Death Valley, Day 1 & 2

Wednesday, October 22

Spent the morning traveling from Jawbone Canyon to "the pads" a few miles to the SE of DVNP's eastern entrance near Furnace Creek Visitor Center.

Next time, I'll come in from the south, coming in from the west involved a long hard slog for the VRRV up and down two mountain passes and MPG suffered accordingly.

At one point Uma could barely hold 35 miles an hour on the steep slopes! 

Another note for future travel, if you're going to get gas within the National Park get it at the Stove Pipes visitor center not the Furnace Creek visitor center, it's a buck cheaper!  I paid a dollar more buy cruising past the first visitor center, damn it.  $6/gallon.

The pads were not crowded at all I think they were six other rigs here before mine. I got a spot away from all the others at the northern edge of the pads. 

Pyramid Peak in the back6

Close to 1pm as I type this, it is 89°, sunny with a slight wind coming from the east I think. The altitude of the pads is 2999 ft, surprisingly to me. I thought it would be closer to the sea level.  I did traverse the sea level locations as I crossed the valley on US 190 so there's that. 

Lots of flies here at the pads, originally it seems they are not dividing kind just annoying as they fly around one's ears, eyes and nostrils.

A bunch of rigs showed up in the late evening/early night.  The number of brakes grew from 5 to about 15 or so. But they were all gone but 5 by mid-morning so all good.

Thursday, October 23

Around 8:30 I drove the CRV into the park to check out the lighting at Dante's View.  I elected not to take Yagi my TW200 as it was a bit cool and about 16 miles away.

Not very many people at that hour, so it was a pleasant viewing of the valley floor: 

Next was a drive to Zabrieski Point.   It's probably, in my opinion, the best viewpoint on the eastern side of the park.   It also has a couple of dumpsters next to the pit toilet building so I was able to get rid of RV trash.

Then it was a quick drive to the Furnace Creek visitor center to get a map and the check out all the road closures: 

As you can see, damn near all the interesting roads that are dirt are closed due to flood damage!  I think it will basically curtail my stay here at the park and have me moving on earlier than I figured. 

The best trail is of course 20 Mule Canyon, but it was closed to traffic so no go on that. Instead you will have to be happy with pictures I took of the periphery when I stopped at points where I could actually get something worthy of a pic. 

Here's a link to my last visit to this National Park, back in December of 2018, before all the flood damage that has closed the roads that are most interesting. 

Scarlett in Death Valley

I return to the campsite before noon, had lunch, and just rested the rest of the afternoon away. I did take Yagi out for a short ride in the trails nearby but nothing much to see or take pictures of. 

There were much less flies today around the campsite, the stiff breeze that was blowing probably kept their numbers down and kept things cool in terms of temperature while in the shade.

Death Valley here I come.

Not much done the last couple days, some minor repairs within the VRRV.  

Installed reinforcement brackets on the kitchen window screen (the plastic frame has broken several times).

The bathroom medicine cabinet came off the wall last week, and broke the mirror....again.  Hung the cabinet back up and explore mirror options.

Otherwise, just relaxed in the warm but not hot weather.  Quite hot in direct sunlight of course, but nice in the VRRV's shade.

Here's todays's sunrise:

Spent a couple of hours in the CRV driving around, mostly reconning campsites and checking out the views from BLM route SC175.

By 5PM all the outside gear was put away and Yagi mounted onto the front carrier rack.  Just have to get the inside gear packed up in the morning.

Just as well I'm leaving, a small group of night-driving OHV schiesse kopfs just roared by, light rods flashing colors, engines roaring and going fast.

Tomorrow: Death Valley National Park, about 5-6 hrs away.

Staying a Little Longer in Jawbone Canyon OHV Area

 Well, after a somewhat rest last night with OHVs and their bright light bars shining their lights as they careened around in the dark, too loud explosions around midnight, and just crowded conditions I decided to change plans again. 

Instead of leaving immediately for Death Valley, I took the CRV and did a recon off the actual Jawbone Canyon road which is paved and which I missed due to faulty map recon. I took it further into the canyon and found several sites that were much quieter and no people seemingly around for quite a distance sometimes. 

Turns out my faulty map recon worked in my favor aside from the fact the access road I use was quite sandy. The road was marked closed due to flooding and it would have dissuaded me from even trying this area!

Though it remains blocked by signs, theres mini trucks and camping rigs past the signs over just a few miles, so I think I'm okay.  In fact, during the recon, I passed the deputy sheriff doing his rounds and we waved at each other.

After an hour of doing this I finally decided to return to the RV, finish breaking camp and hooking the CRV backup to go back to one of the sites I found. 

Being Sunday the area is still seeing evidence of people coming in for the day trailering their OHVs and motorcycles; I'm taking a chance and hoping that by this afternoon things will have quiet the down considerably and perhaps stay not only the night but a day more here in this area as it is quite nice in a way.

Late afternoon, have to relaxing all day at the new campsite, I drove the CRV closer to the highway to take pictures of the aqueduct pipeline used by the LADWP to funnel water to LA. 

It must have been pretty interesting laying this pipe across the tops of the hills. 

Tonight's sunset verified I made a good choice in staying here longer.

Altitude: 2562 ft.

Back on the Road

 I spent the last four days staying with my brother Carlos and doing day visits to my parents.  They're getting on in age and my guilt levels are increasing more frequently.

The folks are going Ok for being in their late to mid 80s.  I'm glad I came but I'm also glad to be back on the road.

The above is my brother and I enjoying some Bibimbap at a Korean joint on my last evening there.

Shortly after 8 AM, caffeinated, I was driving out of the overcrowded Bay Area on the 101, eventually turning onto I5 near Gilroy.

The rest of the day was smooth interstate driving towards Mojave once past Bakersfield.

About 18 miles from Mojave, I drove into the Jawbone Canyon OHV area as it was almost 3:30pm.  It was time to setup camp for the night and I was tired.

I spent the next hour or so locating a large flattish area where several other RVs and trucks hauling OHV trailers were parked.  Setting up camp took a bit as it wasn't quite flat and I didn't want to be close to the main RV grouping.  I'm only staying one night so being in a crowded area is a burden to bear.

Bonus, a group of ass wipes camping in the main grouping of RVs was thoughtfully sharing their musical preferences with everyone else in the area.

Like I said, only for one night and I have my noise cancelling headphones on as I type this, listening to an audiobook.  I don't hear the inconsiderate bastards.

I hope to find a nice spot in "the pads" on the eastern side of Death Valley.  Then a few days exploring the valley again.  Last time I was there, in 2018, I was with Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol.

Sunday, October 19 update:

Change in plans, staying in the area a bit longer....more in next post.