Death Valley with a Pacific Overlander rental

[Americonium]

Preparing trip information for a week in the Death Valley area in February. I have a lot of information. Almost too much. So, instead of what I should see, does anyone have any advice on places to stay away from? I know that Scotty's Castle is shut down for road and facility repairs, but are there back roads that might be too dangerous, or even locations that are skippable? The truck will have a rooftop tent, 10 gallons of pressurized water, an outdoor shower, an awning, an ARB fridge, and some other nice amenities. We're headed out from Las Vegas, and returning about a week later. This will be my first trip in someone else's ride, so I'm a little nervous.

Thanks in advance,

Abe

 

[Superduty]

Safe to assume this is a 4wd rig you are renting?

Vehicle should have good all terrain or mud terrain tires.

Are you going solo? Always best to go with another vehicle. But, that's not always possible. Sat phone or a spot type communicator.

Death Valley is a big place with many remote areas they are not well traveled at times.

 

[MoreGone]

If you get deep, make sure to bring extra fuel. I had 10 gallons and ended up throwing in 5.

How many days are you going to be there? The saline valley warm springs are a nice break! Lots and lots of washboard out there

 

[Americonium]

Single vehicle, and I don't think I'll get into the really remote areas, the springs is on the list, and as much as I want to put trails like racetrack on there, I'm thinking as a single vehicle trip, that will not be attempted.

 

[v_man]

I can't think of any places in DV I'd recommend not visiting, but Saline Valley springs is close. The springs are simply overrun with visitors these days. You can reach the springs in a Subaru most of the time.

If you do visit the springs, be prepared for crowds, elbowing your way into a petri dish of hot water, plenty of old man sack jangling around, and electronic dance music far into the night.

Or perhaps it will be quiet. If you're going around President's weekend, count on crowds...

 

[Sgt12XU]

I did three days in the park last April. Three part video series documented it. You can get ideas for your trip in my videos. At the end of each vid is the link to the next one.

Part 1:

 

[MoreGone]

Here is my track from a trip this March - https://www.gaiagps.com/public/JRJ9Se2zprhxl0Q1QYczIFxG

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the US
Titus Canyon is a really nice scenic drive
Racetrack Playa was probably the main motivator for me to see the moving rocks
Lippincott Mine road is the only terrain I experienced that would need 4WD
The Hot Springs were not packed but there was a concentration of people. The first one I went into the people weren't all that welcoming so I walked over to the other one. I really appreciated their inhospitality after getting to the other one with 3 nekkid ladies

If you have any questions feel free to ask

 

[Todd & Meg]

We've been to DV once and had a great trip. I was trying to plan the trip to see everything when someone said just go snd see what you see for the first trip get a feel for where everything is. It's a big place. Then plan your next trip to go back and see the things you missed and the things you want to see again. I think it was good advice. We put on around 800 miles in the park. Seen a lot and missed a lot. Can't wait to go back. Can't say there is something that we would skip if we would do over for the first trip.

Probably the biggest thing is to have a way to air back up. We didn't on our trip. Heading to race track was hell. It is washboards that do not let up. I would say if you can't air down and back up to maybe skip race track or just be ready for the washboards. We camped at the campground at racetrack so we had sunset and sunrise to take pictures at racetrack. I was little underwhelmed with the stars with all the talk about the it being a night sky park. Maybe it was a bad time of year. Plan on cold nights if you camp at elevation. We went in March and had some nights in the 20's. We didn't carry extra gas and didn't need it but we always top off when we had the chance.

If you do Titus canyon (and you should) go past the turn to the Titus Canyon road and a little way past is a turn off to Rhyolite. It is cool and some good photo subjects. Badwater was crowded, but something you need to do while there.

Todd

 

[Americonium]

Thanks everyone for your replies. The truck is a no go (my fault, not theirs) so we're useing an escape campervan. We'll probably stick to main and gravel now.