I don't know whether it's an "oh, duh!" moment, or "can you believe it?" situation, but less than two weeks after returning from our Death Valley trip along the Nadeau Trail, we were headed back for more!
I was jazzed, and - a little surprisingly to me - so was @mrs.turbodb!
This time, the land area we'd cover would be larger than the last, with our plan to see several places that we've meant to visit over the last few years but that we've never gotten to - largely because there's only so much you can see on a given trip, and destinations at the end of itineraries are often left behind. Loose ends, as it were.
In the moment, those misses are a bummer - but, as I'm always advising folks who make the journey to this special park - they are blessings in disguise, because they give us a reason to return. There's always more in Death Valley to explore, and so full of excitement, we headed for several locations in the Funeral Mountains. A combination of driving and hiking, canyons and mines, we planned to visit Chloride Cliff, the Big Bell Mine, Monarch Canyon and the Inyo Mine in Echo Canyon before heading northwest to Hunter Mountain and Hidden Valley.
Mines of the Funeral Mountains | Loose Ends #1 - I don't know whether it's an "oh, duh!" moment, or "can you believe it?" situation, but less than two weeks after returning from our Death Valley trip along the Nadeau Trail, we were headed back for more! I was jazzed, and - a little surprisingly to me - so was @mrs.turbodb! This time, the land area we'd cover would be larger than the last, with our plan to see several places that we've meant to visit over the last few years but that we've never gotten to - largely because there's only so much you can see on a given…
Into the Narrows | Loose Ends #2 - High up on a ridge in the Funeral Mountains, we'd gone to bed with a gentle breeze blowing through the tent. It'd been chilly, given the time of year and our 4800' elevation, but not too bad - until midnight anyway, when the wind picked up. With gusts up to 15mph, the 32ºF air meant that wool caps, burrowing, and earplugs were in order as the tent buffeted around us for the remainder of the night. The silver lining in it all, were the clouds that were blown in, and as I climbed out of the tent just after 6:00am,…
Our First Time to Hunter Mountain and Hidden Valley | Loose Ends #3 - Our spirits still high having hiked Funeral Slot Canyon and from our encounter with the F-16 as we climbed past Father Crowley Point, we turned off onto Saline Valley Road, just a little after 3:45pm. It was 45 minutes before sunset, and with quite a few miles to go before we reached the area we wanted to camp, which - to this point - I'd only narrowed down to somewhere on Hunter Mountain. While airing down, I saw a spec in the distance. A bird, I thought initially, turning to tend to the next tire. But something in my brain…
Rig Review: Death Valley x2 - What worked and what didn't? - December 1, 2020. There've been a few tweaks to the truck, and two trips to Death Valley since the last rig review, so it's a good time to take stock of how things are going. First, in case you missed the trips, check out: Retracing Panamint Valley's Nadeau Trail Death Valley Loose Ends Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews ADS 2.5" Coilovers - Need Limit Straps Unchanged / Still an issue from previous Rig Reviews There are some things that have been featured in Rig Reviews that are - as yet - unchanged from when I originally reviewed them. Rather…