In 25 years of wheeling, I don’t think I’ve ever had to start off a trip story with these words before, but for those members of the Trail Crew and invited guests that wimped out on last weekend’s trip to Saline Valley, YOU ARE A BUNCH OF LOSERS! We took a BIG chance on the weather, but the payoff was nothing short of PHENOMENAL!
When Saline had been put on the table as a travel destination at our November calendering meeting, I immediately perked up at the chance to do some desert wheeling to some world-class hot springs. Of course as the time approached, and storm after storm battered the left coast and left Death Valley under several inches of snow, I have to admit the enthusiasm was dampened. Reports on the Internet just two days before we left said roads in were still impassible. Friday morning, I had just one rig joining me.
Now I do have to take a step back there and say that I chose to head out early because I like to drive a little slower than the pack when I’m in the 45. My buddy was pulling a military trailer, so he was also inclined to leave early. The MLK weekend traffic was already in full swing at 2pm and we had people passing us on the right shoulder aka the fast lane to hell.
As we made our way up the Owens Valley temps quickly dropped, and we were forced into long johns by 6pm. Touched base with our illustrious trip leader Joe Somerville by cellphone around 7pm only to find that his ‘group’ had also dwindled to just two rigs, and the other one wasn’t there. Finally, Joe had to turn around and go back down to Santa Clarita to ‘rescue’ Ross Kuzma from his electrical gremlins. He reported back at 9pm that they were roadbound with an 11:30pm ETA. We opted to save our manlyness for the next day’s adventure and checked into a local hotel. We agreed to meet at the trailhead at 9:30 Saturday morning.
By 10:15 Joe and Ross had not materialized, so we left them the ubiquitous pie plate and headed up the road. About 10 miles in, we stared seeing snow on the side of the road. By 12 miles, the snow was right up to the road. By 14, I was breaking fresh snow that had not been tracked. I was momentarily startled when I stopped to consider that in 25 years of wheeling, I don’t think I had ever been the lead vehicle on a snow run. I finally managed to bury the open diffed 45 in a 2 foot drift. While Ken and I were playing around with his winch, Ross and Joe showed up, and we made quick work of unsticking the 45. Got stuck in one more drift right at the Hunter Mountain turnoff [a million thanks to Joe and his GPS for helping me avoid a serious miscalculation here] and we were down into the valley.

[Now off to work. Part 2 of 3 to continue tonight]

Yeah Baby!

back in my element:

Looks like fun! I can't wait to see/hear the rest of your write-up!

are those golfclubs in the back? ;)

.
We opted to save our manlyness for the next day’s adventure and checked into a local hotel.

Got stuck in one more drift right at the Hunter Mountain turnoff [a million thanks to Joe and his GPS for helping me avoid a serious miscalculation here] and we were down into the valley.

[Now off to work. Part 2 of 3 to continue tonight]

Local motel, with Olancha Dunes right there?!?!

Limited snow in Grapevine Canyon? I would have never guessed it.

Good job!

OOOHHHHH>>> :bounce:
I am SO looking forward to my trip out there next week.

What pass did you take in? South PAss? North PAss? Lippencott or Steele Pass?

hey mark! that pic looks like your POS got stuck in 6 inches of snow! :laughing:

put some bigger meats on that 45 already! and i want pics of the finished "covered wagon" project.

Now I have to back up for a minute. While Ken and I were having dinner in Lone Pine, I told him about an old cruiserhead friend of mine that had moved to Mammoth and worked at the local Napa store. Later, when we were nursing a couple of cups of coffee in Olancha's only restaurant, waiting to hear from the rest of our group, the waitress came over and told us she was a member of the Eastern Sierra 4wd club. I asked her if she knew my friend in Mammoth, and her eyes immediately lit up. Next thing you know, our coffee was free. Cruiser karma.

A second round of kudos goes out to Joe for 'selflessly' volunteering to take the lead across the normally dusty valley floor from South Pass in the only weathertight vehicle in our group! With regular call backs on the CB, I managed to avoid several deep ruts in the road that Joe unfortunately did not. When we pulled into the hot springs, you'd have thought we were the rescuers coming to Gilligan's Island, as all 10 people that were already at the springs wasted no time in coming over to ask how we had managed to get into the valley. They were very excited to know that the South Pass road was now open because of us.

Saturday night we had a healthy dose of margaritas, compliments of Ken's CO2 powered blender. Two other campers came over to our campfire and we went thru a litany of songs. Not a kumbayah was heard! The weather was a perfect 60 degrees in the midday, with a breeze that never exceeded 5 mph. [NO there is NOT a zero missing from that figure!] Night time temps got down to about 40, which was way better than the 26 degrees we experienced in Lone Pine Friday night. Sunday, we got in a nice long hike to the 'Source' and I got to try out the new walking stick [see Red Rock thread last March].

THen it was back for even more margaritas, and even louder campfires, as I had also brought in 6 crates of firewood [gotta love the 45lwb for that kind of stuff] When the campfire didn't seem quite warm enough, it was back into the hot tubs for a midnight dunk. Didn't end up using the bows for a shelter, as there was a little too much moisture in the night air [imagine that!] Used the tent I got from dd113 instead. Still found out that the bows make for a good towel rack and lantern holder [see pic]

Of course Monday morning came too soon, and we couldn't think of any more reasons to stay. We'd burned all the wood, and drank all the tequila, so we took one last dunk and packed it up. We didn't know what was in store for us next.

Right on Mark. Glad to hear you guys made it in. I'm gonna have to get out there within the next couple months in the LV. Home Sweet Home. :D

I missed how the 10 people who were already at the hot springs had gotten in there themselves (and without Cruisers:D)

I missed how the 10 people who were already at the hot springs had gotten in there themselves (and without Cruisers:D)

Some of them had been there since before New Years! The springs are such an awesome destination, many people stay there for a week or two, and a few hardy souls will stay for months. Some years back, the Park Service installed a small airstrip, and once in a while, someone actually flys in. It is customary when you visit to bring a little extra, and if you see something is needed [bleach for the tubs, tp for the vault toilets, a little something for Lizard Lee the caretaker...you leave it.

Of the four of us, Ken was the only one wearing a watch. Ross, Joe and I had already managed the transition to hot-tub time, a desert phenomenon that, if you have not been there, you might not understand. So when Ken’s watch told him it was time to go, he packed up and left. Kind of.

We had previously agreed that we would take Steele Pass out of the valley as a change of pace over leaving thru the south. I had heard about Marble Bath and the ‘steps’ before and was curious to see them. I knew that Ken had not been thru the route either, so when he came over to the tubs, I said I would accompany him. Five minutes later, we were headed up the 12 mile wash to the mouth of the canyon.

Everything posted about how hard it is to keep to the track in the dark is true. It seems like every storm must move the rocks around just enough to make the track vague. I kept the pace slow to avoid miststeps, and sure enough, Joe and Ross caught up to us before we reached the climb into the canyon. I graciously relinquished the lead to Joe, which may have turned out to be fortuitous.

Joe knew where the turnoff for the bath was, so we parked and walked up. There was a good amount of snow on the north facing hillsides, and I grabbed a handful on the walk up just for the sheer novelty.

Now I don’t know the whole story about how the bathtub got there, but it seemed to fall somewhere between a novelty and an artifact, with an unknown amount of karma. This is Joe testing his karma.

This is Joe 5 minutes later

Joe had mysteriously punctured the sidewall on BOTH his left side tires! On the same rock! :eek: We looked at this rock again and again over the course of the next hour, while we were plugging one tire successfully [with Ken’s patch kit] plugging the other one [not so well] and finally resorting to using Ross’s spare which wouldn’t fit over the 80s rear calipers, but BARELY fit over the front. Try as we might, we couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation as to how this rock accomplished such a feat in the manner that it did. The speculation will continue. [note: in the pic, the cut is at 12 o clock]

Needless to say Joe’s trail speed was now ‘tempered’. We made our way to the steps, which actually required our full attention to traverse, then it was on to the Eureka Dunes and the long climb over the White Mountains back to 395.

The snow at the North Pass road into Saline was about 3 feet deep. Simply amazing. Only the occasional Joshua Tree and pinyon could pierce the white sheet of this desert miracle. The 45 had such a hard time making the climb, I felt too guilty to stop and take any pics. Hopefully, one of my speedier bretheren documented this spectacle.

Needless to say Joe’s trail speed was now ‘tempered’. We made our way to the steps, which actually required our full attention to traverse, then it was on to the Eureka Dunes and the long climb over the White Mountains back to 395.


Was there any snow going over Steele pass?
The route I am going to take next week is going to be Salt Lake - vegas -scottys junction - Eureka dunes - steele pass - Saline Valley

No snow on the actual trail, but a small amount still left on either side of it in the valley between the steps and Marble Bath. It's prolly gone by now.

:)

Right on Mark. Glad to hear you guys made it in. I'm gonna have to get out there within the next couple months in the LV. Home Sweet Home. :D
You better give me a call. I got a Guinness with your name on it.
The last trip out there was a blast but needed a Cruiser to off set the Rovers:)

You better give me a call. I got a Guinness with your name on it.
The last trip out there was a blast but needed a Cruiser to off set the Rovers:)

Hey Kevin, How you doing? I'll be giving you a call. With all this talk of the Valley, I'm jonesin' in a BIG way to get out there. Gonna call your pops tomorrow about some fabrication I need done.

Oh, and the traditional welcome. :flipoff2:

kind of sounds like rising sun's first annual outlaws run...lots of people expressed interest...in the end, only four vehicles...we had a blast!!!

kind of sounds like rising sun's first annual outlaws run...lots of people expressed interest...in the end, only four vehicles...we had a blast!!!

4 vehicles is the perfect # for a trip out.

Sounds good. I went up to Snowflake on the last trip. Lots of slides across the road that tilt you out toward the valley. Nice pucker factor.

Gene, I don't think there's enough Dow Corning in SoCal to hold that LV together thru a Saline trip :eek: :D

Keep me posted. :smokin:

Hey Mark... :flipoff2:

Hey gene,

Here are a few pics from or last outing to Saline. We had a pretty good trip since we didn't have any Cruisers to slow us down :flipoff2:

awsome pics mark.. ive never been to death valley but ive been snowed on in red rock canyon in mojave before as well as las vegas... seeing snow in the desert is truely an experiance... wheeling in it seems to draw out the "inner child".. :p neat to see Gods work in action. makes for a memorable trip.... glad to see you guys had fun and im looking forward to "the rest of the story" :D


bty, the towel rack looks nice!


chris :goofball:

Nice pics.

HWere is this? The Lippencott road?
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=168613

That is the Snowflake Mine Road. Here is a shot taken of the road from the upper springs.

That is the Snowflake Mine Road. Here is a shot taken of the road from the upper springs.

IS the snowflake mine still in operation?.
I guess it was reopened in 1994.
The road is posted as being private in a book on death valley I am reading.

No signs when we were there. I was there prior to and after 1994 and it looks the same. No active mining going on. Back in the 1960's my uncles brother, Bill Mann owned it and mined it for a period. It does not look like it has seen activity since then.

From what I heard from Dave Rogers (owner of Doris Dee, White, & Gray Eagle mines in the valley) Snowflake mine was an engineering nightmare. To the point that a tunnel was dug under the main platform for the pulley/ motor/trans, and the whole thing collapsed. I haven't seen any signs of life on Snowflake since 1988, oh, except for hundreds of bats.

No signs when we were there. I was there prior to and after 1994 and it looks the same. No active mining going on. Back in the 1960's my uncles brother, Bill Mann owned it and mined it for a period. It does not look like it has seen activity since then.

Bill Mann. I have some of his books. Sure woulda like to hear some of his stories.

Also in Saline. Luxurious, eh?

Is that the Wolfman's cabin near the springs?

Is that an attached outhouse on the right? Very luxurious.:D