bulldog-yota

The details still needs to be worked out, but we are planning to go 26-29 March. Guys that can't stay longer than 27 March will be more than welcome to join just for the weekend.

I'll now have to bug our resident DV expert (Scottiac)

Post here if you are interested and we can start working on the details.

Scottiac

Yeah, yeah. I'm here. Ok. I'm driving down Friday as well, and returning Tuesday, at the earliest.

The park is highly mangled due to flooding damage over the summer, so about 1/3 of the normal tourist things are inaccessible. I talked to the rangers down there, and they indicated the March/April estimate for road repairs is hopelessly optimistic. He said it was more likely May/June.
However, we're only looking at spending 3-5 days there, so the remaining 2/3 of the park will give us plenty to do.

Lodging

Lodging comes in four flavors. The elite lodging is at the Furnace Creek Inn. This is a high end ($250-400/night) hotel. Next is the comfortable Furnace Creek Ranch. These are duplex style cabins. (Nice digs at $110-$180). Swimming pool, etc, etc. If you need a roof, go here!

Both places can be researched/reserved/etc at:
www.furnacecreekresort.com

You can also stay at Stovepipe Wells, which is listed here, and not too far away ($85-$105):

http://www.stovepipewells.com

The last two flavors are RV/tent camping in established sites, and backcountry camping.

Recommended camping is at the Furnace Creek Campground. It's right next to the Furnace Creek Ranch, so we'd all be together if you can get in there. There's a bunch of other campgrounds in the park, but most of them are nothing more than sheets of asphault (e.g. parking lot) for RV's. The high country campgrounds are better, but I've not had any experience with them.

Furnace creek campground (and maybe the others?) can be rsvp'd at (800)365-2267. Here's the specifics:

http://www.nps.gov/deva/pphtml/camping.html

As of Sunday 1/23 night, 46 sites remaining (about half)...

** All of the above fill EARLY. Make your RSVP's soon. **

Trails and Tourism

I'm still working on a good trail/tourist itinerary. Stay tuned!


As a special arrangement, JoKePlAyEr is doing a recon trip for us with a couple of his friends a few weeks earlier. Contact him if you can't make this trip, but want to go earlier in March instead. Hopefully we can refine our plans based on what they find when they get back.

bulldog-yota

Thanx Scott, your a wealth of info it seems

bulldog-yota

Ok, I booked at the Furnace Creek Ranch. Stovepipe Wells was booked out, so no doggie

Had to choose between dog (camping) and GF (room), was a tough choice

Scottiac

oh man... sorry about bliksem...

But glad you're set up. You'll like that place.

Robinhood150

I'll be going in Feb. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Scottiac

Thanks Steve!

Word is titus canyon has a 4 ft drop in the road, so it's closed off completely. It sounds like they don't really have their act together too well on the roads, but the ranger indicated the 4 wheeling stuff was still plentiful.

I've only done some of the easier stuff myself. Hey, I couldn't find that thread of your great writeup from a couple years ago. You still got that trip report around?

Jokeplayer was there in december as well, so he might have more intel too.

Lookin' forward to suggestions!

Robinhood150

I just copied and pasted this from my club's email:

Day 1 - South Park Cyn/Pleasant Cyn Loop
The last time we attempted South Park Cyn was 2001. The trail head is a few miles south of Ballarat and starts at about 1,500' in elevation. The trail quickly climbs the Panamint Range and offers outstanding views of Panamint Valley. There will be a rickety log bridge to cross and we'll also negotiate Chicken Rock which has been repaired. This section of trail is narrow with a dropoff on the drivers' side. Further along the trail we cross over to Middle Park Cyn. Eventually we will arrive at the top of Rogers Pass at 7,500' in elevation. This year it is likely we will encounter snow at the upper elevations. The descent will take us down Pleasant Cyn. Along the way we will stop at Claire Camp, an old abandoned mining town. Many of the ruins are still standing and offers an insight into the tough living conditions of that period. The bottom of the trail returns us back to Ballarat.

Day2 - Defense Mine
This trail is on the other side of Panamint Valley in the Argus Range. The trail follows the lower section of Stone Cyn trail. One of our club members will lead this run up to the mine. As mentioned in the last email, the last section of this trail may be rugged. The stock vehicles may wish to hike the last bit of trail, or catch a ride in an open seat. Please bring a good flashlight and extra batteries for exploring inside the mine. On the way back there should be an opportunity to play on Waterfall Zero of the Stone Cyn trail for those who are up to the challenge.

Day 3 - Saline Valley/Hot Springs/Steele Pass/Eureka Valley (optional)
This trip is optional for those who wish to extend the weekend an extra day. This will require camping on Sunday night. You will want to bring along plenty of food, water, and extra gas. This trip will take us through the most remote sections of the Death Valley area. From the Defense Mine on Sun we will head to Saline Valley. We will need to fill up our gas tanks at Panamint Springs Resort, the only gas station in the area. Sunday night we will camp somewhere along the trail, preferably somewhere on the valley floor where temps will be more comfortable. On Monday, time permitting, we can take a short break at the Hot Springs. We will continue north to Steele Pass. From Steele Pass we drop down into Eureka Valley, ending at the Eureka Sand Dunes.

Found last year's report, I just did a search for Death! Oh, and I've got a link to my gallery, but it's down right now.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ighlight=death

DrBeau

I'm actually going out there from the 19-22 of March. It's a class I'm taking at my college (GEOL 195 at Palomar CC for any around SD) and it's a 4 day expedition on the Geology of the north part of the valley. I don't think it'll be to much 4x4ing, but hopefully enough. A few places well be hittin' are Darwin Canyon, Cottonwood Canyon, Titus Canyon, Ubehebe Crater, Racetrack Playa, and the Eureka Valley Duen Field to name a few. Hopefully it'll be a good trip. I'll let eveyone know how it was when I get back so you can get some info close to when you're going.

Side Note to Scottiac: I'm trying to think of a good look for the CA4ROC site and would like to have something to show in the next couple weeks.

JoKEpLaYeR

Yeah, I can confirm the 4ft drop in Titus. We weren't allowed through either.

I was there on Dec. 17-24.
Friday: Entered DV through Bishop
Saturday: Eureka Sand Dunes, Warm Springs Oasis (The dry creek bed is always fun to drive through and getting through this (1 , 2 ) is always a blast! Boy did it change from last year.)
Sunday: Salt Flats, Racetrack, Lippincott Mine (The Trail was fun, but not very challenging)
Monday: Ubehebe, Scotty's Castle, (We were going to go through titus canyon but I forget what we did instead.)
Tuesday: Left NP Service Camp on HWY 190.

Overall, the scenery was AMAZING, the time with my friends was awesome, but the wheeling was not challenging. I want to go back and do some harder stuff and explore some more.

ballerpn0y12

hey im new and never really gone off-roadin except for probably messing around in a field after a rainy day hah and now im gettin into it after visiting this site and lookin at everyone fixed up runners. well anyways im interested in going w/ u guys but i gotta 2x4 and basically im still stock...think i can make it through the trip or hang with you, and anyone know any trips being held closer to southern cal?

Scottiac

Feel free to join us!

I think most of the stuff we will do is 2x friendly. High clearance seems to be the word of the day for the most part. And we have lots of straps for those bad moments!

I've only identified 1 or 2 technical-ish things I wanna do, 'cuz the park keeps grading the trails I wanna do. :cry:

As far as closer to So Cal, that bunch seems to be very active, so hooking up with some of them ought to be a breeze.

bulldog-yota

I managed to get accomodation at Stovepipewells, so doggie and GF can come Got space for Sat, Sun and Mon night there. WIll probably stay just outside the parl on Fri and Tue perhaps.

I'll list some ideas here as time goes on, Scott seems like some places are no go, so you can take them of the list

MyYotaDog

Right o...

March. Its on the calendar -- will see about some reservations. Will prolly take me a day o drive down so I'll be around on Sat prolly through Monday.

Confession time: I-ah never been to DV -- About the dog: anyone have any advice/caveats/concerns about bringing K9 companions on this one? (am checking the campsites for regulations but in the park itself) Any words of wisdom on this? He's a pretty experienced outdoors-guy -- last weekend he had a blast on the eight mile snowshoe hike we did...

Speaking of.... Last weekend took Bubbah, my Roomie and the Runner up to Horse Mountain bout 45min north. Its been pretty dry the last few weeks so. No snow on the road up, but had to use the 4 to get away from the moms and dads at the bottom of the hill. Didn't go too deep in (no chains) However, I did get to watch a coupla boys in bowties try to get up one of the snowed in roads (about 2.5 ft of pretty crappy stuff covering a serious grade) the Chevy's made it (with chains and snow tires bigger than my entire truck), the Suzukis were a JOKE but it looked like a blast. (will post some pictures somewhere soon...)

I'm not too crazy about snow driving tho -- expecting DV in March will be more mud and/or sand?

Also, for those of us Newbies to this kind of adventure -- is it appropriate for one of you who've been on one of these trips to post some kind of 'checklist' -- or has that been posted elsewhere. I've got the "so you wanna go offroad" basic list (towstraps, tools, first aid kit, yadda yadda) but if those of you who've been (esp to DV) could highlight those items you got there and found you couldn't live without (whether or not you actually HAD them when you NEEDED them the first go round), THIS newbie (for one) would be grateful.
(hopefully this request won't permantly exile me to "no idea what she's alking about" newbie land...)

Alright, enuf out of me. Will see if I can drag the roomie along for this one, she's always game for a party and this sounds like fun. Thanks for doing the coordinating guys!

Scottiac

Death Valley is a national park, and is therefore a bit of a pig about K9's. The technical requirement is no dogs except on roads.

Exact policy:


"• Can I bring my dog to the park?

Another somewhat interesting fact is that DV has the lowest population / sq. mile of the nat'l parks (I think), so if your critter is behaved, I don't imagine you'll really have any problems. Bulldog is bringing his, I'm leaving mine. (they don't always qualify as "behaved")

About conditions; mud is a very rare thing, unless it is absolutely dumping rain. I've had a couple bad trips where the campground was a cesspool of mud except for a miniscule high spot where the tent was, and the rest of the activitities were fine. There is a lot of stuff to do there, so even if it is raining like mad, there's at least a couple days of entertainment, though it may not be what you originally planned!

Coming from Nor Cal, you might wanna come down 395 (gorgeous!!!), and you might hit snow getting over there (through Tahoe, or wherever)

About equipment, the only thing that is visibly missing in your quick list is communications. We usually use CB or FRS radios (Bulldog and I have both) on channel 4 (CB) or 4/0 (FRS). Carry water and food for an extra day or so. You'll be with friends (yeah!) so danger is low, but a breakdown sucks, cause you can be hell and gone from the road.

One thing about DV is the distances are large, and the gas stations infrequent. You would we well advised to top off each day; carrying extra fuel isn't really necessary unless you're planning on moving from camp to camp in the backcountry (which we're not, at least this trip)

I hope I don't sound like an ass yet!

DrBeau

Man, I'm going to have to see what I can do about going on this, even though I'll be there the weekend before, too. Then again, 2500 miles in a week and a half is a little much.

Scottiac

from what you said earlier, we'll probably be doing something pretty close to a subset of your itinerary, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

JoKEpLaYeR

I was in 2-wheel 99% of the time I was in DV last month - you should be fine. As Scott said, High Clearance is the biggest concern. As long as you guys don't take South Eureka Road to the hot springs, you should be fine.

MyYotaDog

Naw this is great. Used to those rules -- always interesting to see how enforced they are (or not) Will throw dog in back -- he lives with his head hanging out the window anyway. Don't worry, I won't bust any rules that make the rest of the group look bad. We'll behave ourselves
Cripes, totally forgot about the communication, thanks! Hehehehe Okay. List ammended.
Cripes redux -- its gonna take me about 14 hours to get to DV from here looks like you're right on the 395 Scott, SWEET...may need to grab an extra day off from work...yipee!
Its really awesome of you to put this together -- its a great opportunity for those of us with less epxerience to get out and play and learn a few things...

Scottiac

If ya really wanna learn stuff, try and make one of the hollister trips some day. That's a fun place to learn what's up! How far norcal are ya? (besides 5 hours further than me! )