Death Valley 2016 Trip report (1 Viewer)

[PabloVTA]

I'm not even sure how to start in with this story, how to do it any justice.

This is how the thread started on a previously led excursion that was spearheaded by @Cruiserdrew.
(search Fawking for the details)

The incredible expanse of Death Valley, it's always written about, it's in all the overlandy magazines, people from around the world head there for solitude, hikes, fun dips in warm springs, a chance to see fighter jets and Joshua trees and cactus.
I've lived in California for over 30 years, I've driven up the 395 a couple dozen times and just thought; "yeah, it's just like that for another hundred miles, i'll get there one of these days"....
dood, you gotta go out there man.

Sure, you can drive a loop thru it in a day and say you saw it, but we drove up and over, thru the canyons, camped at old mines that were built 100-130 years ago, it's an amazing terra firma display.

So, I'll try to capture the route the best I can, and the places we reached. I'm not too sure we will "spill the beans" on each specific location since there are so many punks out there just looking for a new rave spot or a place to tag up with paint, but the places we got to were beautiful, remote, pristine and I expect them to stay that way.

So we started in Big Pine on a Saturday afternoon where our meet up spot was going to be a Chevron Station that has good mexican food also. I was headed there from Ventura, a few were coming over the passes of the Sierras from the Nor Cal area and we had our 2M HAM's for conversations.

I was watching a huge storm churn to the West just on top of the Pacific Crest and kept taunting it under my breath to actually turn into some rain for our parched state. I got about 5 drops on my windows and that was it.

 

[PabloVTA]

When I rolled into Big Pine, I found that the Chevron was all but history.
The pad was still there, and the shell of a building, but no pumps, no nuthin for gas.
I grabbed the mic and hit the guys in Bishop and let them know.
You'd think they would have stopped at Mahogany Meats or Schatts Deli on the way thru, bit no....

you see, when we did the HITR run, we all showed up 18-24 hours early...out of pure excitement and adrenaline fueled nonsense.
By those terms I was full blown slacking only getting to the start an hour ahead of the guys heading south to the meet up point.

We all fueled up and it was pretty windy there. @TrickyT and @MountNGoat were ready for dinner and Drew thought we were going to have a windy night of it at Eureka Dunes, our final destination for the first night.
We grabbed a dinner in town, and then rolled out.

The washboards are pretty brutal for a good section of the road. We aired down after about a mile of thinking we could just hammer thru it.
This was probably where my PETT toilet backpack made an ejection from my triple bungeed attempt of containment in the roof top tent pocket on the "Cal King" as it was called.

It's a pretty good climb to there, it was getting dark rapidly, and the wind was definitely present.
So after a quick beer at camp, we set up and turned in and this is what I saw in the morning light.

 

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Once we had coffee's going and Clive the wonder pooch had run around and met us all we slowly started to pack up our things and were getting ready to go thru Steele Pass to the Saline Warm Springs.

 

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it was about this time I grabbed the mic and asked Drew what the odds were that we'd see a fighter jet today. He says "I dont know..." all nonchalantly and cool.

So we had that going for us.

 

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We were driving up these huge alluvial fans of dirt, and taking the path of least resistance if it were, just meandering up the river bed towards a slot in the canyon.

 

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the view back to the dunes:

 

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the view of the slot

 

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and wouldn't you know it...here comes a jet.
we heard one or two go over on our way in, and they were really hard to see since you hear them pretty much after they have already gone past you.
But wow, what a rush.
We all were hollering and chests rumbling from the sound.
"Murica! " at it's finest...what a great start to the day.

Tom thru in a new locker in the front, so we got to try it out for the first time just to prove it works, and once I was at the crux of the manuever another jet flew right thru the slot above us and rattled me good.
I thought I blew a transfer case, or sharted, or both...

Drew is still laughing as Tom was playing around:

 

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Then Steve makes his way thru.

 

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and we carry on

 

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and on:

 

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you can see some Joshua trees here. This is about the high point between the Dunes and the Saline Springs.

Lots of german tourists ahead.

 

[PabloVTA]

We made it to the switchback and there is a short hike out to a bathtub full of marbles...
We came across some really cool 4Runners and an 80 series, a couple hunnerds and a domestic or two.

 

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we drove a good portion of the day, the "wash" we were in was pretty amazing. Look how the Taco Truck disappears below the ground line.

 

[PabloVTA]

yes we just came over that ridge back there.
no I didn't hear anything...
but we were sure to see something, and soon.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I think i know what's coming up and won't spill the beans this time, and no it isn't a double rainbow. We've seen enough of those and didn't wish for it.

The traverse over Steel Pass is always fun. You go from remote but organized at the Dunes, to really f'n remote, no one may be here for a week, in moments. The F16 strafed us right in the narrow slow part of the canyon. 50 feel overhead, shook the earth, but didn't stick around for a photo. But our goal that day was to look for nekkid hippie chicks at the hot springs and so we had to move on. It turns out, they came looking for us...

I don't know who the guy was with the red 80, but he almost has to be here on ih8mud. He had an eclectic group of travelers with him, including what I think was a 2wd late model Ford truck. In fact all the trucks but the 80 seemed a little too nice to be out there on Steel Pass, but yet, there they were.

Bumping our way off the Pass, @TrickyT had found an old cabin on the web about 1/2 mile off the path and we hoped to spot it and then return the next day and really check it out.

 

[desertdude]

..............................

 

[MountNGoat]

We get over Steel Pass, pass the eclectic group of trucks, and are pointing downhill now, slowly picking our lines around rocks and bouncing our way down the valley toward a very, very distant group of trees that @Cruiserdrew assures is desert bliss, even though there's a 2000 ft tall wall of dust being whipped up by the winds in what looks like the same place. No worries, says Drew.

I'm anchoring the rear because: a) I'm the diesel; b) I'm the only one (at this point) on those archaic things called leaf springs and thus am slow; and c) I'm the diesel. @TrickyT is on the 2M intent on finding a multiple-murder site. Hmmm. I'm camping with this dude. Hmmm.

At some point along here I start to hear banging noises in my suspension that are new. HOLY CRAP!!!, we just got buzzed by another F18 at 200' and mach 0.995!!! Bang. Back to my suspension. Must be loose U bolts. No problem, I'll address that in camp, and so get on the radio to tell the group not to wait on me, I'm fine but am going to take it slow into camp.

Then I hear radio traffic about tattoos and people that need close observation. I will find out what that's all about soon enough. Bang. I really gotta get on those U-bolts in camp.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Lots of german tourists ahead.

This is true, funny and sad.

True: Many German tourists in Death Valley, who seem to be drawn to it. Maybe for the wide open spaces, the freedom, or the unremitting sun. Unsure. But every year it's the same. Hundreds of German tourists out on the pavement of the Valley proper and some in the backcountry, where they have no business being.

Funny, because we met one in an awkward place we'll get to in this thread in a couple of days, in a 2wd Ford Escape. "I vas following the app..." We'll tell his tale in a bit.

But sad too, it is "Death Valley" and when not given the proper respect, bad things happen. This incident (involving wayward German tourists) is worth reading and extremely interesting if you know the local terrain. So, if you have 4 hours or so...

The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans