A couple of days in Death Valley

[pmatusov]

Every once in a blue moon, John Lee from Expedition Exchange gets cabin fever and sends a roll call - if anyone's good for a weekend in the desert.
These trips are fantastic - a small group of friends who have known each other for years (and sometimes for decades). In the past, it was the most diverse group, vehicle -wise: you could see a Trooper, or a FJ80, or 100, a Tundra, a Defender 110, a Classic or two, a Disco or two, a G-wagen.
This year it turned into the least diverse group.
A NAS D110, a Tundra, and five Grenadiers.
One can wax lyrical about how immensely great a new Defender is, but what I saw was an immediate ~$450k loss of revenue for Land Rover, with a potential to triple this loss given the age of participants. And that's just one small group of friends.

I started off in Palmdale - with a desire to see Antelope Valley California poppy fields.




On my way to our meeting spot in Randsburg, I figured I should swing by the Burro Schmidt Tunnel - a guy had spent 38 years of his life digging under a mountain, to not much of a success.
Google says it's 7.5 miles from pavement, and 25 minutes. I was determined to beat that time - and failed.


We didn't stay long at the tunnel and I didn't take my time to crawl the entire half a mile underground. On the way back to pavement, downhill, I managed to squeeze the time down to 23 minutes - accompanied by the loud Taco Bell sounds from the steering damper.
In Randsburg I was still alone.

But not for very long:

Randsburg deserves at least one walk-through, even from people who've been there before.



We grabbed a quick bite in a cafe (not that one) in Randsburg, and went on to Trona Pinnacles.

 

[pmatusov]

Fueled up in Trona, and went downhill into Panamint Valley.

We are getting close to the Pinnacles:

Subaru people wouldn't know the difference:


We drove around the Pinnacles probably longer than we spent on foot; it was a good place to have a quick bite and a drink.
Our plan forward included checking out Nadeau Trail - the linked webpage lists the trail condition as of 9 years ago. Steve, more of a Death Valley rat than the rest of us, knows there's no fun to be had on the trail, so we sort of decide to bypass it on pavement.


Little do we know... Paved Nadeau Road leads us to a working mine, and the "better" path is blocked by a huge boulder pile.
So the rest of our way to Thompson Canyon was exactly as described on that old webpage.



We take our time looking around the old Minnietta Mine site and well-preserved, stocked, and reasonably clean Minnietta Cabin, but decide it would not be a good place for seven vehicles, most of which are planning on tent camping.

We descend down to the valley floor, and enjoy wide, flat camping spots, with soft dirt underfoot, and not a single cholla in sight.

 

[pmatusov]

In the morning, the decision was made to skip the [literal] uphill fight to Lookout City and Defense Mine, and drive to Ballarat and on to Pleasant Canyon instead.
The entire desert floor is in bloom.

We spend some time around the store and old artifacts in Ballarat, while the "grizzled locals" observe and comment the sight of a NAS 110, a Tundra, and five Grenadiers.


There are some fun artifacts near the store, including a 1943 Dodge allegedly used by Charles Manson's gang (photo from an earlier trip):

The locals assure us that the road to Pleasant Canyon and South Park is no longer snowed in, so off we go. (to be continued)

 

[pmatusov]

Pleasant Canyon Road begins right at the Ballarat store, and wastes no time going up. Cacti are in full bloom - good kind, not cholla.

Soon, Panamint Valley is far behind and below:


Now we're off the vast alluvial fan, and into the canyon proper:


Soon, we're at the site of Claire Camp, formerly the living quarters of workers at Ratcliff Mine and World Beater Mine up the hills from there. All the camp cabins have been demolished by NPS, probably after having been damaged badly by the floods of the last two winters and hurricane Hilary. The remains of the mine tram station are still there to explore, which we do.

John Lee's 110 looking into Panamint Valley:

My Airedale Jules not really wanting to get out of the truck (he knows that he'll have to get in later):


That's one hell of a winch drum:

and boilers:

We spend about half an hour browsing around, take pictures of a large rusted out tank with the words "Cyanide/Poison" on the side, and resume the climb.
Junipers and cedars appear at the elevation around 5200 ft, and become omnipresent at 6k:

The road, despite having been worked on by NPS and Inyo County, is pretty overgrown; later, we'll meet local people from Trona and Ridgecrest who spend their weekends with cutters and chainsaws to clean it up. My hat's off to them.

 

[pmatusov]

Around 6500ft, occasional snow patches show up in the shade.
Finally, we are at the Rogers Pass - at the elevation of 7160 ft, give or take.

Straight down, we're looking into Butte Valley, where we plan on camping tonight. Two ridges further it's Death Valley Proper, or Badwater (around 35.825607, -116.562674). A closer (or zoomed-in) view:

The pass is the only place we have seen in miles wide enough to stop for lunch.

The Grenadiers' rear doors fly open, and fold-down tables unfold down.

Interesting to note, that every Grenadier is different - from the factory, and with a plethora of new aftermarket additions (like proper rock sliders, unlike Ineos factory abomination, or proper roof rack that is not using the edges of the rain gutters to be mounted.

This is a more zoomed-in look at the Striped Butte and Butte Valley below:

The winding trail in the center of the image is Mengel Pass; the area with a few likely camping spots is where we plan on staying. It is so close as the crow flies - but about 40 miles away on dirt, some of which are going to be pretty slow.
Striped Butte - a bizarre triangular rock formation peaking out of the valley floor - is at the bottom of the photo.
An artsy photographer could find a lot of views to choose from.

We meet one of the locals - preservationists of Death Valley old and recent past - and get a scoop of the situation. Our plan to continue down South Park trail will likely cost us at least extra two hours, so we decide to climb up towards South Park but short-cut back to Pleasant Canyon via Middle Park.

Is it an old Rambler? How on the Earth did it make it up here?

We stop to discuss the options near a cabin in Pleasant Canyon.
It would be nice to camp here, at higher elevation - but it is too early, and it would load tomorrow with some technical four-wheeling. So we aim our wheels downhill towards Ballarat.

From Ballarat, we ratchet up speed on Wingate Road towards Goler Wash (and border of China Lake Naval weapons center).

 

[pmatusov]

Goler Wash starts off with an alluvial fan, as any canyon road in Death Valley, and then you hit the canyon proper.


The roadbed is very good, having been recently graded by Inyo County.
The burros don't care for us a bit.

Somehow, I miss the turn-off to Barker Ranch where Charles Manson gang was finally captured. Having been there, I can't say I am enamored with the place - it is a bit creepy, and there's too much trash around to camp. Skipping the Ranch likely saves us about 40 minutes, which is getting important.
Out of the narrows, the going doesn't get easier - the roadbed is dirt, with deep washouts and a few boulders here and there. Here's John working his way towards Mengel Pass:


Finally, we reach Mengel Pass. The sun's about to set behind the mountains in the West.

The fun actually begins downhill from the pass. The Tundra, being the longest and widest of the group, has a good time working around the rocks.

Grenadiers also have fun:



Despite all that ground clearance, few skidplates came out unmolested.
Here, I hit an odd milestone:

Finally, we're down in the valley. Striped Butte is far more scenic from that angle:

Camping availability in the valley is always a chance deal. There are several cabins - all in good repair, clean, and perfectly suitable for camping - but all are taken. I share some beers with a group of bicyclists, and they point us towards the Russell Camp. That, too, has a cabin - or a few - which are not as inviting as the others, but there's some flat area for camping. We take time picking the spots; John and I remain at the bottom of the hill, while the rest of the group makes arrangements for tents and cooking in the "front yard" of the Camp.
The evening views from the camp are awesome.


We set up the camp - now's my second night sleeping in the Grenadier (which takes more time than setting up a tent). Dinner's in progress, and I make a total disaster of the rack of lamb.
Around 10 pm, a freak cold rainstorm hits us. We endure the elements hoping for it to go away, but it doesn't - so we turn in.

 

[pmatusov]

The morning was gorgeous but brisk - 35F outside.



The most-technical part of the road is behind us, so we're in no hurry to get going. Note the wispy clouds, though.
Quail are everywhere around our camp, singing to the best of their abilities.

The cabins - built around 1929 and in use until ~1979 - still retain signs of human hand and care:





Around 10-1030 we're getting ready to roll.

Daylight is not the most scenic time for the Striped Butte:

It takes us about half an hour to reach the Warm Spring Camp - built in 1930s to house the workers at the nearby Talc Mine, which changed hands many times but was worked until as recently as 1974. The camp still has several buildings in decent repair:

... but the warm natural spring-fed swimming pool is abandoned:

The epic flash floods of late have done much good to the camp - a field of trash and scrap metal was buried under several feet of river rock, now overgrown with desert vegetation. One of the buildings, however, was filled up with mud and rock about 3 feet deep.

The Talc Mine remains in place, although the entrance to the main horizontal shaft is now welded shut.


I wonder if that engine could be started:

A steam engine still stands near the camp:

along with some loading equipment

It is already a lunch time when we are done browsing around the camp. After lunch, we roll on towards Ashford Junction in Badwater; have our parting shot with another group of burros:

Soon, we are out of Warm Springs Canyon and on its alluvial fan. The skies have changed somehow, haven't they?

It is windy. Dust devils form in packs and move up and down the valley.

By the time we hit pavement, the wind is howling, dust flying across and along the valley, and it looks like it's raining where we have been not even an hour ago:

Nobody has any desire to head North on Badwater Road to see Lake Manly (left and forward on the photo above), so we air up.


On our way towards California SR 127 and Shoshone, we get a parting view of Funeral Mountains:

In Shoshone, nobody seems to need fuel; we decide to explore the limits of the Grenadiers' very, very unreliable and nonlinear gas gauges and remaining range predictions, and head south to Baker. By the time we hit Chevron in Baker, all five have "less than 70 miles remaining" warnings on the dashboards.
We say our goodbyes in Baker, and continue (mostly, still as a group) south on hateful Interstate 15. The rain starts in Barstow, reaches torrential level, and doesn't let go all the way until San Diego (for me).

That's it!

 

[Zimm]

All white! Y'all look like a UN mission out there PM!

 

[pmatusov]

Well... One white with accents, another - Magic Mushroom

 

[[ Adam ]]

Largest collection of grenadiers I've ever seen in the wild, much less on dirt.

Great stuff, keep it coming!

 

[MidnightCamper]

Thank-you so much for all the photos. Surprising. No more mud left anywhere.

 

[MidnightCamper]

Probably too far to drive to ditch the Rambler in Lake Mead.

 

[crashnburn]

Beautiful! (and jealous) Nothing more to say!

 

[Cheshire cat]

All white! Y'all look like a UN mission out there PM!

A friend of mine who works for a UN bomb disposal team out in Lebonon had a ride in my Grenadier. He said it reminded him of a military vehicle.

 

[Cheshire cat]

Goler Wash starts off with an alluvial fan, as any canyon road in Death Valley, and then you hit the canyon proper.
View attachment 7854212
View attachment 7854213
The roadbed is very good, having been recently graded by Inyo County.
The burros don't care for us a bit.
View attachment 7854214
Somehow, I miss the turn-off to Barker Ranch where Charles Manson gang was finally captured. Having been there, I can't say I am enamored with the place - it is a bit creepy, and there's too much trash around to camp. Skipping the Ranch likely saves us about 40 minutes, which is getting important.
Out of the narrows, the going doesn't get easier - the roadbed is dirt, with deep washouts and a few boulders here and there. Here's John working his way towards Mengel Pass:
View attachment 7854215
View attachment 7854216
Finally, we reach Mengel Pass. The sun's about to set behind the mountains in the West.
View attachment 7854217
The fun actually begins downhill from the pass. The Tundra, being the longest and widest of the group, has a good time working around the rocks.
View attachment 7854218
Grenadiers also have fun:
View attachment 7854219
View attachment 7854220
View attachment 7854221
Despite all that ground clearance, few skidplates came out unmolested.
Here, I hit an odd milestone:
View attachment 7854222
Finally, we're down in the valley. Striped Butte is far more scenic from that angle:
View attachment 7854223
Camping availability in the valley is always a chance deal. There are several cabins - all in good repair, clean, and perfectly suitable for camping - but all are taken. I share some beers with a group of bicyclists, and they point us towards the Russell Camp. That, too, has a cabin - or a few - which are not as inviting as the others, but there's some flat area for camping. We take time picking the spots; John and I remain at the bottom of the hill, while the rest of the group makes arrangements for tents and cooking in the "front yard" of the Camp.
The evening views from the camp are awesome.
View attachment 7854224
View attachment 7854225
We set up the camp - now's my second night sleeping in the Grenadier (which takes more time than setting up a tent). Dinner's in progress, and I make a total disaster of the rack of lamb.
Around 10 pm, a freak cold rainstorm hits us. We endure the elements hoping for it to go away, but it doesn't - so we turn in.

Fantastic pictures and words. I love the US parks and deserts. Very envious.

 

[Pat]

Grenadier Marketing department will be jealous.

 

[pmatusov]

Grenadier Marketing department will be jealous.

We aim to please

 

[pmatusov]

On a more-practical note: this was a rare case of four-wheeling when everybody just enjoyed nature. No broken shocks, no overheating engines, no sputtering motorcycles, no worries about fuel, no cut sidewalls. I have seen all of it on the exact route of this trip (especially sidewalls - on multiple late-year Land Rovers).
Of course, it is somewhat expected from a Toyota; it is a testament to John Lee's meticulous maintenance of his 110, and... to off-the-shelf Grenadiers' design and build. I used center and rear diff locks; unlike the earlier trips, they engaged and disengaged precisely when I wanted them to. Judging by the radio traffic, most of the group vacillated between high and low range - again, not a single issue or complaint.

 

[pmatusov]

Thank-you so much for all the photos. Surprising. No more mud left anywhere.

There was some. I must have grown out of my young years of blasting through mud puddles - I know that this mud will be in my eyes sooner or later when I work under the truck.

 

[[ Adam ]]

IS there any chance you guys would be willing to share gpx of this route - as someone who doesn't live out that way, I'd love to see all this majestic beauty, but it'd be a drive there, drive the route, drive home - time to explore would be limited.

Is that the spirit of an expedition exchange?