Warning: This story is only very loosely based on anything Jeep related.
For Christmas, my family lives in the UK and with my dog it’s not really practical to go anywhere. I wanted to get out of the city, every city I have ever lived in turns into a sort of ghost town over the holidays and it feels like it loses some of its energy which makes it special.
Death Valley had come up in conversations with friends and I’d never been there before. The weather looked decent, dealing with averages, and I got to planning. Using Google Earth I plotted my route, allowing for plenty of time as I went around.
With the plan down I decided to do a couple of small upgrades. I wanted to have a tablet which I could use for APRS, as well as loading on the data created in google earth to get GPS-like functionality. I could also use this as a general media device for things like Netflix or Kindle books. The previous owner already had spots for the RAM mounts - so it was an easy addition and with the build in ham radio I was quickly up and using APRSDroid to broadcast my location/send messages.
I wanted to have a couple of items for self recovery, I was doing this trip solo which was far from ideal, but it being Christmas week I was unsuccessful in roping people along. I bought two maxtrax and a “crazy beaver” shovel. I also added a “MountainHatch” to my trucks tailgate, this would make it easier to cook/prep meals if I did not have a dedicated table/campground.
Last, I found a beta for Gaia GPS floating around for iOS. This added CarPlay support which my truck had. I made sure to download this on my iPhone, which would provide to be an awesome addition to the trip!
Day One
I got a late start, I wasn’t feeling well the night before, and originally had planned to leave at about 5am. When 5am rolled around I felt like crap - I went back to bed until about 9am and felt a lot better. By the time I was good to go, packing more gear than I probably needed, it was 11am but I was determined to make a move on. I’m not going to claim the most precise of packing skills - I wanted to get on the road.
Due to the late start, there was a lot of traffic. I got stuck in over an hour and a half of bumper to bumper traffic and it rained nearly the whole way. By the time I got to Bakersfield it was dark and I still had another approximately four and a half hours to go. I decided to check for hotels and got a pet friendly place for my dog and I for the night in Ridgecrest, about two an a half hours from furnace creek visitor center - rain was forecasted in Death Valley for Monday. I decided to set up a basecamp and lay low Monday to see how the conditions would alter the trails I had been researching and getting reports from others about.
Day Two
I was up pretty early - it was raining so I wanted to wait for the light to hit the road in case of flooding or snow. There was a huge Walmart in Ridgecrest and I headed there for a few things I had forgotten or still needed. We headed out around 9.
Quickly going over a small pass I go a taste of the desert environment that would become very familiar in the coming days.
Before long I was at the entrance of the park.
This is not the Death Valley I was expecting…
Next, we had to go over the Towne pass to enter Death Valley. This pass is at about 4900 feet and it had started raining at the base. Unexpectedly it was snowing on the pass.
I am not sure how often the pass is snowy like this, but it sure had me by surprise! Nevertheless, we kept going to Furnace Creek Campground where I had planned on spending the night.
An hour or so later, I was there! This campground is one of the few reservation campgrounds in the park - and I didn’t have one. I asked the ranger if there was any available and he said there was some walk up ones but recommended Texas Springs campground - a first come first serve campground across the way. I am glad I took that advice - the whole campground was no generators, and had a lower and upper section. The lower section I stayed in was tent sites only which kept it pretty quiet and it had some bushes which allowed for some privacy and blocking of elements versus some of the parking-lot type campgrounds I had passed. Not bad views either! I was all set up by probably 1pm.
As I knew I only had light until about 4:30, with more rain coming, I decided to explore some of the backcountry roads - get a feel for their condition and most importantly get some exercise for the dog. We went down West Side Road which we would quickly return to. Man it was washboardy, I aired down just to save my spine! The first mile or so was pretty crowded due to there being a few pull off areas and salt which gave an effect almost like snow as well as beautiful mountain views. I explored for probably 45 minutes, turned around and found a pull of area to walk the dog along the road.
Dogs are generally not allowed on trails in Death Valley - but they area allowed along the backcountry roads so I used these a lot to get the dog some exercise a lot during the trip.
Heading back to camp, it was raining, I had brats during a quick pause in the rain and read inside the tent (My tent is huge but it really worked well on this trip, I spent a lot of time inside due to spotty weather).
Jersey quickly got comfy and we settled in the for night.
Day Three
We woke up around 5:30 ready for the day -
Due to the weather forecast my original plans of a nice loop were pretty much scrapped. I knew I really wanted to do Butte Valley, and I decided to go from the east as I was already over there. From there I would re access based upon the weather. I packed up camp and was on the road by 8 - there were a few things I wanted to see before leaving this area.
I headed down and saw bad water basin, I didn’t go far as I had the dog - not allowed on trails, but it was interesting looking up and seeing where sea level was on the cliffs.
Zoom in on the white sign
I also quickly got to devils golf course and natural bridge - although I could not go up to it due to having the dog with me.
From there I headed back to West Side road to begin my trip to Butte Valley, I was airing down to begin about 9:45am. It looked like a beautiful morning.
West side road was easy, flat no thrills dirt road, just washboard-y. I passed a few landmarks and cool ruins along the way and was quickly at Ashford Junction.
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After making lunch on my tailgate and taking a bit to stretch my legs - and make sure the dog got some fresh air, we were off up Warm Spring Road where the elevation started to increase. It wasn’t long up a still pretty easy road to reach Warm Springs Camp. I didn’t get out to explore the camp - there was another car there (although didn’t see anyone around) but took a few photos of the mine and moved on
Continuing on, I really started getting to what felt like a remote area - seeing multiple groups of burros and a coyote which ran right in front of me. As the afternoon drew in it started to get more overcast.
And then I started to enter Butte Valley and see the Striped Butte from the back side, with my destination the Geologist Cabin on the other side of the valley.
Getting close to Geologist Cabin I saw that the flag was up - someone was at home. I met a father and son from Poland which I would later go to and chat with a couple of hours that night. Very friendly bunch - they had been in Geologist Cabin the 23rd-25th and heading to Vegas next. They had rented a Jeep Wrangler Sahara JL, he said it was brand new when he got it from the rental place and had been staying in various cabins around Death Valley.
They were heading out to hike to the top of striped butte - I was heading to explore the other cabins while getting a shot of the striped butte in the brief bit of sun we had that afternoon.
First, I went to Russell camp to explore around. It was a huge complex! Way to big for just me
I decided to move on to Stella Camp by Greater View Spring, it seemed like a good size for just me - I had found my accommodations for the night and raised the flag.
I set up my cot (glad I was off the ground - apparently quite a few mice) and unloaded the truck. I was planning on repacking the truck so I unloaded everything so excuse the mess.
I took the dog for a walk around the backcountry roads before meeting the Polish back at Geologists for Christmas Eve dinner. Not a bad view!
I left the cabin probably about 7:30 to drive the short drive to Stella - the valley had some sporty obstacles and I occasionally lost traction so I always took it slow. I wanted to chill and do some reading and I was exhausted, after creating a fire in the wood burner I got an early night - it was cold at this 4400 ft elevation.
Day 4
Jersey was not very settled during the night - not sure if it was the cold, rodents or other animals but we woke up a few times in the night until finally getting out of bed around 7:30 just in time to catch a sunrise
I quickly packed up, I had planned to meet the Polish people one more time before we headed up for a Christmas breakfast. I took down the flag, made sure I signed the guest book. I left one of my beers for the next guest.
Farewell Stella! You did me well
We parted ways about 10, I took one more picture of the Butte in the sun, it really was amazing scenery and headed towards Mengel Pass, probably the hardest obstacle of the trip and one I was slightly worried about. I was glad that there was no snow the night before.
It wasn’t long until I was at the pass, going up it really wasn’t bad although was a bit sporty, I locked the rear axle and 4L and crawled right up it, at the turn I got slightly off camber, but reversed, picked a new line and Mengel pass was quickly behind me with a few new scrapes on my skids.
The road after Mengel Pass to the Barker Ranch was decently sporty - I got out a few times to pick lines and check where the trail went. Beautiful terrain all around.
Around noon I had reached Barker Ranch - it is famous for where the Manson Family was holed up and later arrested. Unfortunately, it had burned down in 2009 so it was mainly rubble. I figured this was as good a time as any to grab lunch.
With day light ticking - I decided to keep moving towards Ballarat until I reached Lotus mine - my first real mine so I took my time to get out and explore.
For Christmas, my family lives in the UK and with my dog it’s not really practical to go anywhere. I wanted to get out of the city, every city I have ever lived in turns into a sort of ghost town over the holidays and it feels like it loses some of its energy which makes it special.
Death Valley had come up in conversations with friends and I’d never been there before. The weather looked decent, dealing with averages, and I got to planning. Using Google Earth I plotted my route, allowing for plenty of time as I went around.
With the plan down I decided to do a couple of small upgrades. I wanted to have a tablet which I could use for APRS, as well as loading on the data created in google earth to get GPS-like functionality. I could also use this as a general media device for things like Netflix or Kindle books. The previous owner already had spots for the RAM mounts - so it was an easy addition and with the build in ham radio I was quickly up and using APRSDroid to broadcast my location/send messages.
I wanted to have a couple of items for self recovery, I was doing this trip solo which was far from ideal, but it being Christmas week I was unsuccessful in roping people along. I bought two maxtrax and a “crazy beaver” shovel. I also added a “MountainHatch” to my trucks tailgate, this would make it easier to cook/prep meals if I did not have a dedicated table/campground.
Last, I found a beta for Gaia GPS floating around for iOS. This added CarPlay support which my truck had. I made sure to download this on my iPhone, which would provide to be an awesome addition to the trip!
Day One
I got a late start, I wasn’t feeling well the night before, and originally had planned to leave at about 5am. When 5am rolled around I felt like crap - I went back to bed until about 9am and felt a lot better. By the time I was good to go, packing more gear than I probably needed, it was 11am but I was determined to make a move on. I’m not going to claim the most precise of packing skills - I wanted to get on the road.
Due to the late start, there was a lot of traffic. I got stuck in over an hour and a half of bumper to bumper traffic and it rained nearly the whole way. By the time I got to Bakersfield it was dark and I still had another approximately four and a half hours to go. I decided to check for hotels and got a pet friendly place for my dog and I for the night in Ridgecrest, about two an a half hours from furnace creek visitor center - rain was forecasted in Death Valley for Monday. I decided to set up a basecamp and lay low Monday to see how the conditions would alter the trails I had been researching and getting reports from others about.
Day Two
I was up pretty early - it was raining so I wanted to wait for the light to hit the road in case of flooding or snow. There was a huge Walmart in Ridgecrest and I headed there for a few things I had forgotten or still needed. We headed out around 9.
Quickly going over a small pass I go a taste of the desert environment that would become very familiar in the coming days.
Before long I was at the entrance of the park.
This is not the Death Valley I was expecting…
Next, we had to go over the Towne pass to enter Death Valley. This pass is at about 4900 feet and it had started raining at the base. Unexpectedly it was snowing on the pass.
I am not sure how often the pass is snowy like this, but it sure had me by surprise! Nevertheless, we kept going to Furnace Creek Campground where I had planned on spending the night.
An hour or so later, I was there! This campground is one of the few reservation campgrounds in the park - and I didn’t have one. I asked the ranger if there was any available and he said there was some walk up ones but recommended Texas Springs campground - a first come first serve campground across the way. I am glad I took that advice - the whole campground was no generators, and had a lower and upper section. The lower section I stayed in was tent sites only which kept it pretty quiet and it had some bushes which allowed for some privacy and blocking of elements versus some of the parking-lot type campgrounds I had passed. Not bad views either! I was all set up by probably 1pm.
As I knew I only had light until about 4:30, with more rain coming, I decided to explore some of the backcountry roads - get a feel for their condition and most importantly get some exercise for the dog. We went down West Side Road which we would quickly return to. Man it was washboardy, I aired down just to save my spine! The first mile or so was pretty crowded due to there being a few pull off areas and salt which gave an effect almost like snow as well as beautiful mountain views. I explored for probably 45 minutes, turned around and found a pull of area to walk the dog along the road.
Dogs are generally not allowed on trails in Death Valley - but they area allowed along the backcountry roads so I used these a lot to get the dog some exercise a lot during the trip.
Heading back to camp, it was raining, I had brats during a quick pause in the rain and read inside the tent (My tent is huge but it really worked well on this trip, I spent a lot of time inside due to spotty weather).
Jersey quickly got comfy and we settled in the for night.
Day Three
We woke up around 5:30 ready for the day -
Due to the weather forecast my original plans of a nice loop were pretty much scrapped. I knew I really wanted to do Butte Valley, and I decided to go from the east as I was already over there. From there I would re access based upon the weather. I packed up camp and was on the road by 8 - there were a few things I wanted to see before leaving this area.
I headed down and saw bad water basin, I didn’t go far as I had the dog - not allowed on trails, but it was interesting looking up and seeing where sea level was on the cliffs.
Zoom in on the white sign
I also quickly got to devils golf course and natural bridge - although I could not go up to it due to having the dog with me.
From there I headed back to West Side road to begin my trip to Butte Valley, I was airing down to begin about 9:45am. It looked like a beautiful morning.
West side road was easy, flat no thrills dirt road, just washboard-y. I passed a few landmarks and cool ruins along the way and was quickly at Ashford Junction.
After making lunch on my tailgate and taking a bit to stretch my legs - and make sure the dog got some fresh air, we were off up Warm Spring Road where the elevation started to increase. It wasn’t long up a still pretty easy road to reach Warm Springs Camp. I didn’t get out to explore the camp - there was another car there (although didn’t see anyone around) but took a few photos of the mine and moved on
Continuing on, I really started getting to what felt like a remote area - seeing multiple groups of burros and a coyote which ran right in front of me. As the afternoon drew in it started to get more overcast.
And then I started to enter Butte Valley and see the Striped Butte from the back side, with my destination the Geologist Cabin on the other side of the valley.
Getting close to Geologist Cabin I saw that the flag was up - someone was at home. I met a father and son from Poland which I would later go to and chat with a couple of hours that night. Very friendly bunch - they had been in Geologist Cabin the 23rd-25th and heading to Vegas next. They had rented a Jeep Wrangler Sahara JL, he said it was brand new when he got it from the rental place and had been staying in various cabins around Death Valley.
They were heading out to hike to the top of striped butte - I was heading to explore the other cabins while getting a shot of the striped butte in the brief bit of sun we had that afternoon.
First, I went to Russell camp to explore around. It was a huge complex! Way to big for just me
I decided to move on to Stella Camp by Greater View Spring, it seemed like a good size for just me - I had found my accommodations for the night and raised the flag.
I set up my cot (glad I was off the ground - apparently quite a few mice) and unloaded the truck. I was planning on repacking the truck so I unloaded everything so excuse the mess.
I took the dog for a walk around the backcountry roads before meeting the Polish back at Geologists for Christmas Eve dinner. Not a bad view!
I left the cabin probably about 7:30 to drive the short drive to Stella - the valley had some sporty obstacles and I occasionally lost traction so I always took it slow. I wanted to chill and do some reading and I was exhausted, after creating a fire in the wood burner I got an early night - it was cold at this 4400 ft elevation.
Day 4
Jersey was not very settled during the night - not sure if it was the cold, rodents or other animals but we woke up a few times in the night until finally getting out of bed around 7:30 just in time to catch a sunrise
I quickly packed up, I had planned to meet the Polish people one more time before we headed up for a Christmas breakfast. I took down the flag, made sure I signed the guest book. I left one of my beers for the next guest.
Farewell Stella! You did me well
We parted ways about 10, I took one more picture of the Butte in the sun, it really was amazing scenery and headed towards Mengel Pass, probably the hardest obstacle of the trip and one I was slightly worried about. I was glad that there was no snow the night before.
It wasn’t long until I was at the pass, going up it really wasn’t bad although was a bit sporty, I locked the rear axle and 4L and crawled right up it, at the turn I got slightly off camber, but reversed, picked a new line and Mengel pass was quickly behind me with a few new scrapes on my skids.
The road after Mengel Pass to the Barker Ranch was decently sporty - I got out a few times to pick lines and check where the trail went. Beautiful terrain all around.
Around noon I had reached Barker Ranch - it is famous for where the Manson Family was holed up and later arrested. Unfortunately, it had burned down in 2009 so it was mainly rubble. I figured this was as good a time as any to grab lunch.
With day light ticking - I decided to keep moving towards Ballarat until I reached Lotus mine - my first real mine so I took my time to get out and explore.
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