driving death valley...???

[GreyZuk]

Is it possible to drive from one end of death valley to the other end entirely off road? North to south that is?

[lttlbddy]

The West Side Road take you most of the way. You can take a dirt road outside of Baker North, then jog on the pavement for a mile or 2, then hit the West Side Road for a long way. I can't remember how far it will get you before you need to hit pavement.

I'll have to check my maps tomorrow and I post up.

[OlMan]

Here, this should help you out:

http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/maps.htm

[OTR]

Originally Posted by lttlbddy

The West Side Road take you most of the way. You can take a dirt road outside of Baker North, then jog on the pavement for a mile or 2, then hit the West Side Road for a long way. I can't remember how far it will get you before you need to hit pavement.

I'll have to check my maps tomorrow and I post up.

The simple answer is no.

The complicated answer is you can drive mostly dirt in the "park" but not in Death Valley proper.

The west side road ends south of Furnace Creek, so youd be on pavement until you got north of Scottys Castle as there are no dirt roads heading north from the north end of west side until north of Scottys.

If you dont mind leaving the park and valley, it is mostly possible with less than 50 miles of pavement. Its a few more miles of pavement to stay in Death Valley, but you'd see more of the park leaving the valley.

Head north on 127 out of Baker and take the Harry Wade road (dirt) into the park. Drive the few miles of pavement to the West side road, take it to Warm Springs Canyon. Take Warm Springs over Mengle, down Goler (leave the park), to Wingate road, head north to Ballarat.

From Ballarat head north on Indian Ranch to Trona-Wildrose road (paved). Turn onto Panamint Valley (paved) road and head north to 190, you will re-enter the park a few miles before 190. Take 190 west to Saline Valley road, turn north. You're shortly back on dirt (check conditions for snow closures).

From here, there are several options to head north. You can stay north on SV road, head over Hunter Mountain (check conditions for snow closures) into Hidden Valley and the racetrack, go up SV road to Lippencott, and east to the racetrack and up to Scottys, up SV road to Steel Pass and into Eureka valley, etc...

Maps are your friend.
There are several maps that are good. The best are the "Desert Access Guides" published by the USGS for the BLM and NPS. For DV only, the "Tom Harrison" map is much better than the online and handout "park" maps.

Where ever you go leave an itinerary with someone.



k.

[Albin]

Originally Posted by OTR

The simple answer is no.

The complicated answer is you can drive mostly dirt in the "park" but not in Death Valley proper.

The west side road ends south of Furnace Creek, so youd be on pavement until you got north of Scottys Castle as there are no dirt roads heading north from the north end of west side until north of Scottys.

If you dont mind leaving the park and valley, it is mostly possible with less than 50 miles of pavement. Its a few more miles of pavement to stay in Death Valley, but you'd see more of the park leaving the valley.

Head north on 127 out of Baker and take the Harry Wade road (dirt) into the park. Drive the few miles of pavement to the West side road, take it to Warm Springs Canyon. Take Warm Springs over Mengle, down Goler (leave the park), to Wingate road, head north to Ballarat.

From Ballarat head north on Indian Ranch to Trona-Wildrose road (paved). Turn onto Panamint Valley (paved) road and head north to 190, you will re-enter the park a few miles before 190. Take 190 west to Saline Valley road, turn north. You're shortly back on dirt (check conditions for snow closures).

From here, there are several options to head north. You can stay north on SV road, head over Hunter Mountain (check conditions for snow closures) into Hidden Valley and the racetrack, go up SV road to Lippencott, and east to the racetrack and up to Scottys, up SV road to Steel Pass and into Eureka valley, etc...

Maps are your friend.
There are several maps that are good. The best are the "Desert Access Guides" published by the USGS for the BLM and NPS. For DV only, the "Tom Harrison" map is much better than the online and handout "park" maps.

Where ever you go leave an itinerary with someone.

k.

The Tom Harrison map of DV is excellent. I wish he'd do one for the Black Rock Desert.

[OlMan]

And if anyone wants to see what DV was like in the 30s try to find a copy of "Death Valley a Guide". This was published by the WPA in 1939.

Looks like a copy can be purchased here:

http://www.townsendbooks.com/amerguid.htm

[lttlbddy]

Originally Posted by OTR

From Ballarat head north on Indian Ranch to Trona-Wildrose road (paved). Turn onto Panamint Valley (paved) road and head north to 190, you will re-enter the park a few miles before 190. Take 190 west to Saline Valley road, turn north. You're shortly back on dirt (check conditions for snow closures).

k.

Kris is right, the West Side Rd leaves you short of Furnace Creek with no other good options in Death Valley but instead of the direct route Kris has outlined, after you get onto Panamint Valley road you could turn west onto Slate Range, then turn North on Nadeau (paved for a few miles), then follow old Nadeau North to Panamint Springs, then West on 190 to the Saline Valley Road.

This route cuts out a lot of the Hwy miles.

[larryboy]

Old thread...new section?


Enter at Furnace Creek Wash just south of Shoshone, head north, short half mile paved connector to Furnace Creek Wash again, up thru the Greenwater Valley, short paved up to the highway, about two more miles of pavment, right turn to go to Echo Canyon, crawl rocks and stuff, towards the Amargosa Valley hang a left and go up behind Big Dune heading north, stay to the left, cross the old railroad grade, northwest for a bit, main dirt road looking intersection, hang a left, go up to the Chloride Cliffs, down the other side, out to pave for the longest section of pavement, head towards Beatty, go up to Rhyolite, pass thru the open air museum heading NW, up thru the Bullfrogs into the Nevada Triangle of DVNP, long and straight dirt, cross the highway, follow signs to Hard Luck Mine, stop in, then over the pass dropping into Oriental Wash, find your way past Roosevelt Spring and up Tule Canyon(You're done with the park and need fuel.), a couple of different ways to go, but you're heading for Dyer on dirt, consult your Tom H. map, you can handle it by this point.

One day on a dirt bike, probably five days in a Jeep at a sane pace.





That's how you run DVNP from one end to the other on dirt, maybe 12 miles or so of pavement total.

[J-Bone]

Originally Posted by OlMan

And if anyone wants to see what DV was like in the 30s try to find a copy of "Death Valley a Guide". This was published by the WPA in 1939.

Looks like a copy can be purchased here:

http://www.townsendbooks.com/amerguid.htm

That is weak.

This is real deal from 1926, before FDR did his thing.

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=...tem.position=1

Near as I can tell the trip starts at around Baker