Death Valley Camping Trip

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WheelMe

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Spring Break - what better time to visit Death Valley?

With about three weeks' planning, we were on our way, in our 6-speed manual trans. 2005 Nissan Frontier 4x4 Pickup, with 200+K miles on the clock. It's equipped with full OME Medium Duty suspension (2.5" lift), full skid plates and sliders, a PRG differential cover, and some older 32" Dick Cepek M/Ts for this trip, aired down to 15 psi on all dirt trails that we encountered (these were aired back up with an on-board ARB compressor).

We spent the first night in a hotel in Lone Pine, a small town with gas and some restaurants due west of DV, in clear view of Mt. Whitney and surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains.


We left the following morning at 7 am, via S.R. 191 and made a left at the Saline Valley Road turn-off - the plan was to take Saline Valley Rd. to Lippincott Pass, and cross over into the Racetrack Valley. This is where we stopped and aired down, and a good thing too, as the going got bumpy pretty quickly (here starts one full day of washboard dirt road-driving)!


After about 30 minutes on S.V. Rd., over some narrow passes in the vicinity of Hunter Mountain, we descended into Saline Valley - vast and empty, and finally came to a big rock pile that marks the turn-off to Lippincott Pass - cairns are prohibited by the NPS, fyi, as they destroy the natural look of the park - this was probably the biggest one in the park!



And off we go on Lippincott Pass (east-bound)... for those with some off-roading experience, it's not bad at all - we encountered some washes here and there, and a rocky spot where I had to jump off the truck to pen a path through them - skids and sliders served their purpose here. Unbeknownst to us, east-bound was very much uphill the entire way, which made it more challenging... but if you've done Hollister Hills "blue" trails, you'd do fine here. About 30 minutes later, the road flattened out and we arrived at the "famed" Lippincott Pass sign, with a clear view of Racetrack Valley in the distance. This climb was not difficult, and a whole lot of fun! I highly recommend it for all modified 4x4s.





We'd now been on the road for 3 hours, and welcomed the break at the Racetrack to stretch our legs and think about how wind, water, and geology worked together to make it possible for rocks to skid across the playa!



Did I mention washboard? Racetrack Road IS washboard, for miles and miles - with aired down M/Ts and the OME suspension, I averaged about 30 mph to Teakettle Junction without issues. I'd wanted to buy a teakettle in Lone Pine in order to make my contribution, but forgot to do it!


In another 30 minutes or so of bad roads and rental jeeps heading toward the Racetrack, we arrived at Ubehebe Crater, and eventually our campsite for the day at Mesquite Spring. Scotty's Castle is closed due to damage from the flash flood of 2015, but it's getting ready to re-open soon, the camp-host, Rick, told us.


On our last full day in the Park, we visited Titus Canyon (moderate blue-level climb), Devil's Gof Course, and Badwater Basin, before settling in at the Furnace Creek Campground. This is our second night in a park campground - we never had time to go find a spot to disburse-camp, which would've been wonderful, allowing us to get away from RV generators humming all evening.

Titus Canyon - this was basically driving in a wash - no rain in the forecast!


Devil's Golf Course



Badwater Basin - one could walk on the salt flat for miles, it seemed.


Settling in for the night in our Tepui RTT.


This was a wonderful introductory trip to Death Valley. We'll be back again to explore the less-traveled canyons where we can camp and enjoy the desert in solitude.
 

ntgbrl

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Looks like you had a great time. I did 2 DV trips this year, the last one being 5 days and roughly 250 miles of dirt roads. There is plenty of opportunity to find places to disperse camp if you want to stay away from the campgrounds.

Next time you go, camp at Alabama Hills instead of a hotel (its a few miles outside Lone Pine), check out Steel Pass (large sand dunes on one end, hot springs on the other) it connects from the north end of the park to Saline Valley Road. Id also recommend Mengel Pass, it connects south of Bad Water west across the Panamint Range and has a lot of old mining stuff to check out (and another warm spring).
 

Graeman

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That looked like a wonderful adventure. Now that I am living back in Phoenix, I plan on finally starting to build out my 4Runner. I can't wait to my wife camping in it.
 
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WheelMe

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It was indeed a great trip, and now that I know the Park and vicinity much better, I'll be able to get away from the crowds a bit more.

I drove Movie Road in the Alabama Hills on the afternoon that I arrived in Lone Pine - it was a fun drive, with lots of rigs camping near most rocky outcrops along the way; I already had a hotel booked 1/4-mile down the main road, so that was fine.

There are a number of canyons which I didn't have time to explore: Cotton Canyon, Wildrose Canyon, the Kilns, to name a few. These could all be great places to camp. I'd also love a chance to drive north on Saline Valley Road, try Steel Pass, and explore the North a bit. We went home via Panamint Valley Rd., just west of Stovepipe Wells, and that was a great drive - lonely but beautiful, all the way to the town of Trona.

For most of the offroad routes I drove during this trip, I'd downloaded GPS waypoints from the Funtreks website, and exported them to Gaia GPS; as a result, I never missed a turn. Hardware-wise, I used an old Nexus 9 tablet bluetoothed to an external GPS. I also had a Ham mobile radio on board, but none of the local (Lone Pine and Bishop) repeaters were responsive; the nearest one was in Ridgecrest, and only came into range at Trona.

My next adventure will probably be Mojave Road, in late fall, from east to west (Laughlin towards Barstow).

By the way, has anyone done the Peligreen Jeepway, just east of Red Bluff?
 
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ntgbrl

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Check out caltopo.com for mapping your routes. I find it easier to trace the tracks using caltopo on my laptop, then export them to the Gaia app on my phone. Its also easier to share the route with others in your group beforehand if they don't have Gaia or a similar app.

Saline Valley road north has some neat stuff around the salt flats and salt tramway, but is a bit of an uneventful graded dirt road if you take it all the way north to Death Valley Road. Diverting and taking Steel Pass north to Death Valley Road is more scenic and a moderately challenging 2-track.
 
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BCBrian

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Now I can see them all but earlier they were not loading. Quite a coincidence that you were there last week as I was there Easter w/e..... wouldn't that have been funny to run into each other 9 or 10 hrs from home?!
 
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SW_UT_FJ

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Great write up and pictures. We did almost the exact route in reverse last month, started at Titus and ended near Lone Pine. Beautiful country and lots to see!
 
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WheelMe

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Awesome picture! I plan to visit this place one day. Great looking tent by the way
About the Tepui tent - I rented mine, picked it up and had it installed at Tepui headquarters in Santa Cruz. This is the second time that I've done this, and will do so again. The first rental was a 3-person Kukenam, while this time around we rented a 3-person Autana - both were a bit tight for even 2 adults and one child, but design and workmanship of the tents were excellent. I think that the tent weighed 150 lbs., and didn't affect my truck's handling much.
 
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WheelMe

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WheelMe

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Thanks. I'll do a trip report when all the vids are done, instead of hijacking this thread.
Great video! I especially appreciated the segment on the Lippincott Pass; I'd forgotten what the rocky section looked like. You are right about being surprised at folks' tentativeness toward the pass, as you and I got through it, uphill, without issues. Noting your comments on the two damaged rigs coming off the pass, I'd recommend NOT towing a trailer through the pass, and sticking with a compact-sized (Taco, Jeep-sized) vehicle... the Hummer was probably too wide for the pass, and tore up its transmission because it couldn't get through the section otherwise. Be smart, bring the right equipment.