Death Valley & Environs 11/24-27/06: Trip Report

[desertgirl66]

What a great time we all had shivering together!!! A very bonding experience:camping:

The massive views of the mountains and the deep valleys were stupendous, and the history of the area is so very cool!

A ginormous Thank You to Al for his awesome trail leading abilities and for getting us into camp on time to enjoy "Al's Bar" :beer:

To KC--for the idea of the adventure

And to all the rest of the hardy boys and girls who rode up the mountain edges and and made jokes about the cold, even when we could not make coffee or tea in the morning cuz' all the water was frozen eepwall:

Great memories were made this Thanksgiving weekend and I am super glad to have been a part of the adventure!! :clapsmile

Still sorting out the hundreds of photos!!

 

[Ursidae69]

Awesome trip, took my mind off the prior week. I wasn't sure if I should make the trip or cancel at the last minute when I heard about the death in my family, but the trip to DV was a nice diversion and you guys kept my spirits up. Thanks!

It was cold, but I brought a lot of gear and slept nice and cozy. The half a cord of piñon pine we burned Saturday night helped too. :yikes:

I made it home tonight and will post up lots of photos in a few days. Great seeing everyone, you guys rock. :clapsmile

 

[blupaddler]

Chuck

It was great to see you again! And, we ALL were glad to have you along on the trip as well.

Glad to know you made it home safely.

:luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello: :luxhello:

 

[blupaddler]

David Letterman's Top Ten Reasons You Know It's Cold in Death Valley:

:gunt:

Vince...That's hilarious!!! My sides hurt.:xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma


Probably the best yet.

 

[BajaTaco]

Great pics everyone!

:xxrotflma Yes, I agree. Vince keeps topping his top tens. ********

Thank you KC and Al for inviting us on this one. I really appreciate it! It was really cool to see KC and Chuck again considering they had such a long haul for the trip. Thank you to every single person on the trip for making it so special and contributing to the camaraderie around the fire at night. I'm glad we decided to camp outside of the park each night so we could have those spicy campfires.

:campfire:

I would say that my highlights for the traveling parts of trip would have to be the mountain-top trail run we did on Friday :Wow1: as the views were spectacular and the driving was soooo fun. The salt tram was a mind-boggler. Listening to Mike tell stories at Cerro Gordo was a treat.

"Call the sherriff and tell him I'm packin' " :gunt:

and also the Racetrack! What an awesome place! I didn't want to leave. I commented to Chuck how I wished I could just sleep out there on the dry mud under the stars for one night... right in the middle. Wow.

and last but not least, the trip through Goler wash. I am a sucker for deep and rugged canyons. I can never seem to satisfy my craving for them but this one surely helped. Very cool to hear Al tell his story of meeting the Newman brothers and his night at their camp.

Thank you Uwe and Srisuda for the traditional "FZB" which always makes a cold night in the desert a fun time. And thanks to Vince for the cool commemorative "FZB" stickers!

Here are a few pics of the famous "Al's Bar" a welcome respite for friends and adventurers out in the most remote corners. When you hear him call out "THE BAR IS OPEN" you know you're in the right camp. :costumed-smiley-007

1. Al's Bar (with a new addition - a buggy flag compliments of MTB riders atop the mountain ridge)
2. Al's Bar draws a crowd...
3. ... so much so that there is no hurry to light a fire despite the cold.

 

[whitethaiger]

I also would like to thank everyone for this perfect trip. It's always a pleasure to see how this group travels together. As someone pointed out, there is no need to discuss truck setup, camping equipment, etc. in the planning posts. Everyone has their stuff figured out. It's all about what to eat and drink:beer:

I also say that this is Vince's best top 10 so far! Cracked me up.

Great FZB pics Rob!

Saturday night was special. That big fire, Double-Feuerzangenbowle, the atmosphere was just awesome with everyone comfortable around the fire, hard to believe temps were around 20F a few more feet away from the fire.

Here are some satellite overviews of our travels.

 

[articulate]

Those are awesome satellite shots, Uwe. And thanks for serving us the F-word.

Did anyone mention Vince's stickers (sticky and gooey????)? I'm not certain BX has any space left on his back window for anymore.

Anyway, excellent trip. But would you expect less with Al at the lead and all you people in the line? I think not. I'm grateful to be included. :beer:

 

[whitethaiger]

Oh yeah, the stickers! Thanks Vince, that was a total and great surprise!

KC has a pic of me applying one in his first post. Here is what it lookes like.

 

[BajaTaco]

Great sat maps Uwe - thanks for posting those :bowdown:

Vince, thanks for the stickers. :wavey:

Yea, double Feuerzangenbowle was really cool. Here is a pic of the duelling wine pots and Desert Dudes famous blowtorch being used to ignite the sugar cones. :hehe: And the result...


... pure FZB ecstasy

 

[kcowyo]

So close yet so far

Well I'm still on the road, trying to get home. I was stopped tonight about 100 miles south of Salt Lake City, by a big snowstorm directly in my path northeast. I still have about 7 hours to go, hopefully I'll be home tomorrow night.

I loved Vince's Top Ten list, perfect. Robb's shots of the FZB are sweet. I was fortunate enough to get one of the FZB mugs from Srisuda, my reward for travelling the farthest I suppose.

I owe thanks too, to Pasquale and Kristina for the 2M loaner, to Chuck, Mark & Brooke for feeding me, BT for the Agave education, Vince for the cool stickers and Robb for a few spots through some tight squeezes. Great people and I really enjoyed meeting Ewe & Srisuda, Mark & Amy and Randy & Linda too.

A few more pics from my trip so far -

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Awesome pics and writeups! It was great bumping into you guys and meeting some new folks!

Well done Vince!
one to add...
"you know it's cold in DV. when you have to put items in the fridge so they don't freeze"

HA Funny You Mention That, i did that very thing! This pic should give ya a chuckle (this is sunday AM atop white top mountain, i am sure it dropped called in the middle of the night:

 

[Desertdude]

That was cool bumping into you Kevin along with Jeb and the crew in DV...

Also, the last night camping at the dunes proved to be one fine night :campfire: Big thanks to Chuck for hauling that huge tree down the mountain and across the desert :wavey:

 

[awalter]

One of the highlights for me was running into my good friends Harry Lewellyn & his wife Jenna, who I haven't seen in several years, at the racetrack. He has had a large influence on my backcountry experiences.

The lowlight was seeing the amount of trash & litter lining route 127 on our drive from Little Dumont Dunes(an OHV area) down to Baker. Disgraceful.

Al

 

[Darren]

Nice reporting and pictures thus far, everyone! Uwe, thanks for putting the maps together. That definitely helps illustrating the main course of travel and tying it in with the reports. Looks like a great time was had by all despite the less than ideal temperatures. And, I bet it would take a lot more than bad weather to kill the spirit of this hardy group. It's a beautiful area, and I plan on making my first visit there in the spring of 2008. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Ursidae69]

I pulled a couple photos I liked. I have a few hundred to sort through. Lots of people pics. I'll post them all soon.

1) Bajataco with Whitney in the background
2) KC coming up a steep hill
3) Chris shooting photos from his roof rack
4) One of the mines we explored
5) Old timer from Ballarat
6) Sunset on the butte near the geology cabin
7) View from inside the geology cabin
8) KC and Al