Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

We were at Eastern Edge of the dunes, there was nobody on that side and was less windy.

 

This just popped up on FB, Death Valley is in real need of more rangers but considering the current state of things I doubt that will happen soon.
https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/news/fossils-stolen-from-death-valley-national-park.htm

 

Just saw this on another forum. Disgusting. I'd gladly attend their trip to the gallows.

 

One thing I forgot to mention was when we were at the Racetrack there were a ton of deep footprints on the playa from people walking on it when wet. Plus a ton of paw prints along side them. Really pisses me off since it says everywhere not to walk on it when wet.

 

Were there still tire tracks also? I was there in January and there were defined foot prints, paw prints, tire tracks, and places where people had deliberately moved rocks.

 

The tire tracks are pretty faint now you kind of have to know they're there to see them.

 

Seems like more people are defacing the parks lately. Aside from the tracks, there's the tagging and now, theft of artifacts. What's wrong with people?

 

Yeah people really suck. There was also that van that recently drove out on the salt flats- those tracks are still very visible. Here is a pic from all the up at Dante's Peak and the tire tracks are still clearly visible.

Edit: kinda hard to see without the full size pic but you can faintly see them right of the main track that people walk out onto the basin on.

 

They were setting up last Wednesday morning. I saw that thinking WTF?

Any back story? I looks as though someone found them suspicious enough to take a few pictures of them..

 

Well just got back to Prescott tonight. 11 hour drive from the cabins in the Panamints. 11 days. I'm beat.

Started Saturday night of the 18th in Echo Canyon. Sunday bought my annual pass along with a few books at Furnace Creek and headed through Lee Flat to Hunter Mtn. Explored the Hunter Mtn area for the first time, didn't find an ideal camping spot so settled on a flat between Hidden Valley and the Cottonwood Mtns.
BTW there's a very nice spot in the foothills of the Cottonwood Mtns. Drive up towards White Top mtn, when the road starts veering north there's a spot to the east. Nice and flat. Look west. (You can thank me later).

Headed out Teakettle to Lippencott. Worst road I've had the displeasure of ever driving on..
Made it into Saline mid Monday afternoon, took a shower but never stayed the night. Tried my hardest, but the wind left me unhinged. Made it into Eureka Dunes Tuesday night of the 21st. Place was CROWDED. I camped at one of the furthest spots south of the dunes. Woke up to more wind, but I had finished my pot of coffee by the time it starting getting bad.

Like a bat out of hell, I got out of there. Passed a black 3rd gen w/ Ruff stuff rtt on my way down asking about North Pass. Made my way into Bishop for jerky, gas, water & beer. Checked the weather; wind. So b-lined it for a cabin.

That's when my trip started to get interesting.

Fucked up my foot and snapped a stub shaft in my drivers side cv (I think). Was going up to Briggs to escape the wind. Instead of locking the rear while losing traction on a dry fall I just gunned it. SNAP-BANG! Stopped, looked underneath expecting to see some sort of mangled bits. But all looked intact. Upon arriving at the cabin my manual hub was hard to engage/disengage, and the cv was popping 1/2" out of the hub/spindle. No noise when engaged & 4wd...

Anybody have any idea of what could of broken? I can't remember ATM if the cv is seated to the hub with a bolt or a c-clip. Anywho, I guess I'll dig into tmmw.

Anyway, with 2wd and solo, I decided I would chill and finish out my trip at the comfy cabin. I had 52 beers, a handle and a half of whiskey, some and some books on DV history.

I stayed at the lower cabin, Briggs was taken. Wednesday night and Thursday were uneventful. Reading, fires and whiskey were the highlight. Friday morning was a different day.

Two different convoys showed up and almost the exact same time. Two early model Toyota's coming up the canyon and two rzr's w/ jeep in tow crossing above at Chicken Bridge.
The Toyota's waited an hour and a half for the rzr crew to come down the trail. And what took so long was immediately apparent: the jeep in tow, entitled the "Mexicon" had a sidewall slash on his 37" duratrac. He had driven on this flat tire thru middle park, down south park, over chicken bridge and now at the cabins.

But he had a brand new duratrac on method 17 wheels dangling from his fancy rear swing-out. What could be the the problem?

Ah. Dumdumdum. No tools.

So now goes the part while I listen to this Nimrod hammer and chisel vs. lugnut. 3 hours of banging he gets one lug off. By that time rzr crew shows up w/ tools! Five minutes later he's on his merry way. Chicken-dinner.

Second winner of the wkend:
So it's Sunday evening of the 26th. About 530pm. I'm reading up on Emmett Harder's shenanigans. When I hear one of the burros bluster. A molested bluster.
A view up the canyon and see something strange. I grab my binos and glance up to the bridge. I'll be damned, if it's not a heavyset woman frantically tossing stones of bread-loaf size off the trial. I grab a beer and a chair. Betting against myself if it's a minivan or a Subaru.
But I was to be disappointed.
It was a stock 99 grand Cherokee with 30" Lt Les swab specials. I wave them over. I voice my concern.
Unlike the "Mexicon" crew I had a small amount of patience.
Heavyset was from the "Plains", driver was Los Angeles convert to Graeagle, passenger was from Vegas and never got nippy dog's story.
With an hour of dusk left, I offered to air them down. They had run 40psi this whole way. One tire was holding on with one ply. Sheesh. Told them to change it before they hit the hwy. They left in a hurry down the canyon. Never to be seen again! Thanks for reading.

Great trip otherwise. I APRS'D via satellite nearly everytime I tried. When I got off the mountain this morning i wasn't bombarded with 200 text messages asking if I was alive. Aprs from the Bishop digipeater accessible in upper Steele pass and Eureka valley. Lots of dead spots, I wasn't able to find noaa freqs in the majority of my traveling...

Park was packed this time. Doubt I'll make a spring visit again. Stay safe out there everyone.

 

If it was Wednesday that was me in the 3rd gen that flagged you down. You were very correct about Saline being windy as fuck. No sooner did I pop the RTT a wind/dust storm kicked up and didn't stop until morning. I strategically set my tent up so the ladder was downwind but while we were in the tent the wind instantly did a 180 and proceeded to taco the tent with us in it. A ratchet strap fixed that problem but it wasn't a pleasant night. Nice rig btw.

 

The pictures are maybe from live webcams? It seems like they have them set up in certain sensitive areas, like those 3 drunk guys who were swimming in a locked off cave. I could be completely wrong though.

 

Wind is the one thing that can really make a desert visit unpleasant. My Flip-Pac is also insanely loud in a strong wind, the material snaps like a firecracker in the wind. I'll sometimes cancel a trip if the forecast is for too much wind because I despise it so much.

Fingers crossed that Easter weekend will be wind free. I'll be somewhere in the CA/NV desert that weekend solo with my daughter. Strong wind while trying to keep a four year old happy is not high on my list of ways to spend a long holiday weekend.

 

Thanks. Well crap. Nice to of met you.

Yeah, wind can kill the mood.

I'll shake my fist at the sky, stomp around, curse when its windy. Completely illogical.

Well shit.

 

Anyone know an outfit that sells just the oem birfields? Took the manual hub with it.

 

There are one or two that sell aftermarket. Look in the back of Toyota Owner. Trail Gear is one that comes to mind.

 

Awesome. Toyota owner a Mag?

 

I know this terror...
I also remember even closed my flippac had quite a bit of room. That's one reason I consider getting an aluminum shell that is higher than the cab. Not sure if you are able to sleep in your bed with it closed up though.

 

Well the wind is howling this evening here in socal...somehow this story came to mind. Thought I'd share it since it is related to the DV locale...

http://avcws.tripod.com/news/claircamp.html

 

Yes. It's called "4WD Toyota Owner".