My sons and I went on a trip to Hoover Dam, Vegas, and Death Valley right before New Year's. I had been to Death Valley around 1972... so it's been a while. We've been planning this trip for about 3 years and were finally able to make it happen. We weren't able to do much actual 4wheeling, mainly due to time and DV is HUGE. So we weren't able to run Lippincott Mine road from the Racetrack south, although that's on the list for later. We were able to run Titus Canyon which was fun. There's MUCH more to see here. Already planning a return trip, just not so late in the year. The temps hovered in the low 50s during the day and at night... well let's just say it was cold. And sunset is at 4:30... The pics don't do this place justice. I'm still awed by DV... words like desolate and majestic and awesome come to mind but you just have to see it.
We took almost 17,000 pictures. Most of them were dashcam GoPro. Here's just a few of them:
Our camping spot at Mesquite Springs. Nice and remote, spread out, but NO firewood (closest firewood was a 2.5 hour round trip to Stovepipe Wells.
GoPro dash shot of Ubehebe Crater. Not an impact crater but a ancient volcanic explosion. Very neat place...
Looking North from Ubehebe Crater. Those mountains are a LONG way off...
Gratuitous shot of my Tacoma looking Southwest from the parking area at Ubehebe Crater.
Ubehebe Crater again.
When you go to Death Valley, the Park Service and everyone else around (employees at Scotty's Castle, signs leading to, etc) offers up dire warnings of death and worse if you try and drive a car or something unworthy to the Racetrack Playa as the road is rough. Washboardy, rocky, dusty, LONG (took us over an hour each way from Ubehebe Crater), and not really very many vehicles. Nevertheless, the driver of this BMW X3 decided to try the road. They SHREDDED the rear passenger tire and wheel (looked like they had driven on the flat tire for miles until they just couldn't move). I don't know why we didn't take a picture of the tire, but you can imagine...
The Grandstand, Racetrack Playa. Still about 3 miles away...
Racetrack Playa. Ice. It was that cold.
Racetrack Playa, south end.
Racetrack Playa. One of the moving rocks. Eric walking next to it with his ever-present GoPro selfie stick.
One more of Racetrack Playa. This place was amazing.
On the road to Titus Canyon looking Northeast. The shelf road was really no big deal. You get here by leaving the pavement on the road from DV to Beatty, NV. Kind of a fun easy trail ride. Beautiful Scenery.
What's left of the ponzi scheme known as Leadfield, NV. Kind of a neat place.
Exiting Titus Canyon.
We took almost 17,000 pictures. Most of them were dashcam GoPro. Here's just a few of them:
Our camping spot at Mesquite Springs. Nice and remote, spread out, but NO firewood (closest firewood was a 2.5 hour round trip to Stovepipe Wells.
GoPro dash shot of Ubehebe Crater. Not an impact crater but a ancient volcanic explosion. Very neat place...
Looking North from Ubehebe Crater. Those mountains are a LONG way off...
Gratuitous shot of my Tacoma looking Southwest from the parking area at Ubehebe Crater.
Ubehebe Crater again.
When you go to Death Valley, the Park Service and everyone else around (employees at Scotty's Castle, signs leading to, etc) offers up dire warnings of death and worse if you try and drive a car or something unworthy to the Racetrack Playa as the road is rough. Washboardy, rocky, dusty, LONG (took us over an hour each way from Ubehebe Crater), and not really very many vehicles. Nevertheless, the driver of this BMW X3 decided to try the road. They SHREDDED the rear passenger tire and wheel (looked like they had driven on the flat tire for miles until they just couldn't move). I don't know why we didn't take a picture of the tire, but you can imagine...
The Grandstand, Racetrack Playa. Still about 3 miles away...
Racetrack Playa. Ice. It was that cold.
Racetrack Playa, south end.
Racetrack Playa. One of the moving rocks. Eric walking next to it with his ever-present GoPro selfie stick.
One more of Racetrack Playa. This place was amazing.
On the road to Titus Canyon looking Northeast. The shelf road was really no big deal. You get here by leaving the pavement on the road from DV to Beatty, NV. Kind of a fun easy trail ride. Beautiful Scenery.
What's left of the ponzi scheme known as Leadfield, NV. Kind of a neat place.
Exiting Titus Canyon.
