DEATH VALLEY RUN - President day weekend
- Thread starter cap510
- Start date
calledtocreation
Adventurer
What happened and where are they now?
calledtocreation
Adventurer
Anyone leaving from Orange County around 0600 Saturday Morning (tomorrow)?? Looking to caravan perhaps to the groups location at the time or to Furnace Creek to wait for them to show up :safari-rig:
calledtocreation
Adventurer
Jason, we will be there in about 45 mins. Save us a spot!
stioc
Expedition Leader
A quick trip report from us: First off, many thanks to Carlos for organizing and leading the trip and everyone for making it fun. We had a blast even though we only did Thu-Sat but we covered a lot of ground and I got to see the part of DV I hadn't before. Thu evening we arrived at the Pinnacles and camped there for the night. Fri we ran Pleasant Canyon starting at Ballarat. The trail had everything from long winding inclines to a few technical passes to lots of narrow passings through the desert bushes which continuously scraped paint and kissed roof racks. We successfully negotiated the narrow bridge and the turn before the bridge and made our way down to see the Briggs cabin which was quite nice. We started making our way out to Golar Wash as the sun was setting. Needless to say we ran late and made the decision to camp just before Mengel Pass as it was too sketchy to pass in the dark and most of us were feeling pretty beat. Kirk and Nick went back into town and to send the word to the Fri group of the schedule delay. The next morning (Sat) I assessed the truck and found both my CV boots had split and leaking grease pretty much everywhere under there. I guess the constant up and down on the trail in 4wd (and 4lo) pretty much the whole trail they gave up. Decided to duct tape (Dennis thanks for the duct tape) them to hold whatever grease was left in there and run Mengel pass. It started out easy but had a few technical sections. One of which claimed my plastic hubcap from getting the wheel a bit too close to a large rock. That was the only bang/hit/carnage on my truck. After that we stopped at the Geologist cabin and headed to Warm Springs. After warm springs I decided to head home once we hit West Side Road since we'd done that part of DV before. The group continued up towards Furnace Creek to meet up with the rest of the group. We bid our farewells on the CB and headed home. Great weather, friendly folks, good camping, moonlit nights - couldn't have been a better trip!
Camping at Trona Pinnacles (Cannon S100, Aperture priority, 10sec exposure - the rest are iPhone 5S pics):
Ballarat:
The most photographed PowerWagon:
Pleasant Canyon's narrow trail picking up lots of pinstriping:
A couple of moderate level obstacles due to steep drop and sketchy trail near the edge:
Bridge near Briggs Cabin:
Briggs cabin:
Making our way down to Golar Wash:
Charles Manson's hideout:
Butte Valley:
Geologist cabin:
Camping at Trona Pinnacles (Cannon S100, Aperture priority, 10sec exposure - the rest are iPhone 5S pics):
Ballarat:
The most photographed PowerWagon:
Pleasant Canyon's narrow trail picking up lots of pinstriping:
A couple of moderate level obstacles due to steep drop and sketchy trail near the edge:
Bridge near Briggs Cabin:
Briggs cabin:
Making our way down to Golar Wash:
Charles Manson's hideout:
Butte Valley:
Geologist cabin:
SoCalMonty
Explorer
My passenger and I are in Adelanto, getting on the 15 in a minute and heading home. Will update with a report and pics asap.
Summary: Ballarat, Goler Wash/Mengel Pass, Butte Valley, Warm Springs (Friday night); Badwater Basin, Furnace Creek, Echo Canyon, Inyo Mine (Saturday); Echo Pass, Lee's Camp, Beatty, Rhyolite, Titus Canyon/Leadfield, Stovepipe Wells, Cottonwood Canyon (Sunday).
Rays truck apparently lost oil pressure (?) and developed a bad knock...got towed out. Hoping it's not catastrophic and that he'll update soon. :\
Covered nearly 200 miles in the dirt...had a blast. There is so much to see out there, I'm already pining to plan another trip. Hope everyone else makes it home safe and updates when possible.
Summary: Ballarat, Goler Wash/Mengel Pass, Butte Valley, Warm Springs (Friday night); Badwater Basin, Furnace Creek, Echo Canyon, Inyo Mine (Saturday); Echo Pass, Lee's Camp, Beatty, Rhyolite, Titus Canyon/Leadfield, Stovepipe Wells, Cottonwood Canyon (Sunday).
Rays truck apparently lost oil pressure (?) and developed a bad knock...got towed out. Hoping it's not catastrophic and that he'll update soon. :\
Covered nearly 200 miles in the dirt...had a blast. There is so much to see out there, I'm already pining to plan another trip. Hope everyone else makes it home safe and updates when possible.
Last edited:
