Death Valley Dec 9-11

[theick]

I'd like to do a trip to Death Valley between thanksgiving and Christmas. Mostly to hit all the normal attractions like Racetrack, Titus Canyon etc. I wanted to see if there are a few other people interested to make it a group run. I'm pretty flexible about the route and would probably depend on the direction that people are coming from.

Tentatively commited as of 11/26/16
@theick
@Kingazjay
@Reconnoiter
@Comanche
@Max Hultman
@lvivier

 

[BeardedOverland]

I'm down, I'll have to talk the wife into it, that falls on our anniversary... I'm think great gift idea!

 

[Kelly]

Sure!!!

 

[theick]

Sounds great. The only thing that I am really committed to is to spend one night at Racetrack. I want to be there for some night photography etc. It wouldn't matter to me if it was Friday or Saturday night.

As we get people committed we can start to route plan and pick if it's better to meet and start from the south or north side of the park depending on where most of the people are coming from.

 

[Comanche]

I going to pencil myself in for this. The only thing is I have to be back to work on Monday in Phoenix.

 

[Max Hultman]

sounds like a awesome trip not sure if ready for that kinda skilled never been their but sounds amazing.

 

[VCeXpedition]

Watching this...

 

[theick]

Sorry, I didn't get lost or forget. We have a few more weeks but it looks like a few trucks from Las Vegas, a few from Arizona and maybe NorCal. I'm planning to be there Friday early evening and camp at someplace
convenient for an after dark roll in. Then take off Saturday morning after any stragglers get there. Like I said earlier, the only thing I have my mind set on is to be at Racetrack in the evening. Otherwise everyone throw out any ideas or wishlist items they may have and we can try to make a track out of it.

sounds like a awesome trip not sure if ready for that kinda skilled never been their but sounds amazing.

There will probably be a mix of vehicles that participate. We might be able to split into 2 groups so that some people could run harder trails while some run easier. It will depend on the total number of trucks and how hard everyone wants to go. I would not want to split up and leave anyone on their own.

 

[Max Hultman]

Sorry, I didn't get lost or forget. We have a few more weeks but it looks like a few trucks from Las Vegas, a few from Arizona and maybe NorCal. I'm planning to be there Friday early evening and camp at someplace
convenient for an after dark roll in. Then take off Saturday morning after any stragglers get there. Like I said earlier, the only thing I have my mind set on is to be at Racetrack in the evening. Otherwise everyone throw out any ideas or wishlist items they may have and we can try to make a track out of it.



There will probably be a mix of vehicles that participate. We might be able to split into 2 groups so that some people could run harder trails while some run easier. It will depend on the total number of trucks and how hard everyone wants to go. I would want to split up and leave anyone on their own.

Sounds awsome and I love the ideas u now where the meet up will be

 

[Scott]

I love this.. I need to hit death valley. Can I assume this is a kid friendly event?

 

[theick]

I love this.. I need to hit death valley. Can I assume this is a kid friendly event?

Definitely kid friendly. I'll have my 4 year old boy with me.

 

[lvivier]

We're in Death Valley from the 10th-12th and the Racetrack is on our list. We'll camp at Panamint Springs Friday night. I'm new to the overlanding thing and never been to DV, so I'd love to tag along if you don't mind a greenhorn.

Regarding splitting the group, we're in a Range Rover Evoque (Freelander 2 w/makeup) so we have some limitations (9" clearance, no low range). I was planning to avoid Lippencott Mine Road and go in over Hunter Mountain/Hidden Valley. How bad is the Lippencott Road?

 

[Narbob]

We're in Death Valley from the 10th-12th and the Racetrack is on our list. We'll camp at Panamint Springs Friday night. I'm new to the overlanding thing and never been to DV, so I'd love to tag along if you don't mind a greenhorn.

Regarding splitting the group, we're in a Range Rover Evoque (Freelander 2 w/makeup) so we have some limitations (9" clearance, no low range). I was planning to avoid Lippencott Mine Road and go in over Hunter Mountain/Hidden Valley. How bad is the Lippencott Road?

We were there last weekend with a group of 13 vehicles, you can see our Alabama Hills/ Death Valley thread. Lippincott wasn't bad, a couple bumpy sections and a 15-20' slight off camber section. We had a mix of novice to experienced drivers with a mix of vehicles and everyone did fine. I wouldn't take a full size truck on it due to some tight switch backs. I think it's of those things you gotta try at least once.

 

[lvivier]

Thanks for the info Narbob. After some YouTube research, I think it'll be no problem. Cheers!

 

[theick]

We were there last weekend with a group of 13 vehicles, you can see our Alabama Hills/ Death Valley thread. Lippincott wasn't bad, a couple bumpy sections and a 15-20' slight off camber section. We had a mix of novice to experienced drivers with a mix of vehicles and everyone did fine. I wouldn't take a full size truck on it due to some tight switch backs. I think it's of those things you gotta try at least once.

I found a few recentish videos on youtube that made it look about the same as your report. Lippencott is a good road to keep to a circular route going on Sunday.

 

[Narbob]

I found a few recentish videos on youtube that made it look about the same as your report. Lippencott is a good road to keep to a circular route going on Sunday.

If it works out for you, it is a little easier/smoother going down towards Saline Valley.

 

[theick]

So this is a possible route to try and squeeze the most into 2 days. There are a lot of spur roads off of these for additional exploring if time allowed. Also if there were a lot of people who did not want to do Titus Canyon that would free up quite a bit of time for additional exploring.

 

[Max Hultman]

I love this.. I need to hit death valley. Can I assume this is a kid friendly event?

we better hope so cause I don't think im quite grown yet. 17 and still learning everyday.

 

[Gunnermoose]

I am very interested in this! Pencil me in. I will know for sure right after Thanksgiving.

 

[Harpblower #2575]

We're in Death Valley from the 10th-12th and the Racetrack is on our list. We'll camp at Panamint Springs Friday night. I'm new to the overlanding thing and never been to DV, so I'd love to tag along if you don't mind a greenhorn.

Regarding splitting the group, we're in a Range Rover Evoque (Freelander 2 w/makeup) so we have some limitations (9" clearance, no low range). I was planning to avoid Lippencott Mine Road and go in over Hunter Mountain/Hidden Valley. How bad is the Lippencott Road?

I just did this Oct 13 to 16. Most of the roads had just been graded. We had Toyota FJ's, my Rubicon, a stock Four runner, and a stock 97 Dodge 2500. All made it fine.Cerro Gordo mine.

Lippincott canyon.

We ran out of time so we up not doing the route to the upper right.
Your Rover shouldn't have any problem with Lippincott canyon.