Death Valley April '09

[Cabrito]

One week in Death Valley

1989 Toyota Land Cruiser w/167k miles

Miles traveled off pavement 250+ (about 75 of them with Dustboy and the rest solo)
Miles hiked 25+
Miles hiked with the dog
Nights Camped in developed sites 2
Nights camped in undeveloped sites 2
Nights dispersed camping 1
Nights in motel 3 (one on the way to DV, one in the middle and one on the way home from DV)
Times getting stuck - 2 Mengal Pass
Times getting un-stuck 2 Mengal Pass
Roadside assistance rendered 1
Ghost towns visited .5 ballarat (whatever, don't go out of your way)
Wild animals sigted - 1 coyote, several wild buros, several naked hippies at Saline
Wild Flowers sighted - Countless
Citations issued 1 on our first day in Ridgecrest for expired driver license (I have to appear in criminal court next month)

Spare fuel carried 10 gal in four 10L Wedco cans
Various mpg readings
14.2 SF to Bakersfield
12.4 Bakersfield to Ridgecrest (big hill in between)
15.4 Mammoth Lakes to SF
Unable to get off pavement mileage because I ended up using the spare fuel before I filled up but I am guessing 10 and under for MPG's off pavement

Total spent on Fuel $319.00
Total on Lodging $300-ish
Total spent on food $200-ish (groceries $100 restaurants $100)
Total cost for one week vacation for 2 & a dog $800 (not counting my citation and associated costs getting my license renewed)

I got to meet and camp with some wonderful people (Dustboy & crew) and saw a lot of really cool stuff.

First few days we tripped around with Dustboy & his wif and dog Scout.
you can see that part of the trip in this thread - Dustboys thread

After we split from Dustboy we were solo for he rest of the week.
I got stuck on Mengal pass twice and decided to trun around after crunching my fender trying to stack rocks. I basically picked a bad line and refused to try something else. I also had my girlfriend spotting for me and she has never done that before. Alone with an inexperienced spotter and me being a punk from the city was the real problem. No big deal,

You can see the whole stoy on my blog thing here - clickey

You can see all our pics here - clickey

 

[Cabrito]

Flowers

Wild flowers encountered in Death Valley
They all said we were going too late to see the flowers but we saw plenty.

 

[Cobra_R]

Very cool! I really want to go to Death Valley, it looks like it would be an awesome drive.

 

[slimtwo]

Beautiful pictures! It just amazes me how some people can only see rocks and dirt when they drive through the desert. I had an opportunity to go on a trip to Death Valley in April; unfortunately I didn’t have enough vacation time saved up to go.

It looks like you had a great time out there, and I am hoping to go next year, either March or April, will see how it goes.

Thank you for sharing your pictures

Happy trails!

 

[kcowyo]

Most excellent! :clapsmile

Looks like all that rain earlier this year did the wildflowers some favors. Sounds like you hit all of the fun spots in DV. Man, I love that place and your 62 looks right at home on the trails. I recall you were concerned about your roof box before you went. Any issues with it?

And as a fellow FJ6x owner, I gotta ask... what did they pull you over for in Ridgecrest? Cause I know it sure as hell wasn't for speeding. :victory:
.

 

[Cabrito]

Most excellent! :clapsmile

Looks like all that rain earlier this year did the wildflowers some favors. Sounds like you hit all of the fun spots in DV. Man, I love that place and your 62 looks right at home on the trails. I recall you were concerned about your roof box before you went. Any issues with it?

And as a fellow FJ6x owner, I gotta ask... what did they pull you over for in Ridgecrest? Cause I know it sure as hell wasn't for speeding. :victory:
.

Thanks for the nice comments.


No issues with the roof box. Each night I would check to make sure it was still tight. After 250 miles off pavement it was still solid.


I got the ticket in Ridgecrest because I accidentally pulled into the Naval Air Weapons base. They were going to just let me turn around but had to log me in. Unfortunately my driver license renewal was pending since January and had expired in Feb.(this is how I found out that it had expired, I totally forgot that I had renewed it back in January) So, I got a misdemeanor ticket and have to appear in Ridgecrest criminal court this month. They had to call the cops as is their policy. I don't blame them. I messed up by letting the license laps. It has been sort of a nightmare. The reason my license was not renewed was because this year California started sharing records on a federal level. Back in 1988 Massachusetts suspended my license because of an excise tax on my car from 1986&87 – I sold the car in 1985, but they don’t care about that and I can’t really prove anything at this point. So I had to spend a total of 4.5 hours on hold with the Mass RMV over three phone calls. I also had to pay $70 to release my Mass license after I paid the $140 in taxes that had over twenty years of interest on them. They probably started out at about $10! Since I moved from Boston back to SF back in mid 1987 I never knew about any of this. Both the CA and the Mass. DMV’s are tickled pink about the current situation and say that they are now catching up to all the deadbeats who skipped town owing money. Statute of limitations anybody? No way! The CA DMV never notified me that they were not going to renew my license because of this but they sure as heck cashed my check back in January. Nice Huh?


..

 

[jeepmedic46]

Beautiful pics, Hoping to someday get out there. It looks like beautiful country.:smiley_drive:

 

[crawler#976]

Hey Michael!

Good to see ya out on the trail! Great photos too boot.

Mark