Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Up and down the saline pass in 2wd today. It’s definitely muddy, rocky and washed out. It’s really chunky down by the lippincott turn off… added some nice dents to my trailing arms and completely killed a set of new rear tires in 2 days

 

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@81Trekker did all the group go over saline pass?

 

Yes, no problems. We definitely cleared the trail

 

Whoever posted my info on the SPA forum should be careful sharing that info with those folks. The last thing I want people to do is read that 2wd trucks went up and down south pass no problem and think they can do it. I would not advise that a 4wd Tacoma attempt it right now. There are huge washouts, holes and big rocks everywhere that will destroy most vehicles and potentially leave people stranded.

 

I shared that info other there, as they generally like to keep tabs on the conditions. I made it clear in my post that you guys had pretty beefy vehicles and that general passability shouldn't be expected. We get info shared here on a regular basis from their forum; seems reasonable to return the favor.

On a side note, I'm impressed that you even knew about it, I always envisioned it as a lightly travelled site with a rather different user base than TW!

 

I’m all for sharing the info, I just want to make sure nobody gets themselves in over their head.

Obviously most guys on this forum understand the type of trucks we took through there, I’d just fear people that don’t understand will see that 2wd trucks went though and think they can do it too.

 

Hopefully my description over there helps to alleviate your concern. Happy to delete it or update it if you'd prefer. Or you can even reply!

 

Add another site to my bookmarks.

 

@81Trekker seeing you and your crew ripping up daylight pass had me grinning like an 8 year old. My GF just rolled her eyes lol.
We were on our way back to the park after going to Rhyolite.

 

No need to delete it! I just don’t want people to get stranded. We met a couple that had been stuck down in the hot springs for over a month! We gave them all the food, snacks and drinks we had before we left and told them it’s going to be awhile before they can drive their van out of there

 

That’s awesome! Now time to clean up this mess!

 

Nice to see updates on DV road conditions. I will pile on. We entered park 3/15 through the escape route / Fish Canyon, up Goler Wash, Butte Valley and through Warm Springs Canyon. Roads were clear and pretty dry. Went up past the falls on Echo. Nothing to add to @essjay’s Echo report except the wind was ice cold up top, and the designated camp spots were all occupied and right on the road. Went to Warm Springs via Ubehebe, Racetrack, Lippencott, and Saline Road. No washboard out to Racetrack. Lippencott was the same as last year. The bottom of Lippencott and Saline Road towards the warm springs had some cross washes that’ll catch your attention if you don’t slow down. Drove out over South Pass yesterday. Not much snow left when we went through. No boulders in road. A few places the downhill side washed out leaving a narrow but still drivable road without need for bridging. These washout locations could change quickly with more rain.

We also gave nearly all our remaining food and beer to a gentleman in a Subaru who had been stranded at the warm springs for some time, over a month IIRC. He has been getting food from people driving and flying to the springs, so he was in great spirits, but ready to leave when conditions allow.

 

I'll add my $.02 just to add to the overall trail conditions.

I was on the southern side of West Side Rd on 3/17 and It was all ok till roughly 1 mile past the Warm Springs Rd junction (headed NW) where I decided it was better to turn around. Water all the way across the road as far as I could see with half burned all terrain tires, stock drivetrain, and no friends to winch/pull. Pussed out instead of getting stranded.

 

How was mengel?

 

Smooth sailing for us

 

As @81Trekker said, no issues. Lower down Goler it appeared to have been graded recently. Could have just been sand washed down covering up rocks below. Either way, smooth. After eastbound trip over Mengel, I turned around and climbed westbound as well. Also no problem. Couldn’t help myself on first test after 4WD swap.

 

We managed to sneak in a couple nice days the start of last week. Sunday afternoon and Monday were delightful weather and we did some nice hikes. We camped in Marble Canyon. Sunday at around 3p all the sites in Echo and Hole In The Wall were taken except for E1 (the closest to the pavement in Echo, very exposed site). Appeared that Sunday night there were still a few spots open in Marble and Cottonwood. The drive into the last site in Marble (the one we chose) is a bit over 25 minute each way from the pavement (and I do not drive slow) so that is probably a bit of a deterrent to many folks! Cottonwood and Marble were well graded at the time (but see below, likely not any more) though the ranger said the later parts of Cottonwood which we didn't drive were pretty rough.

I have to say I think I'm a convert on the permits for roadside camping along the busier roads. The sites are well spaced out to ensure you actually are "alone" as it were. There are still plenty of road side opportunities that don't require permits if they fill up or your first night schedule doesn't accommodate stopping by the VC in time to get a permit site. Ranger said system seemed to be working quite well but that of course they've gotten some push back from some folks.

Tuesday we were going to do a hike near the south end of Badwater Road. On the drive down we could see the Panamints getting a lot of rain. We started the hike, but once up the fan and about to enter the canyon we could see a continuous wall of rain to the south coming for us. Deciding discretion to be the better part of valor, we opted to end our hike and head down to SoCal a bit earlier than planned. The rain started on us around Jubilee Pass and was pretty much continuous all the way to the coast (and continued well into the night down there). That afternoon the NPS closed Cottonwood and Marble. Given how much rain we saw the Panamints taking before we even left I have to assume the Marble and Cottonwood drainages got more than enough to wash out the road through the narrows if nothing else (still listed closed this morning).

 

Awesome, glad you got a couple days in.

I've been looking for Marble and Cottonwood to open up but must have missed them being open! Oh well, I've very much enjoyed the eastern Panamints this winter.

How were the flowers, if any? They were just starting on our last trip (end of Feb) and while there's no superbloom this year, I can imagine that this may be the height of them. I've also heard that they can be quite nice up on the alluvial fan where you turned around out of an abundance of caution. I'm curious as well - was there a road up the alluvial fan, or were you parked on the side of Badwater? I've got one of each down there that I'm itching to do; some neat stuff to be seen well into those canyons!

 

Few flowers out. Looks to be a very average season as far as flowers, but a very green season as far as vegetation in general goes.

Just parked on the side of Badwater, not the fan with a road. I need to spend more time doing the southern part of the valley as well.