http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32340356/ns/us_news-life/
This was in as they said a remote area of the park. I have looked at it on a map before and was interested in checking it out sometime, very sad. I can't imagine being out there in 100+ degree temps or why anybody would want to.
Remember that day you and were tooling around Death Valley the day after the Titus Canyon run? I had two GPS devices, both Garmins, a Nuvi 760 for the streets and a 76cx for the trail, but no map. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells and I wanted to buy the same map of Death Valley as you had, but the ranger station was closed and the general store's selection was piss poor and I didn't want to waste my money.
We finished our day somewhere along Wildrose Road (178) near where Panamint Valley Road becomes Trona Road. I could have retraced my route back across Death Valley alone, but I chose not to do that. Instead, I thought it safer FOR ME, to follow you back down to Ridgecrest for dinner and then Kramer Junction where we eventually went our separate ways. You to Orange County and me back to Las Vegas. Sure, it was a much longer drive for me, but I got to enjoy your company a bit longer, have a good teppan dinner in Ridgecrest (who knew???) and felt much safer not traveling alone.
Anyway, just for the fun of it, as we turned south on Trona Wildrose Road, I entered HOME into the Nuvi to see how it would route me. Initially, it wanted me to u-turn and return along 178 through Death Valley. Understandable. All pavement and likely the shortest route. But I ignored it and continued to watch as it would recalculate a new route the further south we went and the closer we got to intersecting roads. At one point, it wanted me to turn east and go to Ballarat and over the Panamint Mountains via Pleasant Canyon. The Nuvi kept recalculating and kept wanting me to turn left at almost every east west intersection and head east. When we entered the Searles Valley, the direction shifted again to making a u-turn and heading north, presumably to turn east somewhere before Ballarat. It wasn't until we turned south onto the 395, that the Nuvi calculated a route heading straight to the I-15 and north to Vegas on that highway. I know that my Nuvi only has two settings for navigation... fastest or shortest. Sometimes, the route will be the same, but choosing shortest can cause one to be routed off freeways and onto surface streets simply because the route is shorter. I sometimes wish the Nuvi had an option that made it select a route that used only freeways.
So I can easily imagine that a driver who is unfamiliar with the area and who relies solely upon a GPS might be directed to take a seemingly more direct route towards Las Vegas rather than use well traveled roads and major highways.