Any interest in a Death Valley 2-3 day over landing trip, Spring errr Fall 20'

bikerjosh

bikerjosh

Well-Known Member
Thinking about doing a March trip in the Delica. I have organized and led (if you can call it that) half dozen trips off-road trips in DV on motorcycles or 4wd vehicles, (same screen name on expoportal.com) While I have been over almost every dirt road in the park, there are a number of routes that a Delica would be fine on. Most of the trips have been 3-4 days off road with occasional road stretches to hit gas stations where necessary. Great scenery and photo ops. Route will likely involve Steel Pass, Eureka Dunes, Hot Springs, (Titus Canyon if enough interest-easy but cool) etc depending on presence of snow/ice maybe Hunter Mtn, Tea Kettle Junction, Lippencott. Trails that we will not be going on Echo Canyon out to Nevada, Pleasant/South Park Canyons (one of my favorites) or Cerro Gordo to Salt Tram-Swansea. Just trying to gauge interest.
 
Nice, Mojave Road trip? If so how was Soda Lake and how high was the water on the west end? That was one of my first multi day trips about 7 years ago. Always wanted to go back and hit a couple spots I missed on last trip.

sck_nogas said:
I'm in. Just got back from a Mohave trip!
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, Mojave Road
 
bikerjosh said:
Nice, Mojave Road trip? If so how was Soda Lake and how high was the water on the west end? That was one of my first multi day trips about 7 years ago. Always wanted to go back and hit a couple spots I missed on last trip.
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Mohave Hike/Camp trip at Hole in the Wall, Rings trail, Crystal Spring, Mitchell Caverns, Kelso Dunes, Kelso Depot, Rock House Spring, and Pisgah Crater and lava tubes. Did not do too much off road driving as the crew I was with was not in vehicles with higher clearance. So, just traveled on dirt washboards like Black Canyon and Cedar Canyon Roads.

When we went from Hole in the Wall campground to Kelso Dunes, I was thinking just take the dirt road over Foshay Pass straight there, but instead we drove 59 miles around using the I-40.
 
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Day 1
Ok, working on some rough details on route for the trip. This will be a three day trip, Friday-Sunday. The first day is a little open. End point for the day is Hunter Cabin (red triangle) on first slide. Prior to hitting the trail at South Saline Road @ Hwy 190, we have a few options.
  1. The most out of the way one being heading East into the park to take Titus Canyon trail -an easy trail/road with the end being a box canyon great pictures, check it out on the web. Note: a short drive east of the entrance leads you to Beatty NV, cheap gas for a top off.
  2. Another possible option is head up the 'yellow rd' to Cerro Gordo from Keeler, drop down the lesser traveled road into Lee Flat eventually running into Saline Valley Rd and heading left toward Hunter Mtn.
  3. Head to the town of Darwin, cool local sculptures interesting folks etc, head out of town for China Garden Spring (old mining site, that still has a natural pond w/gold fish- yes in the desert), hitting Darwin Falls -(short hike to base of the falls-serves as the source of water for Penniment Springs. T's into 136, left to Saline Valley Rd South or right for an expensive gas top off at Penniment Springs.
  4. Drive into the park to Stove Pipe Wells 3451area, to hike Mosaic Canyon (relatively short hike to box canyon.
 
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Day 2
From campsite on day 1 (Hunter Cabin), we will head down Hunter Mt, through Lost Burro Mine, hang a left at Tea Kettle junction (if anyone has an old tea kettle to donate we can all sign it and hang it from the sign). From the junction we'll head down to Race Track to walk out on the playa and look for the moving rocks, then head down the famous Lippencott Rd until we 'T' into South Saline Valley Rd. After making a right and heading North we'll continue on until Bat Rock Rd and up to the Warm Springs (natural hot springs ) where we will camp for the night (red triangle on map).3453
 
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Day 3 (adding map)
From Warm Springs we'll head north out of the camp into Steel Pass, 3456checking out Marble Bath on the way up. After heading through Deckedra Canyon, we'll have a view of Eureka Dunes (highest dunes in CA or something I forget). Eventually we'll hit Death Valley Rd, hanging a left and following the road out to Big Pine and home.
Need to adjust maps to fit them onto forum.
Have questions, please ask. As we get closer I'll post more info/ mileage marks per day, miles between fuel stops, back country specifics, etc.
 
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Added maps of likely route for each day. Day 1 has some options as far as what we do/see prior to heading up Hunter Mtn.
Some mileage stats for the days.
Day 1: Titus Canyon option 70 miles on hwy to start of trail from turnoff @190 & Saline Valley Rd (6 miles to Beatty, NV cheap fuel) 26.8 miles off road, then back to Saline Valley Rd adds 168 miles to the day. There is also gas available at Pannamint Springs). Cerro Gordo option to Lee Flat mileage is actually 5 miles shorter than taking hwy to Saline Valley Rd and up to Lee Flat, but will burn a lot of fuel considering in 7.7 miles to Cerro Gordo you gain 5000 ft in elevation and the trail down into the valley while mostly downhill will be transitioning through a rocky wash for just over 5 miles to the bottom before turning into a dirt road again.

Mileage for basic loop: If fueling in Lone Pine, 34.5 miles pavement then approximately 124 miles off road, then 23 miles pavement into Big Pine for fuel. Minimum miles between fuel stops 181.5 so plan accordingly how much spare fuel if any to bring.


Something else to keep in mind as this trip is planned for March; depending on the winter storms that the area can see some roads may be washed out so route can change. Case in point, 7 or 8 years ago we had several major routes washed out with 5-8' deep washouts due to flash floods. Snow/Ice can also hang around in some parts including Saline Valley Rd, at South Pass into valley and Hunter Mtn. As trip gets closer i will update group on trail conditions. -Josh
 
I am so game to do Titus Canyon!!! Did not get to do that on my last trip.

But, is there diesel at Panamint Springs? Because I KNOW there is no diesel at StovePipe Wells, and it's INSANELY expensive at Furnace Creek.

(Update 2/5/2020: I can't find the current prices for Diesel at Panamint Springs, CA. But, according to Google Streetview, they do have diesel fuel, but it's likely to be as expensive as Furnace Creek.)

Looking at the map it's a little over 260 miles from Beatty, NV to Big Pine. (assuming that people would exit via the west side of the park)

So, my thought is everybody tanks up, plus brings a backup fuel can, just in case (I'll have my 5 gallon) at Beatty,NV where fuel is cheaper and then we try to avoid getting fuel until Big Pine, CA which has "mildly inexpensive" fuel.

FYI, I'd be fueling in Barstow, CA then Beatty, NV since I'll come up from Baker on the CA-127/NV-373/US-95, and down US-395, stopping for fuel at Kramer Junction.
 
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Oh, and if people are in the mood for an insanely fun hike on Day #1, there's a crashed CIA SA-16 Albatross airplane that's 10+ miles (round trip) with 4,000 feet of elevation gain hike that starts from Towne Pass.
3457

Been there, done that. Would do it again!
 
@sck_nogas yeah meet in Beatty is possible if the group is up for it? It adds about 1.5-2 hours to the drive (vs a Lone Pine Meet) coming from Bay Area (8.5-9 hours) before hitting dirt. We would need to be rolling out of Beatty by 1pm at the latest if hitting Titus and intent on making Hunter Cabin. I drove in there the first time after dark which was not a ton of fun also at elevation so it gets cold pretty quickly after sunset.
Spent some time on another trip Northwest of Beatty running through a couple valleys including one sandy wash for abut 10 miles where we had to drive above 45-50 mph to stay on top of sand. At the time I was driving my 06’ 4 door Tundra. Thankfully the two smaller vehicles behind me were able to take advantage of my track depressions. We eventually hit pavement maybe 10 miles North of Beatty.
 
bikerjosh said:
@sck_nogas yeah meet in Beatty is possible if the group is up for it? It adds about 1.5-2 hours to the drive (vs a Lone Pine Meet) coming from Bay Area (8.5-9 hours) before hitting dirt.
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In your day #1 itinerary, did not see anything about a Lone Pine meeting location. So, was just going off the plan.

Or we could do the inverse route meeting in Big Pine, then heading into the park from the west. Then just before we're done going to Beatty to fuel up, and back into the park for Titus Canyon where we end near Scotty's Castle. Same sights, different order. Plus we'd have more fuel to begin with, since we'd only be driving 240 miles between gas stations, then heading back into Titus with full tanks.

Either way, it's a long day's drive for me...
 
Yep, I probably forgot on the Lone Pine part. Lots of time until the trip so as we get closer we can finalize the route start etc. Heck, if we're really want to spice things up we can drive to the crater, then drive 20 miles of washboard to tea kettle junction. I can only imagine the shear level of 'suckitude' that would provide in a forward control layout vehicle. :D
 
Honestly. I'm game to do any and all of Death Valley! This place is a wonderland of cool things! Plus, by springtime I should have my winch mounted!
 
Hey y'all! Is it too late to add another? Just joining here and am in the bay area, this kind of trip sounds super fun!
 
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