Trail Report: Death Valley, Ca/Nv

[Nipple Twister]

Been wanting to do this for a long time and seeing sooooo many posts of trips thru this area we finally got the oppertunity to "get er done".
All I can say is wow, what a cool place! We didn't do any real tough 4 wheelin but spent plenty of time off road. (we were supposed to meet up with Russ Chung and Deepwater for a group run but we kinda got up late Fri morning and we missed them)
We left Thurs AM up 395 to Trona and a drive thru the Pinnacles, wifey has never seem them....

...and of course a stop to see Rock in Bellarat...


Frome there was some stops at the summits for the views, gas in Trona and up the mountain to Wildrose camp ground. It's a very nice camp ground with running water, pit toilet, fire rings and tables. Best of all it's free!
After setting up camp.....

...we took a drive up to the Charcoal Kilns.....


By then it was time for dinner so back to camp and fire roasted Tri-tip....
"Beef, it what's for dinner"

After a great meal and a nice cigar we sat back and watch the sun set, lit a fire and shared some rum......

Because of our late start the following morning we missed or chance to see Gold Point with Russ and Mike. Sorry guys but thanks for the invite! One thing is for sure, PLAN AHEAD. This place is S P R E A D O U T! Gas in Stovepipe Wells and Funace Creek, use them wisely....

After fueling in Stovepipe Wells we went on to Rhyolite and then Titus Cyn.


Too bad the Depot is not more restored and available to go inside but it was cool none the less just being there and seeing the history....
...but it has it's dark side as well......the mind spins thinking about what has gone on there......



From there we started back to Death Valley Park vis Titus Cyn. If you ever have the chance to go DO IT! Well worth the drive, the first few miles of washboard sucks but it turns to twisty, gravely, rocky, one track road up and over passes and in canyons with million dollar views. All of Death Valley is a viewing wonder with Titus being a top one and I would love to post the pictures but I do not have the eye or the equipment to do it justice, those kida pics never come out well, it has to be see with the eye to behold but I can say, oh what a view!
Further along the trail we had lunch and stopped for site seeing.....


By the time we got back to Wildrose it was getting dark so grub, rum and a fire eneded the day. I can clearly see why most trips to Death Valley are multi-camp site trips "thru" the park. Lots of driving based at one spot with there being sooooo much to see and do.
The next day was spent closer to camp driving out to Aguereberry Point and Skidoo Mine site.


This was the coolest mine site I have every with the stamp mill being there......and with over a 1000 mines in the area lots to expore. Onlt sad thing is plan on doing some hiking, most of the spur roads leading to the shafts or adits are met with this....

...and the adits are ALL this.....


We did manage to spend hours exploring the area, tired we went back to camp to relax, grub and rum.......
......we decided to break camp in the morning and drive south thru the valley to Furnace Creek, Badwater and some other areas the wife has never seen. Out the south end of the valley returning home via Interstate 15.
Was a wonderful trip, Mike and his brother stopped by in camp to say hello. Will do it again but next time be more prepared to camp at a new spot every day or two......

[curtis]

Looks like a great time, and a great report. Thanks for sharing.

[Mitch]

John,

Thanks for the awesome report and pictures of your trip. That is a outstanding place to explore for sure. Titus Canyon was on the list of things I never made it to. Glad you and Kris had a great time!

Mitch

[Russ Chung]

I am a member of The Jeep Expeditions Group™. The organization is made up of Jeep owners who like to do multi-day off road trips. Although most of the club members have modified Jeeps, the modifications are designed to facilitate extended off road trips instead of extreme rock crawling. Although the club is based in Arizona, we have members from Oregon to Texas and even one member in the Netherlands.

This is the fourth year in a row that the group has visited Death Valley National Park. Our run started a week before John's (Nipple Twister) run, and I had hoped that he and Kristi would be able to join us. The first year, we tried to visit the entire park in one week, but we discovered that the park covers such an enormous area with so many interesting sights that it was no fun to try to “do it all” in a week. One of the club members wrote a blog about this trip: http://deathvalleyinaweek.com/

Last year, we set up a base camp at Panamint Springs and just ran the trails in the Panamint Valley. This year, we decided to limit our visit to the part of the park that lies north of CA Highway 190. Some of the attractions in this area of the park include Titus Canyon, Scotty’s Castle, Hidden Valley, Ubehebe Crater, Racetrack, Saline Valley Warm Springs, Steel Pass, and Eureka Dunes. Just outside the park boundary are the Stateline mining district, the living ghost town of Gold Point, NV and the scenic Cucomunga Canyon. Mesquite Spring Campground near Scotty’s Castle was our choice for a base camp because of its location and because it has good facilities, including tables, fire pits, flush toilets and potable water (but no shower facilities). The main problem we had to address is that there are no gas stations in that part of the park. The closest gas is at Stovepipe Wells (42 miles from Mesquite Spring), Furnace Creek (52 miles) or Beatty, NV (60 miles). To address the gasoline problem, we carefully planned the route to find the shortest route between the attractions and we encouraged everyone to bring extra gas cans.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Nine members signed up for this “expedition”. Six of them were from Arizona, and the rest of us were from California and Nevada. The meeting point was the Tecopa Hot Springs County Park in Tecopa, CA on Saturday afternoon, April 9.

The route we had planned called for the group to cross Hunter Mountain (elevation 7000’) on the following Monday. Due to the unseasonably cold weather, I wasn’t sure if Hunter Mountain Road would be open. The Park Service said to expect winter conditions—ice and snow—and to carry chains. I decided that we needed to recon the route and decide whether we would need to take an alternate route. I met one of the other club members the day before at Mesquite Spring Campground, and we pre-ran the reverse of the route that we would use on Monday. Our travel to Tecopa took us from Mesquite Spring Campground via White Top Mountain, Hidden Valley, Hunter Mountain, South Pass, CA-190 and CA-127.

The snow on White Top Mountain was ankle deep but we had no problem getting through:







There was only a light dusting of snow on Hunter Mountain Road, and lots of mud but no ice. There was no snow on the ground at South Pass although we encountered a few snow flurries. We decided that it would not be a problem to bring the group on that route on Monday:



We arrived at Tecopa without incident except that I lost an anti-swaybar link and one headlight was burned out. AFAIK, that was the only damage during the whole expedition. The Arizona members had already arrived. We set up camp at the Tecopa Hot Springs campground. The campground is owned by Inyo County and is operated by a concessionaire. It has tables and flush toilets but otherwise is just a barren field. Admission to the hot springs is included in the campground fee. After setting up our camp, we headed across the road to the hot springs for a soak and then went to the only restaurant in town for dinner before retiring for the night.

(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Sunday, April 10, 2011

On Sunday morning, we broke camp and drove about 45 miles to visit the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Ash Meadows encompasses 23,000 acres of spring fed wetlands in the middle of the desert between Pahrump, NV and Death Valley. It is noted for the migratory birds that visit in the spring and fall and also as the home of the endangered Devils Hole Pupfish. We visited Kings Pool at Point of Rocks Springs and saw some desert pupfish:

.





We also visited the site of the Devils Hole pupfish, but the site is fenced, so we could see the pool but could not get close enough to see the endangered pupfish.

We headed to the Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction, about 15 miles from Ash Meadows, where we ate lunch and attended Marta Becket’s Sunday Matinee performance. Ms. Becket is an actress, dancer and painter who bought and restored the former Pacific Coast Borax Company buildings and has performed there since 1968.





Following Marta Becket’s performance, we continued to Stovepipe Wells to set up camp. We set up camp, swam in the pool and ate dinner in the restaurant (and I replaced my burned out headlight). The campground has tables, fire rings, flush toilets, and showers (for a fee). It also has a gas station, mini-market, restaurant and motel.

(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Monday, April 11, 2011

On Monday morning, we broke camp and headed west on CA-190 to Panamint Springs Resort, a distance of about 30 miles, where we topped off our gas tanks and gas cans. We would need enough fuel to take us about 280 miles before our next gas station. We stopped at Father Crowley Point for a scenic vista of the Panamint Valley and for a group photo.



After leaving Father Crowley Point, we continued west on CA-190 about five miles to Saline Valley Road, where we aired down. We stopped at South Pass for pictures:



We took Hunter Mountain Road to Hidden Valley where we found a primitive campsite along the road, set up camp and ate lunch. After lunch, we explored the Lost Burro Mine, about two miles from camp:









Then we headed to White Top Mountain, about 14 miles from camp. To my surprise, the ankle deep snow that was there two days earlier was completely gone:



But we had a great view of Death Valley from the top of the mountain, and we discovered that we had cell phone coverage at the summit:





We returned to camp and cooked dinner. Campfires are not allowed except in established campgrounds, but one of the members had brought a DVD about Death Valley, so we viewed that before retiring for the night.

(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Our campsite in Hidden Valley was at about 5,000 feet elevation, so the night was chilly, but the temperature warmed up to a comfortable level as soon as the sun rose. We broke camp and packed up our Jeeps. The first stop was at Teakettle Junction:



Our next stop was at the Racetrack to view the trails that are left by sliding rocks on the dry lakebed:





We descended Lippencott Road to the Saline Valley, and Navy F-18s buzzed us:





We stopped for lunch at the Saline Valley Warm Springs, where we had a good view of the clothing optional pools (sorry but I didn’t take any photos). After lunch, we headed up Steel Pass to search for the famous Marble Bath:





(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

After locating the Marble Bath, we continued down Dedeckera Canyon where we easily negotiated the ledges and dry waterfalls:

















Eureka Dunes rise about 700 feet above the surrounding valley floor, making them the tallest in California. The dunes are known as “singing” dunes because in dry weather slipping of the sand creates a booming sound. When we arrived at the dunes, the wind was blowing, so we only made a brief stop before continuing about 40 miles to Mesquite Spring Campground.



Mesquite Spring Campground has tables, fire pits, flush toilets and potable water and was our base camp for the rest of the expedition. We set up camp, ate dinner and enjoyed a campfire.

(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

On Wednesday morning, we toured Scotty’s Castle (about seven miles from the campground).







After the tour of Scotty’s Castle, we returned to Mesquite Spring Campground for lunch. Our plan was to visit nearby Ubehebe Crater after lunch, but the wind was beginning to pick up; the campground host had posted a sign warning of high winds, so we decided to cancel the visit to Ubehebe Crater. Instead, we drove to Furnace Creek Ranch, about 60 miles away, where we could get gas, replenish our supplies, shop for souvenirs, take a shower and swim, and eat dinner in the restaurant.





The wind at Furnace Creek was light, but we drove through high winds and blowing dust to return to Mesquite Spring Campground and upon our return we found that some of our tents had blown down. One of the members had remained behind and he had secured the tents so that nothing was lost.

(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Thursday, April 14, 2011

On Thursday, we visited Rhyolite, NV. It is the home of the Goldwell Open Air Art Museum, and the remains of a mining camp that was founded in the early 1900s. Unlike most mining camps which were made of wood or stone buildings, Rhyolite has the remains of several concrete buildings and a unique bottle house:











(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Thursday, April 14, 2011

After our visit to Rhyolite, NV, we stopped in Beatty, NV for gas, lunch and a visit to the Death Valley Nut & Candy Company:



In Beatty, we discovered a military surplus sales site and after lunch, many of us purchased ammo cans and other surplus equipment to store our gear. Following our stop at the military surplus lot, we headed over to Titus Canyon, where we visited Leadfield ghost town and searched for petroglyphs:











We made a brief visit to Ubehebe Crater before returning to camp:



(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Friday, April 15, 2011

Mike White (Deepwater) and his brother, Dennis joined us at Mesquite Spring Campground. We thought that John Tuso (Nipple Twister) might join us but we were not able to make contact on the ham radio, so we proceeded without him. We left Death Valley National Park and headed north to the Stateline Mine just across the border in Nevada. There are a large number of structures and ruins to explore in the area:







This mining cabin has been restored:



(continued)

[Russ Chung]

Friday, April 15, 2011

After exploring the Stateline Mine area, we went to Gold Point, NV for lunch. Gold Point is a living ghost town. Over the past 30 years, Harold Stone has been acquiring and restoring the buildings in the town. During the pre-run, Woody and I visited Gold Point, but all of the buildings were closed. I contacted Harold Stone and asked if it would be possible to visit the museum in Gold Point. He offered to open the museum (which is also the Saloon) and serve us lunch. He served a delicious lunch of hamburgers and fries. I later learned that he was once a manager of several McDonalds and Wendy’s fast food restaurants.

The Gold Point Saloon. The town was once known as Hornsilver, hence the name on the building:



The interior of the Saloon:







Dennis White, Harold Stone, and Mike White (Deepwater):



A restored building in Gold Point:



After our visit to Gold Point, NV, we drove up Tule Canyon and down Cucomunga Canyon. I was surprised to find patches of snow on the trail in Cucomunga Canyon. On the way back to camp, we stopped at Crankshaft Junction to take this group photo:



Saturday, April 16, 2011

On Saturday, we broke camp and headed home. Mike and Dennis were staying in Death Valley for the weekend, and they headed to Rhyolite and Beatty. I got back home in mid-afternoon. Now it’s time for me to clean up the Jeep:

[curtis]

Great report Russ, Looks like one awsome time.

[nwoods]

WOW. How many miles did you travel on that little trip Russ?