Video TR: Death Valley National Park

[FirstTracks]

It's the hottest, driest place in North America, and the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere. Yet if you look hard enough, you can spot signs of life everywhere in Death Valley, life that has adapted to this harsh climate.

While we're not the biggest fans of national parks, we loved Death Valley, and Episode 77 is our most ambitious video undertaking yet. Just by leaving asphalt, you can easily leave the crowds behind and have a solitary experience in this spectacular desert landscape. We camp at the luxurious Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada while we visit Dante's View, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Furnace Creek, Badwater Basin, Artist's Palette,Titus Canyon, Leadfield and The Racetrack in Death Valley National Park to see the famed Sailing Stones, as well as the ghost town of Rhyolite and wild burros in Beatty, both outside the park:

https://youtu.be/IqpF9_Pqxmo

[pnichols]

garyhaupt wrote:

pnichols wrote:

garyhaupt wrote:
We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

Gary ... I'd like to see you make it to the Racetrack! If you did make it out there, you'd most likely be in the first ever Class C motorhome to do it.

It probably would not even require 4WD in a Class C to do it in dry weather - just no low-hanging stuff on the motorhome - combined with slow, careful driving. Tires with a ply count higher than 10 should be on one's Class C though, as I've read that rocks on the road to it can be sharp. Once there, I wonder if one would be allowed to camp in the Racetrack area?

The preceding discussion in this thread reminds me of something that I've thought about for a long time. Does a Western U.S. Class B/C-centric RV club exist wherein they have almost exclusively boondocking rallies and get togethers? Maybe similar to what these folks do with their Airstream trailers: http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/snu/

There's no reason that truck campers should have all the fun. 😉

Phil..No group like that to my knowledge. The Jeep folk are all clubbed from one state to another, and the 4x4 clubs. And truly, when I see the pix of all the trucks/Jeeps all strung out, I think to myself...yuck.


We may come back up via the inland route...bringing us into the Great Basin in Oregon.

Gary

If you get there, have fun in the Great Basin. That's one of my favorite huge areas to hang around in whenever we get the opportunity.

Is the Dubinky Well part of the country considered to be in the Great Basin? We hope to revisit that way out place again, too. The DW wants more rocks from out there - to go along with those we picked up last month at that superb camping spot next to the Jalama Ranch.

Our next stop in 4 weeks is Quartzite Arizona, plus into some Arizona Trust Lands in the boondocks along the Colorado River.

[garyhaupt]

pnichols wrote:

garyhaupt wrote:
We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

Gary ... I'd like to see you make it to the Racetrack! If you did make it out there, you'd most likely be in the first ever Class C motorhome to do it.

It probably would not even require 4WD in a Class C to do it in dry weather - just no low-hanging stuff on the motorhome - combined with slow, careful driving. Tires with a ply count higher than 10 should be on one's Class C though, as I've read that rocks on the road to it can be sharp. Once there, I wonder if one would be allowed to camp in the Racetrack area?

The preceding discussion in this thread reminds me of something that I've thought about for a long time. Does a Western U.S. Class B/C-centric RV club exist wherein they have almost exclusively boondocking rallies and get togethers? Maybe similar to what these folks do with their Airstream trailers: http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/snu/

There's no reason that truck campers should have all the fun. 😉

Phil..No group like that to my knowledge. The Jeep folk are all clubbed from one state to another, and the 4x4 clubs. And truly, when I see the pix of all the trucks/Jeeps all strung out, I think to myself...yuck.


We may come back up via the inland route...bringing us into the Great Basin in Oregon.


Gary

[garyhaupt]

FirstTracks wrote:

garyhaupt wrote:
We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

For donkeys, take a drive into Beatty to see the ones in the video. Jets train in the Panamint area..

Thank you..I have been to Beatty several times. The lure of the jets and donkeys and camping? That grabs me, big time. I always boondock, too.


Gary

[pnichols]

garyhaupt wrote:
We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

Gary ... I'd like to see you make it to the Racetrack! If you did make it out there, you'd most likely be in the first ever Class C motorhome to do it.

It probably would not even require 4WD in a Class C to do it in dry weather - just no low-hanging stuff on the motorhome - combined with slow, careful driving. Tires with a ply count higher than 10 should be on one's Class C though, as I've read that rocks on the road to it can be sharp. Once there, I wonder if one would be allowed to camp in the Racetrack area?

The preceding discussion in this thread reminds me of something that I've thought about for a long time. Does a Western U.S. Class B/C-centric RV club exist wherein they have almost exclusively boondocking rallies and get togethers? Maybe similar to what these folks do with their Airstream trailers: http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/snu/

There's no reason that truck campers should have all the fun. 😉

[FirstTracks]

garyhaupt wrote:
We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

For donkeys, take a drive into Beatty to see the ones in the video. Jets train in the Panamint area..

[garyhaupt]

We are just about to hit the road for a 7 week drive and DV is part of that. I don't know about Racetrack...makes me nervous, thinking of a flat.

ppine? If you'd be willing to send me a rough outline of that area with the donkeys and jets? I'd be thinking that would be a great destination.


Gary Haupt

[ppine]

Not necessary to be in the Park either to find some great lonely spots out in the desert. I like hanging with the wild donkeys and watching the Navy jets fly through canyons. Where we camp there is no one around for miles. An RV is quite unnecessary also. The weather is mild in winter. I like to just sleep on a cot above the rocks and reptiles and watch the stars.

[FirstTracks]

pnichols wrote:
It was a few years ago when we were there, and we checked with the field office on camping. Boondock camping is allowed under certain rules (i.e. distance from roads, etc.) and in certain areas. We picked one of those areas and complied with the rules.

As I understand it, there are several 4WD backcountry roads in DV and it seems logical that folks that get way out there in their vehicles, might want to, or have to, at least overnight camp out there.

Our small Ford E350/E450 based 2WD motorhomes had about stock PU ground clearance and in dry conditions, we were able to slowly and carefully weave our way between the rocks a little way up a 4X4 road.

There's nothing like being way out there with all the comforts of A/C, a furnace, a refrigerator, a shower, queen beds, out of the sun, and out of the wind ... whenever you want.

Oh, I hear ya! We always boondock in remote spots whenever possible as we rather hate being in campgrounds, and typically avoid private RV parks like the plague. There were a couple of factors playing against boondocking at our Death Valley stop. For one, we had a 500-mile drive to get there, and at the end of October that meant arriving after dark, even with the time change. For another, I assumed normal National Park rules applied, although if I had daylight I would've camped on BLM land just outside the park.

As for those 4x4 roads, yep -- we did the 27-mile Titus Canyon road on that trip, and the 52-mile round-trip to the Racetrack to see the Sailing Stones. I would've towed a short distance on the latter, but definitely not the former (which is also one-way).

[pnichols]

FirstTracks wrote:

pnichols wrote:
You're right-on about Death Valley.

It's not necessary to camp inside Death Valley in a campground. For maximum serenity and enjoyment of the Desert Experience, drycamping way out there is the best.

I assumed that within the NP, usual NP rules apply, i.e. camping in designated sites only. That's not the case for Death Valley NP? Who'd have known? We certainly didn't, although being a National Park we didn't bother looking into it, either.

It was a few years ago when we were there, and we checked with the field office on camping. Boondock camping is allowed under certain rules (i.e. distance from roads, etc.) and in certain areas. We picked one of those areas and complied with the rules.

As I understand it, there are several 4WD backcountry roads in DV and it seems logical that folks that get way out there in their vehicles, might want to, or have to, at least overnight camp out there.

Our small Ford E350/E450 based 2WD motorhomes had about stock PU ground clearance and in dry conditions, we were able to slowly and carefully weave our way between the rocks a little way up a 4X4 road.

There's nothing like being way out there with all the comforts of A/C, a furnace, a refrigerator, a shower, queen beds, out of the sun, and out of the wind ... whenever you want.

[FirstTracks]

pnichols wrote:

Roy&Lynne wrote:
I love Death Valley but I would bypass it in a heart beat if I had to take Hwy 190 in. Not happening AGAIN. Once was enough. Also, I don't think I'd go in dead of summer either. We went in April and it was 118 degrees.
Lastly don't under any circumstances run out of gas. Its always 4 or 5 dollars more a gallon down there.
But I think I've gone 3 or 4 times and loved each time

What's up with Hwy 190 into Death Valley?

I'm wondering the same, although we only entered on 190 from the east, and not from the west via Panamint Springs. The way we came in it was a very long, but not excessively steep grade, and a good road.

[FirstTracks]

pnichols wrote:
You're right-on about Death Valley.

It's not necessary to camp inside Death Valley in a campground. For maximum serenity and enjoyment of the Desert Experience, drycamping way out there is the best.

I assumed that within the NP, usual NP rules apply, i.e. camping in designated sites only. That's not the case for Death Valley NP? Who'd have known? We certainly didn't, although being a National Park we didn't bother looking into it, either.

[pnichols]

Roy&Lynne wrote:
I love Death Valley but I would bypass it in a heart beat if I had to take Hwy 190 in. Not happening AGAIN. Once was enough. Also, I don't think I'd go in dead of summer either. We went in April and it was 118 degrees.
Lastly don't under any circumstances run out of gas. Its always 4 or 5 dollars more a gallon down there.
But I think I've gone 3 or 4 times and loved each time

What's up with Hwy 190 into Death Valley?

[Roy_Lynne]

I love Death Valley but I would bypass it in a heart beat if I had to take Hwy 190 in. Not happening AGAIN. Once was enough. Also, I don't think I'd go in dead of summer either. We went in April and it was 118 degrees.
Lastly don't under any circumstances run out of gas. Its always 4 or 5 dollars more a gallon down there.
But I think I've gone 3 or 4 times and loved each time

[FirstTracks]

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
I had plans to make the 49er Encampment this year but things came up and we missed it. Have traveled many times to Death Valley but with the RV, but its on the list. Just for kicks and while I love Nevada Treasure RV(coldest beer on tap, I've ever had), the RV Park attached to that small Casino in Amargosa Valley( making the trip into Death Valley even closer) has fairly nice grounds. We checked it out in Oct and there was maybe 3 RV's there ….FYI

PS....and at 25.00 a night or less, its a bargain.

Agreed! We only saw it from the distance seen in the shot near the beginning of the video.

[Acampingwewillg]

I had plans to make the 49er Encampment this year but things came up and we missed it. Have traveled many times to Death Valley but without the RV, but its on the list. Just for kicks and while I love Nevada Treasure RV(coldest beer on tap, I've ever had), the RV Park attached to that small Casino in Amargosa Valley( making the trip into Death Valley even closer) has fairly nice grounds. We checked it out in Oct and there was maybe 3 RV's there ….FYI

PS....and at 25.00 a night or less, its a bargain.