Death Valley trip in early march

Wife and I are going to DV the first week of March, gonna RV trailer camp at Panamint Springs, and plan on doing some 4x4 exploring in the Tacoma....

We've been to DV a dozen times before, but always in a passenger car (or motorcycle) and have never been able to get into the back roads. My Taco is a 2008 4x4 Access Cab TRD OffRoad with a nearly new set of KO2's (new spare, too). Still has the mediocre stock TRD Bilstein shocks, but the Taco only has 22000 total miles, so they aren't toast. I've got a dynair compressor so I can air down the tires for sand/etc and pump them back up when we return to pavement.

I know right now Titus is closed, hoping it will thaw by then, for sure want to make a day run of Rhyolite and Titus if we can (we did this once in a Volvo S90...).

For sure we want to visit the Racetrack, and thereabouts, and are hoping to be able to drive up Lippincott Canyon, maybe head up to the hot springs, then back to Panamint via Grapevine and South Pass. I'd love to hear from anyone who's done Lippincott recently.

I figure another day can be a day trip to Darwin Falls right near Panamint, then down to the ghost town of Darwin.

A day trip up to the charcoal kilns, if they aren't snowed in (the one time I tried to go there, I was on my sport-touring motorcycle w/ Z6 radials, and the road was a foot deep in snow, so I didn't get very far before turning around).

Kinda running out of ideas of where else to go. We've been down Westside Rd (in a ford 2x4 van), there's really not that much interesting stuff down there, although we didn't try to go up any of the side roads off that in said van (highway tires, big soft passenger van). And we've done just about everything that can be done on pavement. If the wild flowers are blooming, for sure, we'll take a day to go chase them...

any suggestions for other day trips centered around Panamint Springs ? Is it worth going up to Eureka Dunes?

 

aoinds like a lot of places got hit with flood problems, I wish I could have seen the racetrack while I was there. Post pics of the adventure!

 

for sure... I'm a bit of an amateur photog, will bring both cameras, multiple lenses (favorites being a 22/2 pancake on my EOS M, and a 85/1.8 for my 60D), and my trusty manfrotto tripod

 

I want to make it down there mid summer for milky way season, I think the stars and the race track would be neat

 

Subbed for route ideas have a April trip in mind.. will you be bringing your astronomy telescopes/photo gear?

 

nah, its near full moon. doing major astro trips later in the year anyways. this one is a 4x4 trip

 

Telescope peak has a pretty cool view, took some long exposure shots there. Hope you get some cool pictures.

 

I think it was new moon when I went. Get some dirt on that truck!

 

oh yeah!

 

I believe chicken rock is closed. They couldn't legally allow people to drive across the bridge because it wasn't properly maintained. I heard it was being maintained by enthusiasts for years, but since people are so sue-happy they didn't want someone driving across the bridge, it failing, and then suing the park for not keeping up proper legal maintenance and inspections.

 

The Death Valley road conditions Facebook page is very up to date on the road conditions and closures. I'm planning on heading there mid-march so I look forward to hearing about your trip.

 

Chicken rock my source tells me is closed. Been closed a couple yrs. Double cluck. I mean check

 

Maybe, I've never been, I was doing research on it a couple weeks ago and saw the entire South Park Canyon road wasnt even on my Trails Illustrated map. I looked around and it appears to have been years since a trip report for it has been published.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/east...-south-park-canyon-bridge.html#/topics/977388

It doesn't apply to you specifically, but for those of us with heavy ass trucks the bridge had a weight limit of 6000lb so some of would be excluded even if it was still open.

 

Awesome post; watching for ideas. Heading there first weekend of March and first time being there. Would a DCLB be too big for Lippincott?

 

GVWR on my Taco AC 4x4 TRD Offroad is 5350 lbs, but it appears those roads have been closed, period.

btw, the best death valley map is the Tom Harrison one, updated in 2016.

 

the road closes was in reference to an earlier discussion on pleasant valley and south park canyon, outside the NP boundaries.

 

my 2016 Harrison map doesn't show a through road anymore. road goes up Plesant Canyon, past Clair Camp, enters the National park, loops around "Middle Park", and ends before it exits the NP. the road up South Park Canyon is only shown a very short distance (about as far as the 'o' in South Park). Also the top of South Park Canyon, where Colter Spring is drawn, is shown as the corner of the new Manly Peak Wilderness, which means NO ROADS. The only through road over the ridge down there on this 2016 map is Goler Wash to Mengle Pass a bit farther to the south.

 

mine has the minimal stock lift of a TRD offroad, which I think is a bit taller than a straight 4x4, I dunno.

 

not planning on doing mengel on this trip, lippincott is probably the toughest thing we'll do. since there's just the two of us, and my wife wouldn't have a clue how to spot without freaking out, even lippincott may be too much.

 

I did Lippencott last Fall in a DCLB (4x4-2 1/2" lift) without issues. We saw a full size Dodge in Saline Valley that made the ride down from Homestake. I imagine that Dodge had to do a few multi-point turns at a few of the tight turn spots! There are a couple tight turns and a narrow road section but nothing that required more than a stop and spot. The recent rains have probably made the ride down from the Racetrack (Holmestake camp) more interesting.
I'm headed to DV in March and will be checking the DV facebook page and the usual sites for the latest road reports.

https://deathvalley.com/dvtalkforum/index.php/forum
http://www.death-valley.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

Chloride Cliff mine area is interesting and usually not touristy. It is a mild trail for the most part but takes you to some great views of the valley below.

Hopefully some of the lower parts of the valley will have some wildflower action , the desert looks awesome with a colorful Spring display going on!

Eureka Dunes: