Generally, when I visit Death Valley, my goal is to explore the more remote regions of the park. Long lost dirt roads, canyons that entail as much climbing as hiking, and days without seeing another soul (with the exception of @mrs.turbodb) - these are the places we spend our time. As such, exploration of Death Valley proper - largely along CA-190 - has been light. Sure, most of the major tourist attractions have been seen, but surely in a place this inhospitable, even CA-190 holds special places that are only infrequently visited. Remote despite their proximity to pavement. With a…
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One of the things about the high desert is that it just looks boring. Miles and miles of - generally boring - flat terrain. Millions of the same - boring - sagebrush arrayed out over the sandy soil. And colors that - for most of the year - are just drab and boring. There's a lot of this land in the western United States, and one of the great things about it - in my opinion - is that everyone else thinks it's boring. The secret, however, is that these desert areas are great at preserving whatever ends up within…
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All aired up, Mike @Digiratus and I were about to spend the rest of our day on pavement. Well, pavement or its equivalent at any rate, since there are a good many highways - like BC-31 - that are gravel, but are so well groomed that we could easily achieve pavement speeds. Like the state of Nevada, southeastern British Columbia is comprised of a series of ranges that run north-south, separated by valleys and lakes. And, while the trails we wanted to run - out of the Radium Hot Springs area - were only one range east, and less than…
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My exploration of Blue Valley complete, and a bit of my curiosity satiated at the Hattie Harrell Homestead, it was time to scratch another itch that had been bothering me for more than a year. On the same trip where I'd seen the Harrell Place across the river, I'd spotted a road high up on the eastern escarpment of the canyon. A series of switchbacks, I made a note to investigate when I got home. I year earlier when I spotted this zigzag I thought, "Doesn't that look intriguing!" Making my way back up through Blue Valley - completing yet…
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I didn't discover Nine Mile Canyon in my own research. Rather, after posting a story of one of my trips to some fantastic place in the western United States, a reader - Tim - reached out to me to suggest a few places he'd discovered over his years of exploration. At the top of his list was Nine Mile Canyon, and a photo he shared with me was enough to make me add it to my list without any further information. Under a blazing blue sky, a panel of petroglyphs overlooked a green valley surrounded by the patinaed red rock;…
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Initially making our way northwest along Temple Mountain Road before turning southwest through McKay Flat, I was glad we'd found a spot to camp so close to Temple Mountain the previous evening. In so doing, we'd avoided driving into the setting sun and now had the blazing ball of fire at our back, illuminating the road before us. With the sky clearing and sun shining, the buttes of the San Rafael Swell were out in their full glory. As we turned south toward McKay Flat, Family Butte rose colorfully to the west. A group of three wild horses were curious,…
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Right smack in the middle of my Bradshaw Trail adventure, I was presented with an option - travel the trail as outlined in my guidebook - Gold Road to La Paz, an Interpretive Guide to the Bradshaw Trail - or take a 75 mile detour north over Graham Pass to a nearby desert attraction - Corn Spring. Normally, I'd probably have opted to just keep going, but this time the decision was a tough one. While not on the actual route, my book had included a photo of some petroglyphs at Corn Spring, and if I'm a sucker for anything,…
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As I transitioned from the middle segment of the Bradshaw Trail that'd ferried me across the Chuckwalla Bench, I was very much looking forward to the final - and shortest - segment of the journey. It was already quarter-to-five in the afternoon, so I only had a couple hours of light before I'd have to call it a night. I hoped that would give me enough time to find a great camp site in the Hauser Geode Beds. This spot - as with most of the other highlights of this adventure - wasn't on the main route, but was one…
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It was a little after 2:15pm when I veered away from the first stage of the Bradshaw Trail that follows Salt Creek Wash and across the Chuckwalla Bench. This is where Bradshaw's Trail first ventured into unknown territory. Previous expeditions having carried on to the northeast - through the pass that divides the Orocopia and Chuckwalla Mountains before following the north face of the Chuckwallas eastward to the Colorado River. By leaving the wash, Bradshaw saved roughly 200 miles of travel - surely one of the reasons that his route to La Paz became a popular one! Onto the Chuckwalla…
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Previously in Almost Stranded... It was - as we were contemplating camp, and headed through the grove of pinyon pine at the top of Pleasant Canyon - that I initially heard a clunking sound. To me, it sounded like it was coming from the front of the truck, as though something was dropping down and hitting the skid plate as the suspension flexed over the undulations of the road. Such a change of landscape from earlier in the day - I counted on these trees providing us a bit of shelter from the gusty winds. Getting out to inspect the…
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More and more I've found that I enjoy hiking - more than driving - in Death Valley. Getting out into a canyon, walking across the desert, hiking up a sand dune - these are the times when I really find joy in the beauty of this grand place. And so, for the fifth time in two months, I'm headed back. The plan this time is to hike for three days, to three very special places. These are places that not many people visit, and that I'll do my best to keep a little more obscured than normal. Oh, and of…
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Hoping for a repeat of the previous morning, I was up early to capture a sunrise that never materialized. With few clouds in the sky - especially above the eastern horizon - there was nothing for the sun to highlight as it made its daily appearance just before 7:00am. Even without a fiery sky, the Ibex Hills gave our camp site a lot of color. What did you contain, rusty can? Having gotten a taste of some really nice talc mines the previous day, our final day in the park was going to be a whirlwind of the same. Before…
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It was another pleasant night at the southern end of Death Valley National Park. We slept soundly, a light breeze wafting through the tent as the moon passed by overhead. Clouds built slowly and morning brought the brightest sunrise of the trip - an opportunity I took full advantage of with the Ibex Dunes rising in the distance. As I climbed down the ladder, I was a little excited to see the color starting in the sky. There was potential here, for sure! A few minutes later, and boom, color everywhere! Below, the dunes reflected the warm orange glow in…
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Having replaced the transfer case that had given up the ghost on my previous trip to Death Valley, the new year and lots of rain at home was enough to get us back on the road and headed south again. It was a long drive - this time along a different route that would bring us in the west side of the park rather than the east - but we powered through and by 3:30am the following morning, we were setting up camp in Panamint Valley along the Nadeau Trail. Sleep never felt so good. Waking up for sunrise didn't…
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After another evening spent around Mike @Digiratus propane fire pit, we'd all climbed into our tents to clear skies and very light breeze. Thousands of feet above, however, things must have been different. Climbing down my ladder, a dark sky lent a dramatic air to our own little slice of paradise. Here, at the end of the road, we had no idea what the day had in store. Ironically - given that the trip would be over by 11:00am - we were out of camp earlier than any other morning of the trip, pulling up to our first stop -…
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I've found no place in all my exploration of Death Valley National Park that I like more than waking up to a view of Striped Butte. You can imagine then - sleeping in our tents less than a mile away - that I had more than one alarm set in order to ensure my alertness when as the sun began to illuminate the sky. With the skies clear after an evening of rain, and before the sun even crested the horizon, I soaked in one of my favorite sights in the world. I spent nearly an hour hopping around behind,…
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I think the night we spent in the Panamints was the most peaceful of the trip. Sheltered from the wind, our high elevation resulted in cool temps - always better for sleeping in my book... to an extent, anyway. Having arrived at dusk the night before, none of us had a chance to look around our camp site before it was too dark to really see anything. So, though it was cloudy, I was up and looking around relatively early the next morning. Mike found a spot on what appeared to be an old garage pad. Certainly was level! As…
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We were all pretty tired after our long drives south, so once we finally headed to bed - some six hours or so after firing up Mike @Digiratus propane fire ring - I think we all slept quite well through the night; our little spot in Hidden Valley out of the way enough that no one passed by while we were there. As usual, I set my alarm for too-early-o'clock in the morning and made my way back up and into the Lost Burro Mine site to capture the color as it crept into the sky. It would be our only…
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I'm one lucky dude. Having just gotten back from two trips to Death Valley - (Lowest Peak in the Park) (Highest Peak in the Park) - over a three-week period, I'm now headed back for my third trip in a month! But, frequency isn't the only reason I'm excited. Every year, a few buddies get together for an annual outing - usually in early fall - to explore and hang out. For me, it all started when I tagged along on my first major trip - The De-Tour - and I've been hooked ever since. This year, truck problems and smoky…
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Sleep came quickly on our tailings platform nestled into the drainage high in the Panamint Mountains. Sheltered from the wind, and with temperatures in the low-40°F range, it was one of the most pleasant nights of sleep I've had in a long time. It wasn't quite as good for @mrs.turbodb, but she certainly welcomed the nearly 11 hours of shut eye after the slog of driving we'd endured over the previous 48 hours. I'd set my alarm for just before sunrise, but my internal clock was having none of that silliness, and I awoke three minutes before Toto's Africa came…
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