Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Yup! Pretty awesome

 

Anyone who’s nearby have insight into wind conditions this coming week? I’m heading down on Tuesday/Wednesday, was thinking of coming into Saline over North Pass but not crazy about Saline in the wind ... there’s also a 2800 acre fire just north of Bishop. Hard to believe it’s February!

 

Today is real bad in Vegas, Thursday is supposed to be a little windy but the rest of the week should be fine.

 

Hey all! I just came across this thread and havent had a chance to even scratch the surface of its 100 pages, but thought I would throw out a couple questions for you. My wife and I are in the process of planning a camping vacation for her spring break (she's a teacher) for the last week of March. We originally were thinking Grand Canyon, but due to the altitude the whole north rim is closed until May and the south rim is likely to be rather cold for my wife (who isnt particularly outdoorsy) and my almost 3-year old daughter to camp. I thought to myself that Death Valley may be an awesome, and warmer, alternative. I never got a chance to get out there and explore while I lived in California so I am eager to check it out. We would be road tripping out from Colorado in the Tacoma pulling a small teardrop trailer on 31" BFG KOs. I am an experienced camper so I am not worried about my comfort but have some questions about how the experience would be for my wife, daughter, and dogs (which we would like to bring if possible).

1.) I know Death Valley is a desert climate which can have wild temperature swings from day to night. What type of daytime and night time temperatures should we expect at the end of March? Any other localized weather we should expect in springtime in Death Valley like extreme wind or anything?

2.) Can anyone recommend places to camp inside the park? Hookups are not necessary but Im sure my wife would appreciate some type of toilet even if its just a vault or port-o-john.

3.) I know there are a mixture of paved and dirt roads in the park as well as more offroad specific trails. Anywhere specific to avoid while pulling the trailer?

I still have tons of research to do, but any info you all could provide would be greatly appreciated. If you know of anything specific which I may not have even thought of please dont hesitate to mention it. Especially if it relates to how my wife and daughter may interpret this whole experience. I am trying really hard to take baby steps to get them both more comfortable with camping and the outdoors. Thanks!

 

If you're going to be trailering, I would suggest camping on the valley floor, parking the trailer at your campsite, and day-tripping with the truck everywhere else. I like Mesquite Springs if I'm camping up north, or Texas Springs down south. Most of the backcountry roads are going to take a toll on that trailer. Temps on the valley floor at the end of March will probably be eighties in the day and forties at night, easy camping in my book. It will be colder up in the hills, but not terrifically so. I camped with my family there in March two years ago and we were all fine.

 

I really appreciate the response. I have been doing some reading on the park and I think I'd want to stick mostly to the northern part of the park for this trip to reduce the amount of traveling within the park in order to see more stuff while we are there. Base camping with the trailer is definitely the plan as long as the stuff we want to see is within close enough proximity to make it back there each day. The more I have read up on the rules related to dogs in the park I am thinking it may be better to leave them at home sadly. Glad to hear the temps will be pretty mild in March, sounds like a good recipe for keeping my wife happy.

 

Thanks for your insight! The truck rides on an icon suspension with remote resis so hopefully they should stand up to the dirt roads and trails. I have a 12v compressor and tire deflator that ride in the truck all the time and we will be traveling with our 50qt ARB fridge on this trip.

Investing in a tire repair kit, Jerry cans, and a jump starter are great ideas though that will be useful on this AND future trips.

 

For your first trip I'd suggest the following books:
Roger Mitchell's DV driving guide:
https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Inter...=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519263524&sr=1-4
This can be had for cheaper or face value at most local gas stations and maybe the park visitor center.

The "Donut" books:
https://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Death...519263647&sr=1-1&keywords=hiking+death+valley
https://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Weste...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519263691&sr=1-2

And of course a good map. I prefer the NatGeo DV map for most things.

 

This is good info. I have been looking through the various free maps available online and found them to be lacking so far. I’ll have to take a spin through Death Valley on my Gaia app to see what the coverage is in that area too. Nothing beats a great paper map that you can hold in your hand though!

 

Anyone been to the saline valley warm springs? There is an allure to visiting a location so remote within a National Park and I’ve never been to a natural spring before, but after looking at reviews online it looks like it may not be the best place for a family trip. Clothes are optional and it sounds like it attracts some questionable characters.

 

Skip the springs. They are overrun this time of year. Remote should mean solitude and unfortunately the springs these days are the exact opposite of that. Eventually NPS will have to take some sort of action there but that still seems far off.

 

I love using Gaia on my 10” tablet, that’s my go-to for wheeling. On big trips I like to do a combo of paper maps and Gaia. I also like to laminate my paper maps to protect them from tearing and wetness. It also makes it easy to write on them with overhead projector markers which is great for on the fly notes and route planning.

 

For family friendly activities with a three year old the area around Furnace Creek and Stovepipe probably has the most to offer. Lots of shorter accessible walks for a three year old to tackle. Mosaic Canyon is a fun hike for a little one. All the roadside stuff along Badwater road is good too. Salt Creek is a nice boardwalk hike. Titus Canyon is of course one of the “must dos” with any sort of rig, nice family drive that is impressive to see and stop to get out to look at stuff along the way.

As others said park the trailer in a base camp and explore with just the truck. Consider potentially moving camp from time to time though. Mesquite Spring is nice but a bit of a drive from the central activity areas. Down at Furnace Creek you usually find Texas Spring to be the quieter campground but it is also completely shadeless.

Be flexible on the weather. Temps could really be anything that time of year. If on the hot side consider Wildrose campground at 4000ft. A number of good spots to visit up there in the Panamints on a day trip from the valley as well (Charcoal Kilns, Augerberry Point, Skidoo).

And remember how huge the place is or you’ll end up driving too much.

When my daughter was three I would have a day of activities to choose from but no actual goals. If she liked something we stayed, even it was just sorting rocks in the parking lot. If a walk was too hot and she was complaining we turned around and headed for higher elevations or the air conditioned visitor center. Usually we got to less than half the activities for the day but everyone ended the day happy.

 

I did not know DVNP was dog-unfriendly. Makes sense in a way I guess. Remember to fuel up in Green River, there's a long stretch through Utah on I70 with no services. If you don't have your heart set on DV, the San Rafael Swell west of Green River is an interesting place, BLM land so no dog restrictions. End of March the temps are OK, rattlers and scorpions aren't out yet. DeLorme gazetteer is a nice tool.

 

The San Rafael Swell is worth a visit.

 

DVNP isn't dog unfriendly it is just that too many bad dog owners are not cleaning up after their animals and/or letting them run off-leash which is bringing more attention to them. There are places in DV where dogs are not allowed. Sadly entitled dog owners don't always follow the rules.

 

Had some good times there. First time we went there we tried to find our way down to the San Rafael river through the washes, piled up rocks at the junctions, still got lost a bit in the canyons on the way back. We had the black lab with us, she knew exactly what the return route was.

 

I don’t know I blame bad dog owners for the places dogs cannot go. Although there are some, the argument has always been “protect the wildlife”. Horses are fine in many places but dogs are not. I don’t want to step in horse poop any more than dog poop. Horsey people just have more money (and don’t have to pick up after their pets).

 

Domesticated like as in people? A dog chasing wildlife causes more damage though people are more harmful to the environment than a dog at a watering hole.

 

I can see the reasoning. Dogs can cause a lot of problems not poop related.

Not DV, 150 miles north on I15, 28 degrees again already, but only 1900 ft above sea level. I thank goodness for the gift of propane heat.