Death Valley Tour.....

[Original_MudButt]

Hi all!

I'm planning a family Death Valley tour for the wekend of March 27-29. It's a federal holiday on Friday 27. What better way to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Cesar Chavez!

This is still in the planning stages and I only have 1 other vehicle on board. I would like to have at least 1 more or I may cancel the trip....

Tenetive plans are as follows:

Meet up Thursday night and camp in Ballart ghost town.

Fri. morn head to Goler Wash and up to Barker Ranch, the last hideout of Charles Manson and his "family". Over mengel pass then down to West Side road to Furnace creek. I'm sure there will be many stops along the way so we will probably get to F.C. in the early evening.

Sat. morn hit the highway to Rhyolite ghost town then back to the trails through the famous Titus Canyon. Back on pavement straight to Scotty's Castle. I'm not 100% sure what to do about camping at this point. I'm thinking just dry camping somewhere around Scotty's.....

Sun. morn Ubehebe Crater, Teakettle Junction, Racetrack Playa, etc.. Then back over the Panamints to the CA190 then a 5 hour trip home....

I have only ever been as far as Barker Ranch so this will be an adventure for sure!

I'm also thinking Sunday may be a long day. I still have to get maps and do some more research, but I think that even if we get up at first light, those of us who live in the O.C. may not be getting home until very late on Sun.

If any of you have done any part of this before I would love your input. I know Andy and Mike just got back from there... Link: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=979663&highlight=death+valley

(Awesome pics BTW Andy & Mike Thanks!!)

I'm not worried about difficulties. From all the research of done, most all of this can be done without any effort. My biggest concern is logistics RE: The amount of time it takes to cover X amount of trail, etc.

Gas should not be a problem either. There is a Chevron in Furnace Creek, and I read there is gas available at Scotty's...

Anyway, This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I look forward to it. I hope at least 50-60 of my fellow members can make it as well........

 

[Andy Steiner]

Gas should not be a problem either. There is a Chevron in Furnace Creek, and I read there is gas available at Scotty's...

No longer a gas station at Scotty's Castle. We didn't go all the way there, but there was a sign on the highway just north of the road from Rhyolite.

 

[lazyxj]

Andy's right, there is no gas at Scotty's, so make sure you have enough to make it through the section that goes through Titus Canyon, to the Racetrack, over Hunter Mountain and then out to 190 where you can get gas at Panamint Springs.



Gas, in the Park, is also available at Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells.
The closure of Scotty's station has messed up exploring the north end of the park unless you carry a lot of extra fuel. We gave up on running the Steel Pass loop, starting and ending at Panamint Springs, because of not being able to refuel at Scotty's. Guess it's time to build a rack for gas cans.
Most of the roads in DV have heavy wash boarding and it can slow you down. We disconnect, air down and run in 4-h to fly over the stuff better.

Check the Park's daily road report to make sure the back roads are open. We were there just after Xmas and both Titus Canyon and Hunter Mountain were closed due to snow. Things should be warmer in March.

Death Valley forums- good sources of information
http://panamintvalley.com/forum/index.php
http://www.deathvalley.com/dvtalk/dvtalk.shtml
http://www.death-valley.net/forum/index.php
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Enjoy, it's one of our favorite places.[/FONT]

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

Sounds fun, I was just there over the weekend, I'll see if I'm in town then. I want to do the Manson property run.