Death Valley Riding Conditions

+1

Looks frosty-er than I expected

Some areas I was thinking to aim for are upwards of 6k ft. Hmmm.... Recalculating

-M

Excellent camera working... I love those night time long exposure shots
Really top notch, i've never taken my good camera on a ride with me for fear of F'ing it up!!

Great report, sucks you were on your own,
~Junior

Hello,

I am planning a short trip over New Year's Eve - Maybe for 2 nights - testing my new camping equipment. Staying mostly on roads since I am alone and a dirt road newbie ...

Anybody else planning a trip around that time?

Not sure where I camp since Furnace seems to be all occupied.

Thanks

Petzi-baer

You are correct about your husband being a hero not to mention a rider with amazing skill. There is no way I could have ridden an R1200GS two up on South Pass without dropping it a bunch of times. I know because I have ridden an R1200GSA on south pass but that was when it was in great shape and I was not riding two up.

Congrats on making it out south pass without incident. Was there any ice on south pass on the north slope? That can be another difficult section when riding south on south pass this time of year no matter what bike you are on.

Lost:

Excellent recon report and great pics and video.

Did you see any ice on South Pass or just snow?

This looks like Larryboy's kinda weather for riding in DV. He doesn't seem to mind tent camping when it is 24 degrees out. Looks like you enjoy the cold riding also.

I'm itching to get back out there but just haven't had the time.

Has anyone ridden Echo Canyon lately?

Free camping at emigrant campground: http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10107153&postcount=10

Free camping at wildrose too but it wil be cold at 4000' elevation maybe snow.

The campground at Stovepipe wells is down in the valley and may be a little warmer.

Thanks!

No ice on south pass, just a little snow and compacted snow from trucks in the usual shady spots. The photo with snow on the road was the most there was up there, with all this rain/snow coming to socal this week that should probably change.

Yeah, I don't mind cold riding and camping, used to ride/commute year round when I lived in Chicago. This short ride was a cold one though on a bike with no windscreen, even with good cold weather gear. Now I'm sick as hell too...
Still was enjoyable all the same and I'm really looking forward to going back with more time ASAP.

Will be interesting to see what you guys find on your upcoming rides.


Thanks Junior, glad you like!
It didn't suck I was alone, I was in the best of company.



Mobile ADV Fix Complete

Front page material....

Oh Yeah, that was us. The master brake cylinder went out on are truck coming down north, while pulling our 5th wheel or should i say it was pushing us. We thought we were going to die. I was so glad I had just installed a brake exhaust the week before. We will probably be out there for Death valley daze but no RV. Thanks for remembering us. We got everything fixed and had a nice ride on the Dakar. Hunter mountain, race track and back into saline through south pass. The only way I can ride 2 up is that my wife is a great pillion. She doesn't even freak out we her boot drags in the twisties when were flying. And it nice to have her with me to get the bike off of me when I get stuck underneath. We were out in Saline Valley with the bike all loaded up, a few years back, and met Jimmy Lewis. He thought we were nuts ridding 2 up. Maybe so, but we sure love riding together. It still cool that we were able to impress him.

that rules!

hope to see you next month at DVDAZE!

Please recommend some good maps and books about DV. I did a countdown DS ride from Ridgecrest to Beatty and back a a few years ago. I also road a street bike from Scottys castle all the way south through the park, So I am vaguely familiar with the area but I need details. I want to spend a week or so there on a DS. Thanks.

Get the Tom Harrison Death Valley map: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Valley-National-Park-Recreation/dp/1877689572

and the California Trails Desert Region 4wd guide book: http://www.amazon.com/California-Trails-Desert-Region-Massey/dp/1930193203

Get on http://www.gpsxchange.com/ and get the Death Valley tracks from Countdowns private library (need to register).

Have fun. DV is great.

I just retired, so I am new to this, If I pull my trailer into D.V. and it's late, with dark upon us, and all camp grounds are full, can I find a wide spot on a side dirt road in the monument till next morning....or will I get rousted?by a park ranger?

Stay at Panamint Springs.

Surprisingly, the AAA Death Valley map is really good. I would also recommend Countdown's GPS tracks and the Tom Harrison map.

Don't do that, big ticket if you don't camp properly...BLM land in the Panamint Valley you can camp anywhere you want, check your map and make sure you're legal.

Great question, and a knowledgeable response.

Rocky,
Larryboy(IMO) is the most knowledgeable about DV. I have been reading and following his stuff for a long time now. As a beginner to all of this, I would do the same. I have already rolled into DV late one night, and stumbled on to your sceario, the ranger was a cool guy and advised us to just roll into Panamint Spring Camp ground, pay the tab in the morning, and enjoy the environment. We MAY have "accidentally" left a cold beer on the side of the road when we were driving off....

~Junior

Thanks!!.....Stuff ordered.

Besides the one's already mentioned I find the National Geo Trails Illustrated or Benchmark California Road and Recreation Atlasmap and the good old DeLorme California Atlas to be quite useful. If you put all the maps you can buy together and study them, none of them seem to have everything listed like all of them combined. Pick your poison, make notes on one to carry is how I roll.
I gave away my Nat Geo map on this last trip to a couple fellow riders from Montana I met who were trying to explore the area for the first time with a park map so it's time for a new one for me to carry also.

There's also some GPX tracks on my website, though since roads have changed I can't promise you can get through on the same roads this year. Many of the tracks were made riding on a loaded F800GS before going more lightweight, sorry I don't have the tracks more organized.


-Finn

Just talked to a guy in a Tacoma. Made south pass both ways. But was quite rough.