I've reached a new low.

If you are the sensitive type, stop reading now. Thick-skinned riders, read on.

On 11-12-13 I left my house at 5am on my way to Death Valley. I've always wanted to visit this park, but never got around to it.
Checked the weather the night before. It was supposed to be 85° F, so I was in for a very nice day of riding. Nothing to report between my house and Baker, other than I was getting very cold and made Barstow my first stop of the day for a cup of coffee.

When I arrived at Baker I was still cold, it started getting warmer after I was on the 127 closer to the park's perimeter.

Didn't take me long to notice that the views are amazing, the roads are almost empty with nice long sweepers, tight hairpins, and a few switchbacks. Didn't take me long either to realize that the road can be in rough conditions, and that just when I wanted to lean and power out of a turn, the road can be full of gravel, sand and/or rocks the size of a baseball in some places. Besides, the reason I was there for was to absorb and enjoy the views, take a few photos and just make it an all-day riding event.

To get to the lowest part of the park I got on the 178 from the 127 just past Shoshone, at the south end of the Amargosa range A few miles west on the 178 I was greeted by the sign marking the park's boundary. I snapped a few pictures of the sign there and also of the flower "desert gold" including a few selfies. Salsberry pass has an elevation of 3315 ft and just about 25 miles west the Jubilee pass is at 1290 ft.


mofo says "hi"



From Ashford mill (an abandoned mine) to north of Furnace Creek, the elevation varies between 400 ft. above sea level, to 282 below sea level at badwater basin, the lowest spot in North America.

It doesn't take long to notice that high winds are part of the area, as is the absence of rain. Death Valley is known as the lowest, driest and hottest spot in the USA, and the hottest in the world with the record of 134.1° on July 10th of 1913.

From the south end of the Amargosa range, at Ashford mill, the salt flats run for many miles. Across the vast, salty plains the Panamint range, with its famous telescope peak, at 11.049 ft. above sea level, runs the length of the entire park.

My first long break was at badwater basin, at 282 ft. below sea level. It was here that I reached my new low in the USA. walked a few hundred feet on the salty basin. The water on this basin is 5 times saltier than ocean water.






Had a few conversations with park visitors, a couple riding a Honda Goldwing, took lots of photos and chatted with a park ranger about the park and its origins. Also got advice on road conditions, places to avoid and places not to be missed.
Interesting fluvial landforms run along the route of the valley floor. Some visible at low scale, some visible across the mountain ranges.

Further north of badwater basin, artist drive is on the right. It's a winding road leading to amazing views, one wants to stop every couple hundred feet and snap some pictures. The main attraction is called "artists pallete" different layers of color, textures and shapes make this spot one to always come back to and enjoy again.













So much for the promised temperature of 85° F high. It's about noon, I'm still riding with a base layer under my jeans, a waterproof jacket under my riding jacket and my warm gloves when I arrived at Furnace Creek, thermometer reads 59° at the visitor center, I'll be going to higher grounds after here, and looks like I better keep riding with those garments on. Plus, the sun has hardly broken out, it's been cloudy all day and even though Death Valley is the driest place in the USA, I have already gotten a few raindrops on my visor. Not sure if I should feel special, blessed or baptized on this ride.








Had lunch at Furnace Creek ranch, talked to a few riders, visited the borax museum, paid my park fees and filled the tank up for the ride out of the valley.

The road takes me north on the 190, gradually start to climb the Panamint Range and leave Death Valley's basin.

Crossed the Panamint Range and the road takes me into the Panamint Valley. The road is well taken care of, has many turns, switchbacks and a couple of hairpins. I can see the road leading down to the valley, and can also see it at it goes up the Inyo mountains and a little further west, the sierra Nevada range.

As I descend into the Panamint valley, I can see white clouds lingering in the air. Too small and low, too thin and light to be rain clouds, but too far away from any city to be considered smog. No idea what those are until I hit the valley floor and saw the F-15's? doing a low and slow flyover. All of a sudden, they accelerate and turn in the air heading north, climb vertically and nose-dive into the ground, they repeat the same maneuver as they head south. I later realized they must be planes from China lake, a naval air weapons station nearby.

On the same road and climbing the Inyo mountains, I see the road announcing that I'm leaving Death Valley. A very good mix of sun and clouds make for a dramatic view of the rainbow canyon, it adds a somewhat enigmatic touch exploiting landforms and mountain ranges on my right that it would a shame not to stop again and snap a few more pictures of the valley I'm leaving behind but vow to come back again.

The road can be seen on the lower left ^^^




Had to stop at the 190 and the 136 intersection just in front of Owens lake. I was at about 5k ft. high and getting really cold, snapped a few last pictures and put even more layers on for the ride home on the 395 south.




All in all, I had a great day riding. Not extremely cold, not hot and definitely not raining, I had gotten wet if it did rain and my rain gear would've been nice and dry at home.

14 hours, 600 miles, lots of pictures taken, lots of facts learned, lots of sights and unbelievable scenery is a great day on the saddle.

 

Thanks for sharing Mofo :thumbsup:
I am due for a trip back to DV
DV is a magical place especially at night

 

Thanks for the ride report and the great pics. That will definitely be a stop for me next year either going to or from the west coast. Thanks!

 

Awesome! thanks for sharing with us!

 

Thank you for the trip report. I always enjoy reading these reports. A trip through Death Valley may not be that unreasonable for me when I come down to R3 next May. We will see. I live below sea level too but not 200 some odd feet. It is only at quite high tide we are below.

 

-282' pfffft....:tongue-new:

At least your viz is better and you get to ride the bike lol.

Nice report thanks for sharing.

 

Let me know if you want to stop by. Or I we can meet somewhere and share a meal. I'm always up for meeting other riders.

 

Looks awesome. Thx for sharing.

 

You should do it, pictures just don't do justice. Very good riding from R3 to DV, and definitely great weather that time of the year.

 

End of May can be a bit warm in DV, cooler if you hit higher elevation......

 

Randy we ought to try and meet up and ride the valley together out to R3.

 

Great post. Thanks.

 

If I do DV, it will be on the return. I want to see if I can do the Canada - Mexico Iron Butt again. Last time was unsuccessful. If I go to R# in 2014, I want to head from there to Manitoba after so DV is not far out of the way.

 

Well done ! :clap2: Worthy of posting on some other bike sites too for various stuck-at-home lads to enjoy. :congratulatory:

Dija see any squirrels on your ride ? :courage:



Or like this, a Mohave ground squirrel...... ...affectionately called Snuggles. :couple_inlove:

 

I saw some roadkill, stopped, inspected it and smelled it. No, no ordinary roadkill, that was a skunk! almost puked.
Seriously now, did not see any animals, I was the only one walking on badwater basin surrounded by these people called tourists. I've seen plenty of squirrels while riding Highway 1, aka Big Sur from Cambria to Monterrey.

Feel free to post the link on whatever sites you see fit.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Nice thread.
Thanks for sharing, would love to do that trip, but seems a bit to far away from Canada.

 

From your part of Canada yes. Me? very doable.

 

Depends. Western Igloo to eastern Igloo is at least a two day trip with a 6 dog team. But if you get 8 of my personally fathered hand raised Part wolf and part husky sled dog, fed only Inuit raised polar bear seals from Churchill Manitscolditoldyou, use my patented sleds constructed of recycled Tourmaster Jackets, you might just get the trip done in a very long day.

 

Funny for me to see this since it's pretty much in my backyard and we often do easy day trips to DV. If you make it out again, go to Dante's Peak. It is a decent road to get there with some twisties at the top. You end up looking over BadWater and the people that you were just walking with look like ants you are so high. I don't know what the elevation is, but it's just a funny thing to go from so far below sea level to so high above sea level within about an hour... glad you had fun on your adventure. If you make another DV trip, let me know. If I can I will meet you out there. I actually met one of Reg71's friends out there, quite by mistake. I was getting back on my bike and I hear this voice say "Hey do you know Reggie?!!" It was William, a guy that had been at R3 a couple years before. We chatted, took some pictures and went our separate ways with our respective groups. What are the chances of meeting someone you know in the middle of Death Valley, unplanned? LOL!! March/April is a nice time to go because the desert is in bloom... which isn't really much, but the desert floor is filled with little yellow flowers, and it looks like a yellow carpet... Actually my Avatar pic was taken out in DV in the springtime. You can kinda see the yellow "carpet" in the distance...