Damn, I said G-damn.
Death Valley 2016 Trip report
- Thread starter PabloVTA
- Start date
-
- Tags
- death valley
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Damn, I said G-damn.
No pics of the young visionquest women.
Yes. None.
See, I told you this dude was into double murder sites. But Dr. Drew is still alive after many years of hanging out with him so I had hope I'd make it.
Well in that case
Death Valley will definitely find the weak spots in a rig. I had a conversation with some of my rock crawler buddies a while back and the consensus was that DV is actually harder on a truck than Rubicon or Fordyce.
It found my weak spot for sure...
So here be Hans, where he didn't belong, in the wrong vehicle, inadequately supplied, with @Cruiserdrew trying to help him out...
So the Race Track was really, really cool. But somehow we've skipped completely over White Top Mountain. During this entire day, transiting from the hot springs to the top of White Top Mountain, I thought I was dealing with "difficult" U-bolts. I'd tightened them at the Springs surrounded by Pablo's "excited" Donkeys (nothing to see here...), and off we went.
Things 'seemed' much better, but that would be mistakenly due to the more civil nature of the road compared to Steel Pass. My front passenger side shackle mount welds had failed and I was oblivious. Between the Race Track and White Top mountain there was much wash board. "Dood, you're gunna just have to pick up the pace and find the right harmonic," says the dark Turk in the white 70 series behind me. It's possible he, the elusive @beno might know what he's talking about. Hell, I'm in a 60 so off we go, blazing down the washboard, and the Turk is right. This is better. But my front suspension is seriously compromised and I don't know it. Yet.
A few hours later we reach the top of White Top Mountain. @PabloVTA proceeds to embark on an epic culinary taco quest ( And There Was Much Rejoicing), using home-made cooked on-the-spot tortillas. At some point the remainder of my "dark spirits" were produced and absorbed. Not only was a good time had by all, but it was such a good time that once again I ditched the tent in favor of simpler sleeping arrangements.
Which was fortuitous because the dawn that greeted me was incredible. OK ---scratch that. The pre-Dawn that greeted me was @Cruiserdrew having to to heed the serious greater than #1 call of nature, which with his stompings down the trail alerted me to the incredible arrival of the day. Given the lack of choices, camera was secured to tripod and I began shooting...
Actually I did have one minor problem. On the way out over North Pass my 2m radio kept powering down when I was transmitting on high power. I had this same problem a couple of years ago, so figured it was the same issue again. And I was right. The fuse terminals in my auxiliary fuse block got hot when conducting high current loads and lost their clamping force. This created higher resistance and resulted in low voltage to the radio, which then automatically shut down. Problem is now fixed with installation of a good quality fuse block from Blue Sea, p/n 5045:
Great story. We love this place and are headed back after the first of the year. The washboards in saline valley are rough and seem to never end. From Darwin, it took us over two hours to get to the springs and about an hour and a half to get out, in a 100 with AHC, which handles it well at speed.
Backtracking just a bit, I'd be remiss if I didn't share this story.
At the springs, I was bound and determined to get a shot of one of the jets doing their near-supersonic ground-level fly overs. So, I've got the the camera with the 70-200mm tele on it around my neck just waiting for the chance. And waiting. And waiting. All morning, then most of the afternoon. The springs are calling and taking a dip is becoming more and more of a priority. Dr. Drew is already there. No (old) nekked chicks around any more (or young for that matter). Ah heck, the jets are done for the day, I'm getting in. Pablo tells me that he's going to stay at camp. OK, I say, and give him a quick tutorial on my camera should the impossible happen and the jets return whilst I'm soaking off the trail dust. I'm a professional photographer at times and have lots of experience shooting fast-moving objects, and it's not easy sometimes, so even if a jet does return I'm not expecting a home run. Focus and shutter release are on different buttons the way my camera body is set up, and then there's the zoom ring, and like I said it was a quick tutorial for Pablo.
So, I walk away from camp, cover the 40 yards to the springs, strip down and just as my foot's hitting the water... yep, you got it, we get what would be the last ground-level fly-by of our stay there and all I can do is watch. But Pablo - he paid attention in class that day, and he didn't just get a home run, he knocked it out of the park!!!
At the springs, I was bound and determined to get a shot of one of the jets doing their near-supersonic ground-level fly overs. So, I've got the the camera with the 70-200mm tele on it around my neck just waiting for the chance. And waiting. And waiting. All morning, then most of the afternoon. The springs are calling and taking a dip is becoming more and more of a priority. Dr. Drew is already there. No (old) nekked chicks around any more (or young for that matter). Ah heck, the jets are done for the day, I'm getting in. Pablo tells me that he's going to stay at camp. OK, I say, and give him a quick tutorial on my camera should the impossible happen and the jets return whilst I'm soaking off the trail dust. I'm a professional photographer at times and have lots of experience shooting fast-moving objects, and it's not easy sometimes, so even if a jet does return I'm not expecting a home run. Focus and shutter release are on different buttons the way my camera body is set up, and then there's the zoom ring, and like I said it was a quick tutorial for Pablo.
So, I walk away from camp, cover the 40 yards to the springs, strip down and just as my foot's hitting the water... yep, you got it, we get what would be the last ground-level fly-by of our stay there and all I can do is watch. But Pablo - he paid attention in class that day, and he didn't just get a home run, he knocked it out of the park!!!
A few more jet pics, including some high altitude aerial refueling.
After the incredible sunrise on top of White Top Mountain, I gave my rig one more walk-around looking at the suspension, and that's when I spotted the broken shackel mount. The shackle had rotated back onto the spring, and the mount had rotated forward on the shackle, pancaking the assembly, and then it was all pushed up and resting against the frame - to all our previous casual glances everything was ok. Now I knew what the 'banging' sound had been and I was a little nauseous thinking about the previous day's driving, and the driving yet to be done. I don't even think to take a picture of the situation (I recall someone taking a picture of this - please find it and post up!). But we load up and ease on down the mountain. Now that I know what's wrong I'm pretty apprehensive. When we get to the flats I called a halt and we discussed the issue. We decide that the best we can do is a ratchet strap cast and we set to work, @beno doing most of the bandaging (which reminds me - who's straps were those?!!?). And just to keep things weird, @Cruiserdrew found the biggest spider in DV right where we stopped to effect the shackle fix.
.
After limping out to Panamint Springs, we found one of the co-owners of the resort, Aaron, who had welding skills and agreed to help us. A couple of hours later, the spring mount was rewelded to the frame, with some improvements, and we were off. I didn't snap a pic of the welded hanger until after it had a few road miles on it...
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #113
yeah, it's like it was fighting the truth...
- Thread starter
- #114
this is the path I took home with a dead Alternator.
I used up my main battery, then used Greg's second battery as we did a swap to get my main re-charged on the way to Palmdale to pick up a new Alternator, just in case I'd have to wrench on the side of the road, in the dark- with potential rain...
I used up my main battery, then used Greg's second battery as we did a swap to get my main re-charged on the way to Palmdale to pick up a new Alternator, just in case I'd have to wrench on the side of the road, in the dark- with potential rain...
A few pics of the ride back down to Ballarat after our stay at a cabin below World Beater Mine.
No pictures, but I did take some video. I just love the clank of the BBQ. But it made some good fillets
.
Last edited:
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
Great video @MountNGoat ! Winding up into the fog and the rain was a first there for me. We couldn't even stop and pay our respects to Carl Mengel who's grave is up at the Apex of the pass. There's a little bit of actual 4wheeling there, so I'm glad the goat was welded up and repaired well.
After our last night together at the Inyo mine, I followed @Cruiserdrew east over the Amargosa Range and out to Hwy 95,
where we proceeded to make our way north and west until getting back to Hwy 395 at Lee Vining (this was an awesome drive, covering many roads I'd never traversed - absolutely beautiful country). We gassed up (I was only down 23 gallons after filling up last in Panamint Springs - gotta love the diesel) and drove north for awhile until finally settling on a nice camp site on the Little Walker River just north of Bridgeport, right at dusk. Dr. Drew produced dinner and we settled in to enjoy the evening, eyeing the firewood @PabloVTA gave us - and the Brown Spirits. Then, having cell service, I checked in with my better half, who proceeded to tell me there was a storm moving in. Using the power of the Almighty Google, we confirmed that we would have cold rain in our camp at 6 am and there was a good chance the back-roads passes we wanted to use would be closed - full on Winter Storm Warning. Decision time...yeah, let's pack up and get the heck outta Dodge. So we did, left in the dark, and we each headed home.
Funny thing happened on the dark, stormy night (well, it was...) drive home. After cresting Ebbett's Pass on Hwy 4 about 10 pm, I passed a trio of Toyota trucks in a turnout. As I pass by I get a light shined on me, and it continues to flood the cab as I go on down the road. Figuring these guys need help, I turned around and went back. The guy with the flashlight walks over to me sheepishly, grinning and shaking his head, and says, "sorry, dude, we didn't mean to flag you down! We were just like, "whoa, that thing's a diesel!" and we didn't know those things came in a diesel!" Five minutes later I was on my way...
My perspective of Death Valley is now completely changed - what a place!
where we proceeded to make our way north and west until getting back to Hwy 395 at Lee Vining (this was an awesome drive, covering many roads I'd never traversed - absolutely beautiful country). We gassed up (I was only down 23 gallons after filling up last in Panamint Springs - gotta love the diesel) and drove north for awhile until finally settling on a nice camp site on the Little Walker River just north of Bridgeport, right at dusk. Dr. Drew produced dinner and we settled in to enjoy the evening, eyeing the firewood @PabloVTA gave us - and the Brown Spirits. Then, having cell service, I checked in with my better half, who proceeded to tell me there was a storm moving in. Using the power of the Almighty Google, we confirmed that we would have cold rain in our camp at 6 am and there was a good chance the back-roads passes we wanted to use would be closed - full on Winter Storm Warning. Decision time...yeah, let's pack up and get the heck outta Dodge. So we did, left in the dark, and we each headed home.
Funny thing happened on the dark, stormy night (well, it was...) drive home. After cresting Ebbett's Pass on Hwy 4 about 10 pm, I passed a trio of Toyota trucks in a turnout. As I pass by I get a light shined on me, and it continues to flood the cab as I go on down the road. Figuring these guys need help, I turned around and went back. The guy with the flashlight walks over to me sheepishly, grinning and shaking his head, and says, "sorry, dude, we didn't mean to flag you down! We were just like, "whoa, that thing's a diesel!" and we didn't know those things came in a diesel!" Five minutes later I was on my way...
My perspective of Death Valley is now completely changed - what a place!
If I didn't know better I'd say there is a CSU Ram sticker on that 60!!! Go rams.
Oh, and this may be my favorite trip report to date. Nice work all.
Last edited:
@mervo , you have a keen eye indeed. My son is currently enrolled.