Death Valley Trip Report - October 21-27
I’d forgotten how much fun it is driving down I-5 to Bakersfield. NOT. Wow that is a boring stretch of road. Now try it in a 37-year-old vintage Toyota Land Cruiser. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I arrived in Ridgecrest Wednesday night for my last night sleeping in a regular bed and a morning shower. After some emails and texts with Bruce, we soon discovered all of us who were driving Pleasant Canyon the next day were staying in Ridgecrest. We all met up the next morning at the gas station across the road from my hotel and bumped elbows, exchanged names, topped off our fuel tanks and we were off to Ballarat.
Most of the drive was on the highway, then as we turned onto a dirt road, we all aired down our tires and proceeded to Ballarat and checked out the little ghost town with a jail and quite a few donkeys hanging around.
The Pleasant Canyon was a very fun drive, and my introduction to the group, and the technique for spotting when we got to some tough spots such as “chicken rock”. I’ll admit with a significant drop off to the right side of the road, when being directed through chicken rock and Bruce pointed for me to go right, I didn’t do it. I mentioned it to him later and he laughed and said when Vidas also directed him to the right, he didn’t do it either.
However, from then on I followed the spotters instructions as they clearly had a better view of what was happening under my tires and differentials than I did. While Bruce looked like he was directing a 747 into the gate, his directions were very easy to follow. Straight up, a little to one side to turn the wheels, then even more to make it a sharp turn.
Instead of detailing each day, a broad stroke description actually matches the scenery. I was amazed at the vastness of the park, in addition to Death Valley. We went over and through several mountain ranges, and a big beautiful valley would open up before us. Then we’d go over another mountain range and there was another, and then another, spectacular views. Some of these areas had no paved roads, so its clear very view tourists get to most of what we saw on this trip.
The severity of the off-road routes varied. Some sections would have been passable by a 2-wheel drive truck, but most needed 4-wheel drive, and of course there were a handful of more difficult sections where a spotter was very helpful to get through unscathed.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this trip as it relates to the pandemic. I felt very safe the whole trip. Obviously when in my own truck there was lots of social distance. The times we stopped for lunch or to look in an abandoned mine, Charles Manson’s hideout, or to survey and spot though a tough section, everyone kept a decent distance and there was usually a light breeze to a stiff wind blowing.
While I’d say we relaxed our caution a bit over the trip, we all camped separately, fixed our own meals separately, and no campfire to sit around and chat, which we all missed. I changed that a little Saturday night when I fired up my old school white gas Coleman lantern. After we’d all had dinner, we got together in a big circle with plenty of social distance around the lantern and talked until we got cold. Sunday night Bruce, Patrick, Joe and I, with the wind blowing like stink, did that again because we just couldn’t go to bed at 7:30 even though it was dark. So with beer and cocktails, warm jackets, gloves and fleece hats, we sat around the Colman lantern, swapping jokes and solving world problems until close to 11PM, with the wind getting worse and worse.
It was an interesting Sunday night for sure. We’d been warned by the camp host that the wild donkeys in the area would destroy our camp if we left anything out. I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical, but at the same time I packed up any extra gear into the back of my truck, as did Patrick and Joe who were right next to me, and went to bed with the wind howling, shaking my tent like it was a prank. Dust and silt were blowing up and under the rain fly to the mesh netting of the main tent, which then filtered down all over everything in the tent. What a mess. As you might imagine sleep was sporadic with the tent shaking, so I was awake at 2:30AM when I heard a loud growl right outside my tent. My first thought - that doesn’t sound like a donkey. You’ll laugh, but I loudly growled back, and hit the side of my tent. It was blowing around so much I doubt the animal could tell I did that, and then it growled again, and it sounded within a few feet from my tent. So of course I growled back again even louder, and then laughed at myself. There was no more growling and I got back asleep when a little after 3AM, extremely loud HEE-HAWING started up by a number of donkeys who were clearly right in our camp between me and Patrick & Joe. It was a bit unnerving because they were so close, but it was also pretty darn funny. Fortunately that didn’t last too long and I was able to get back to sleep again. The wind had lightened a little by morning, but was still blowing as we all packed up our tents and gear ready for our last day of the journey.
Last but not least was the weather and temperature. Overall, we had fantastic weather with blue skies and a few clouds. It was hot during the day the first couple of days, with comfortable cooler temps at night to sleep. Friday afternoon when we arrived at the Visitor Center to pay for entry into the park it was pretty hot at 97 degrees, but it was a dry heat. Saturday night we were in sweatshirts and jackets around the lantern. Monday after the big wind storm overnight, we stopped for lunch which we always ate outside, but we all got back into our rigs to eat because it was pretty cold. Bruce’s Jeep has an onboard thermometer which read 27 degrees, along with a very stiff wind.
It was an epic trip. Bruce and Vidas did a great job planning and leading the group. It was a great group of people and lots of fun. I’d not only highly recommend others to participate if they host it again next year, I would go again in a heartbeat.
Rye Livingston
1983 BJ42 Toyota Land Cruiser