Death Valley

[450 DUDE]

Well I was supposed to be there now... Dang! Im thinking a make up trip 4-4 - 4-7 mainly to the springs.
I have not nailed it down but I have my eye on it. Not sure if that plan works for anyone else but tossin it out there....

ken

 

[locrwln1]

A base camp at Stovepipe Wells wouldn't be a bad thing. It's kind of like camping in the Walmart parking lot, but if you have one of the West facing sites on the outside the sunset view is good.

In addition to the club DV run and I have been planning to hike Marble Canyon with a base camp either at Stovepipe Wells or boondocking thereabouts as soon as the Furnace Creek weather reports start hitting the 50's at night. We are kind of spontaneous about our trips so it's tough to put a date on it for those who need to plan in advance.

FWIW the road from the SW airport to Marble/Cottonwood Canyons looked like it would be doable with a Cab-over or 5th wheel. We saw trucks boiling out there at a really good clip the time we camped at SW. You could probably boondock it with either type of rig.

Yeah, CG's aren't our first choice, but sometimes they are a necessary evil and because of the weather, the Cabover is just a better choice.

We have hike marble canyon a couple of times and it is a great hike with amazing scenery. The road is in great shape up to the parking area, so no worries getting up there.

This trip for us is going to be more "touristy," there are some areas/places that we haven't visited in the main portion of the park, so that is what we are going to do on this trip.

Jack

 

[rusty_tlc]

Yeah, CG's aren't our first choice, but sometimes they are a necessary evil and because of the weather, the Cabover is just a better choice.

We have hike marble canyon a couple of times and it is a great hike with amazing scenery. The road is in great shape up to the parking area, so no worries getting up there.

This trip for us is going to be more "touristy," there are some areas/places that we haven't visited in the main portion of the park, so that is what we are going to do on this trip.

Jack

Is primitive camping allowed near the Canyons? From what I can find on-line it looks like it would be. We'd prefer to boondock with the Pop-up if possible.

I don't know what route you plan but Mesquite Springs is our favorite CG in the park. The RV sites are really big and spread out from each other.

We have done the touristy thing in DV a few times. A couple of things you might miss:

I recommend taking a trip down West side road to Eagle Borax works if you have time. We have never gone further south than that but it looks like it's just another dirt road. The cool part is the North end of the road, especially if there is water. This is from 2005 when they had the 100 year bloom

If you leave via Salisbury Pass to the South check out the Amargosa Opera House. The China Ranch date farm is also an interesting side trip.

 

[locrwln1]

Is primitive camping allowed near the Canyons? From what I can find on-line it looks like it would be. We'd prefer to boondock with the Pop-up if possible.

I don't know what route you plan but Mesquite Springs is our favorite CG in the park. The RV sites are really big and spread out from each other.

We have done the touristy thing in DV a few times. A couple of things you might miss:

I recommend taking a trip down West side road to Eagle Borax works if you have time. We have never gone further south than that but it looks like it's just another dirt road. The cool part is the North end of the road, especially if there is water. This is from 2005 when they had the 100 year bloom

If you leave via Salisbury Pass to the South check out the Amargosa Opera House. The China Ranch date farm is also an interesting side trip.

I will look into MS, CG, that might be a better fit for us, we'll see (that is if the weather lets us get out of town tomorrow night).

We have never done the West Road, hiked out to Badwater, been up to Dante's View or been south of the badwater pullover point. See, still plenty to do.

Jack

 

[WILLD420]

Anybody heard from the Locrwln's? Hopefully they haven't mired the cabover in the only available mudhole in DV.....

 

[alia176]

I spoke to them as they were going through Furnace Creek, back on Saturday. Sounded like the weather was good.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I spoke to them as they were going through Furnace Creek, back on Saturday. Sounded like the weather was good.

Did they mention Titus Canyon?

 

[locrwln1]

Anybody heard from the Locrwln's? Hopefully they haven't mired the cabover in the only available mudhole in DV.....

We're alive, no runs, no stucks, no errors.

I spoke to them as they were going through Furnace Creek, back on Saturday. Sounded like the weather was good.

Great temperatures, it couldn't have been any better for hiking and sleeping at night. The wind was a little brisk on Saturday night, we watched a couple struggle with their tent for almost an hour before they could get it erected in the wind. Nice and cozy in the cabover though.

Did they mention Titus Canyon?

Titus was closed, so we skipped it and will just have to go another time.

I will start a post with pics.

Jack

 

[alia176]

Titus was closed, so we skipped it and will just have to go another time.

I will start a post with pics.

Jack

Hmm, that's a bummer.

 

[rusty_tlc]

For all of you guys that have posted in locrwln's DV trip thread that you want to go to Death Valley here is you chance. The temps this week at Furnace Creek are in the 90's with night temps in the 50's and 60's.

Times running out unless you can tolerate the heat.

If anyone else wants to go post up a date and I'll do my best to make sure we can go.

Otherwise and I are planning for sometime in the April 15 to April 24 time frame. By then it will be hot so camping will probably be in higher elevations.

 

[Krusty Krab]

I would love to go this year. Even the heat would be awesome after this year of winter. Unfortunatly I will be in Moab a week later. Next time better planning on my part. It just so happens that the jeep safari is also that week. O yea, lots of crowds--suck. We may just sneak over to the San Rafeal swell and do some hiking in Goblin state park and some light wheeling/exploring. Most of the campgrounds are full in Moab.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I would love to go this year. Even the heat would be awesome after this year of winter. Unfortunatly I will be in Moab a week later. Next time better planning on my part. It just so happens that the jeep safari is also that week. O yea, lots of crowds--suck. We may just sneak over to the San Rafeal swell and do some hiking in Goblin state park and some light wheeling/exploring. Most of the campgrounds are full in Moab.

I hope you guys have a great time, SRS is a good alternate choice if what I have heard is true.

We had a great time with you last year, maybe next year?

 

[Krusty Krab]

For sure on the next year. Maybe March would be better for the club--probably still have the winter blues and itching to get away to some warm days. Any hoo have fun and watch out for the Death Valley whales at the springs--just plain nasty.

 

[rusty_tlc]

5 Days, > 1400 miles, >>100 gallons of fuel.
Lehman Caves/ Great Basin Nat. park
Cathedral Gorge
Kershaw Ryan State Park
Rainbow Canyon/Meadows Wash
Valley of Fire/Lake Mead Nat. Park
Death Valley Nat. Park
Bishop
Montgomery Pass

If your ever in the neighbor hood of Calinete and need a place to stay Kershaw Ryan State Park is friggin great. We had the whole place to ourselves, they even have hot showers for $0.25/Minute. IMHO it is the best kept secrets in the NV state park system. Rainbow Canyon is another cool area that is worth the time to visit, it starts as you leave KR SP. The high speed gravel roads that head south from there lead to Mesquite, Lake Mead, or Las Vegas.

Atatal Rock State Campground in Valley of Fire has free hot showers, along with an ass load of mega mega RV's and screaming kids. Avoid it like you would a bat s*** crazy red head. The ADA site we had was pretty nice and Mom had great access to the restrooms and showers. Last year we stayed at Echo Bay. That CG is usually deserted and also has showers, not a bad place to stay and close to a lot of the more interesting parts of the park. Next time I think we will head over to Gold Butte road and try to find Little Finland instead.

In Death Valley we stayed at Mesquite Springs CG, this is still the best "developed" CG in DV as far as I'm concerned. We would probably have cruised another few miles to Eureka Dune but my 82 year old Mother was with us, so we tried to stay places that had facilities.

I'll probably do a full write up next week sometime.

 

[spressomon]

I'd like to get 14mpg over 1,400 miles

Sounds like you had fun. Good tip on Kershaw Ryan...I was not familiar with it.

How are the snow levels out East?

 

[locrwln1]

Sounds like a good trip. I agree on the Kershaw Ryan SP, didn't know about that one and I have been through Caliente a few times.

Looking forward to the pics and the rest of the story.

Jack

 

[rusty_tlc]

...
How are the snow levels out East?

Kingston Canyon is out of the question with the current snow pack. Wheeler Peak road has 5+ feet of snow on it still.

 

[locrwln1]

Kingston Canyon is out of the question with the current snow pack. Wheeler Peak road has 5+ feet of snow on it still.

Darcie and I were talking about Kingston and Wheeler Peak the other day and we're not sure they will be open until mid to late July, unless we get some very warm weather.

Lot of snow and some high elevations. I know that the upper camp ground at Wheeler Peak is around 9k feet high, so it could be a while.

Jack

 

[spressomon]

Darcie and I were talking about Kingston and Wheeler Peak the other day and we're not sure they will be open until mid to late July, unless we get some very warm weather.

Lot of snow and some high elevations. I know that the upper camp ground at Wheeler Peak is around 9k feet high, so it could be a while.

Jack

If we did a do-over of our wonderful Explore Nevada 2010 this year I'm thinking it would have to be August!

 

[rusty_tlc]

Elk Antlers at Sacramento Pass

Elk near Sacramento Pass

Mt Moriah

The Wheeler Peak Road

Instead of doubling back we found a dirt road just south of Baker that cut back over to HWY 93. This is at Hyde Wells

We also went through Atlanta.........NV