Any trips planned this weekend / next week? (now Death Valley planning) (1 Viewer)

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Gas at Furnace Creek is $2-3 more than either Stovepipe Wells or even cheaper in Beatty, as that is Nevada. Only regular at Stovepipe, no diesel or premium. I recommend not planning to drive as far as possible every day. Don't try to see everything in one trip, there is always next year to come back and go on another loop. Stop somewhere and hike around, take your time to go into mines and walk around old mill sites. I never spend time around Furnace Creek as you can go back there some day with your wife and stay in the hotel and explore with all the other tourists. Go out to Lippincott mine, hike the racetrack, go over to Lost Burro Mine, go up to the White Top Mountain dead end, lots of stuff to explore but not at 55 on your way to somewhere else. I have probably been out there 20 times in the last 22 years and have been many places.

Great advice thank you. Completely agree.

We will probably skip echo canyon this trip to leave more time for other things and just chilling. There will be kids so don't want them to suffer in the vehicle all day.

Probably do Mengel Pass into the park, then Titus Canyon another day, then the Racetrack and Lippincott out to 395 another day. With sightseeing, hikes, etc to fill in the gaps.
 
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From some of the videos I looked at of Echo Canyon doing it while towing a trailer and no spare tire seems like an invitation for trouble.

I am going to try to pick up a spare just in case.
 
All loaded and ready to go.

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Thanks all for the advice and recommendations.

We got kind of a late start from San Diego with the plan to go in though Ridgecrest and over Mengel Pass into the park. We didn't have a set spot to camp the first night and we were planning to find a good spot based on timing. We ended up getting to Trona and were thinking the Pinnacles but decided to keep pressing on. It was starting to get dark and extremely windy as we passed though the valley north of Trona. We pressed on to Ballarat in the hopes of finding something in that area. There was a large grove of trees in that area, but we were concerned that there would be various animals hanging out there due to the shelter. At first we started heading up Pleasant Canyon hoping to find a sheltered flat spot, but nothing presented itself. We ended up turning around (in the dark with a trailer) and headed south on Wingate Road. Finally found what seemed to be a decent spot between the road and canyon wall about half way to the DV Mineral facility (Redlands Canyon?). Wind picked up later that night and I was awake half the night keeping the tent from blowing over.

Next morning we continued south and up Goler Canyon. There were two natural spring there and the water was running down the road. We were driving in a small stream all the way from the mouth of the canyon to the source of the second spring. Stopped at Barker Ranch and continued up and over the pass. No real issues except an off-camber spot just past the top of the pass. That was interesting with the trailer but made it though ok. Stopped at Stella's Cabin and Geologists Cabin, then a little further stopped at Warm Springs Camp, then off to Furnace Creek where we stayed for the night. Lots of Donkeys in this area.

Next day we opted to skip Echo and Titus Canyon and headed north towards the racetrack after stopping at the visitor's center and filling up on very expensive fuel. Missed our turn without realizing and ended up 10+ miles past Stovepipe Wells heading west towards Panamint Mtn before realizing it. Turned around. Filled up again in Stovepipe Wells as it seemed a bad idea to skip a gas station in Death Valley. After getting back on the correct road, we stopped at Ubehebe Crater, then onto Racetrack Valley Road. Passed Teakettle Junction and spent some time at the Playa and letting the kids climb the Grandstand. The ranger at the visitor center said Lippincott Rd was in really bad shape and they were thinking about closing it and advised against going that way. So we went back to Teakettle Junction with the plan to find a camp spot down Hunter Mountain Road a bit and continue through to Saline Valley Road. Stopped at Lost Burro Mine for a bit then headed further looking for a camp spot. There was a nasty silt bed in the valley before climbing Hunter Mountain. Temps started dropping once we started getting to higher elevations, and we weren't really setup for cold weather camping so we pressed on hoping to find a suitable spot on the other side. Ended up going all the way to Panamint Springs and staying there for two nights. Relaxed there and explored the area. Drove over to Darwin via dirt roads and headed back on pavement. Stopped at Father Crowley point hoping to see some aircraft but no luck (although we did see a couple of Ospreys fly right over our camp). One night had a group of Donkeys walk through camp close to our tent.

Once we left there we headed out to the 395 and up to Kennedy Meadows and Troy Meadows to spend a couple hours riding motorcycles. We were thinking of staying another night somewhere at lower elevations but decided to just head home.

All in all a great trip. Highlights were definitely Mengel Pass and Hunter Mountain. These were very neat areas and places I would like to revisit sometime. I also want to visit Steel Pass, Echo and Titus Canyon.
 
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Great write up and pictures, time to head back out there in the fall. Did you go into the geologist cabin? just curious if the tortoise shell is still on the mantel.
 
We did go into both cabins in Butte Valley. I don't specifically remember seeing a tortoise shell but here are some pictures of geologists cabin.

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Looks about the same as many years ago when Barney and I stayed there. I had found a shell wandering around the surrounding hills on a hike and put it on the mantel, looks like it may still be there on the left side.
 

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