly recommend just sitting out by the rocks on Racetrack Playa or way out on the salt flats near Badwater away from the crowds all through twilight and then walking back to your vehicle by moonlight or starlight.

Neither of these photos even halfway capture the actual experience of doing that, but hey I like photos...

Racetrack Playa Twilight


Badwater Twilight​

 

How overpriced is gas in Death Valley? I can't find pricing for any of the stations in the park. Just debating if it's worth rigging up a spare can or two, which would involve cost and hassle, to avoid crazy prices. If it's only $1 over normal, then I'm not going to worry about it.

 

Usually Stovepipe is the least awful, Furnace Creek is maybe $2 over and Panamint Springs is astronomical.

I don't drive on highways with fuel cans full. They turn survivable highway collisions into fatalities.

 

My thought was a couple gas cans on the roof rack of the Xterra. Otherwise, they could go in the back of my Tacoma. I don't have any gas cans, so I would have to buy something.

 

Gas can not a bad idea for reasons DoorDing mentioned, and I did a low cost setup similar to Crom for a long time though I now have a higher dollar can.

I just personally don't think attempting cost saving by filling them at home before a long highway drive is worth it. Mine gets filled at the last opportunity and goes in the vehicle tank as soon as there is space. But I'm a conservative kind of person who knows people who have experienced fuel fires in collisions. Everything has risk and everyone needs to make their own call on it so I won't preach further!

 

It was $4.75 at furnace creek, I think. I don't care what it costs, if it's needed, it's needed.

Carrying fuel is a good idea.

I drove from Beatty, NV, bypassing Titus Canyon, turned north on Scotties Castle road, then went through racetrack valley, Lippincott, in saline I went north for a while. Then went south. Spent a cold night at 4K feet.

The next morning i took the pass out of saline through Lee flat and back to pavement at the 190. I drove 190 to Olancha to the west. When I got there I had less than 2 gallons in my tank!

As mentioned, I carry 5 gallons reserve in a gas can. I transfer fuel when it becomes mandatory.

 

I just realized that the Reward Mine is just north of Lone Pine. I know it's not Death Valley, but has anyone been up to the Reward/Brown Monster mines and did you drive inside? That looks interesting, but I haven't seen much info on what's in there, how hard it is to turn around, are there alternate exits etc. Basically, I'm wondering if driving inside a stupid stunt or a unique experience?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I_oHEfc75w

Is there another thread/sub forum where I should be asking?

Thanks!

 

This is great info. Thanks!