Death Valley 2016 Trip report

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okay, so I found some more pics, it'll throw off the continuity of the thread, but whatever...

So the mid day leg stretch, back on the leg from the dunes to the slot where we got rumbled by a jet, we took a quick hike down a wash.
There was this "waterfall" and the rocks were all slick and smooth from the years of erosion. Lots of Lava rocks, pumice and stuff around also.

And another pano shot of the Dunes and the Diesel 60.
I was sorta actually looking for the s***ter I brought, but couldnt find since it apparently ejected itself...

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and a few more of the area we set up camp at the Springs:

One of the view we saw that killer black jet as with the normal eye, Steve's pic is pretty sweet.

Then one of the Swiss 80 duo and the cool pop up they have,

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more from the springs, before @ARCHIPEEP showed up.

The Burros.

First Light of the day:

The Bat Pole:

And one of the Swiss 80 up at the corner. They had fun listening to us on the 2M, Drew was very informative on all the answers he gave to my questions. At one point they broke in and applauded it as well.

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From the corner we headed thru Teakettle Junction; the race track and the "jus vollowing ze app" and then to this totally killer camp spot at 7000' elevation, and we actually had cell service at.
Brown spirits came out, we made fire, tacos, more fire, more spirits, and then awoke to the most amazing sunrise at the epic overlook.

I'm not sure if there are any other places you can see a cactus, bristlecone pine tree and a joshua tree at the same 5 foot radius.

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this was taken after staring at the sunrise for a few minutes in awe:
I had to make sure I wasn't still sleeping.

Yes, proof of spirits exists. Therefore we are.

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This is that campsite view once the sun hit the valley floor below.

begrudgingly we packed up and left this epicness and headed to the next place. Pretty sure this is where Steve figured out something was clanging that shouldn't have been and we found a guy that could weld it up.
Me, Prince Charming, Cinderella and the Crazy Turk head for beers while Drew and Steve grab a grinder.

some of the locals:

beep beep

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So if conditions are good, and you get the chance to camp at the top of White Top mountain, it is the place to be. You overlook Death Valley, Big Horn Canyon and Stovepipe Wells. From at least a mile above. We were there in ok conditions, but anything less and the wind and the cold are too much. It's almost always windy there. But if you hit it on a still night (rare) it's one of the best places in Death Valley.
 
We rolled out to Ballarat after the fixin was done.
Found a really cool old rig, a building made of mud, and other stuff on the way up.
Someof my other pics show the trip up better, but it was an awesome cabin with a huge porch and even water trickling down a sliver of a stream. Huge papyrus plants and even wild grapes.

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A group of burros were our welcoming party, and after a couple nights of mass murderer talk and brown spirits, I start to get a nervous feeling when I see this sign.
Barker Ranch?
WTF??? oh man, and then as if by design..it starts to rain.
I'm thinking "I better take some pictures so they can find me if this goes bad"

It actually was really soothing, the dust was gone, it smelled wonderful, all the colors popped on the rocks as if someone was playing with the saturation level.

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So @Cruiserdrew reminded me that I had more vids on my phone from the trip, and he's right! Here's the local welcoming committee at the entrance to Goler Canyon on our traverse across the Panamint Range from Panamint Valley to Death Valley.

 
And here's the first of a couple more videos of our stormy traverse of the Panamint Range. No one rocks a roof top tent like @PabloVTA !

 
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As we came off of Mengel Pass we dropped down into Butte Valley, and it was really cool...

 
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The morning we said our good-byes and split up at the Inyo Mine, the way out through Echo Canyon wasn't all peaches and cream. Aside from the famously endless stretches of Death Valley rough road ahead of us, there was this: the best obstacle of the trip. "Not to worry," says @Cruiserdrew , "I've taken my bone stock FJ62 through this - walk in the park." Alrighty then. As usual, the video doesn't do justice to how it looked in real life...

 
I found a picture of the last camp and thought I would share that story, though it isn't as exciting as @PabloVTA 's adventure driving back to civilization on a dead battery and alternator.

@MountNGoat and I headed north up the mother road 395 and it was getting late, cold and time to stop. So we turned West off 395 just past the right turn to Bodie. There's a forest service "campground" back in there but the sign by the road said "closed".

We drove in and found a paradise-a beautiful canyon, a stream and cleared level campsites that could hold 50 trucks. Stacks of firewood present as well. Not another soul for miles. The only problem was, we got a sliver of internet service!

We set up for a nice dinner and ate carnitas tacos until it hurt, when Steve hears from his wife that a major storm is headed our way with high wind, rain and snow up on the passes. Sure enough weather underground confirms a significant storm with high winds and snow predicted to hit the Sierra at 6am.:mad:

So we pack back up, take the dirt road back to 395 in the dark and continue our journey home. Given the excellent road conditions, good weather and lack of traffic it was a breeze. Steve and I stayed together over Monitor Pass, then he turned South to go over Ebbett's Pass, I went north through Markleeville, over Luther Pass, Over Echo Summitt and down into Sacramento. I was home before 11pm, but we'd started that morning at the Inyo Mine and had been driving basically all day, other than our interrupted dinner!

Given the drive we had to make unexpectedly, the wine and the brown spirits were untouched that night.

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wise choice, closed passes after your frozen coffee woulda meant driving to South Lake Tahoe or maybe Reno even...
 
PabloVTA said:
more from the springs, before @ARCHIPEEP showed up.

The Burros.

First Light of the day:

The Bat Pole:

And one of the Swiss 80 up at the corner. They had fun listening to us on the 2M, Drew was very informative on all the answers he gave to my questions. At one point they broke in and applauded it as well.

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Click to expand...



I forgot, the Dapper Radio Dave showed up and you can see his rig way off in the distance with his RTT set up.
 
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