Desertcrawler
12-12-2008, 01:51 AM
Kids are out of school for Easter this year for a week. I believe the weekend of 4/10, 4/11, 4/12 is the actual holiday, with mine at least out the entire week of the 13th plus the 10th.
Haven't seen any planned club trips for that weekend/week, so wanted to throw out a proposal:
Last year, we did Mojave trail expedition style as a club event. This year, I'm thinking about doing an expedition style trek (family friendly) into some of the unique areas of Death Valley that I've explored in the past but haven't been to in a while. Of course, conditions might change based on whether we run into any Snow...
Rough itiinerary would be to:
Day 0 (Friday) travel to Big Pine, California and rally up there Friday night for an early morning departure. Big Pine is probably 8 hours from Bay Area, 6 hours from Sacramento, and 5 hours from Los Angeles.
Day 1 (Saturday) - Via Death Valley Road, go to Eureka Sand Dunes, cross Steele Pass. End up at the Warm Springs where we would overnight on Saturday. Highlights are the dunes, Marble Bath, and the Hot Srings.
Day 2 (Sunday) -- Wheel up the backside of Cerro Gordo. Camp there (if we can get permission). Explore some of the surrounding area and the ghost town. (If this is not passable this time of year, we would instead head out the South Side of Panamint, possibly linkng a run up the infamous Lippinecott Grade to the Racetrack as part of the Route).
Day 3 (Monday) -- people could head home.
Or, if we wanted to continue:
Wheel to the Geologist Cabin Area (via Goler Wash, Manson's cabin, etc..). Set up camp for the night at the Geologist cabin, or one of the other old cabins in the area..
Day 4 (Tuesday):
Head out the backside of Goler Wash road towards Furnace Creek/Scotts Castle area. Do a little exploring, either overnight there or on the way back at Panamint Springs..
Day 5 (Wednesday)...
Head back to our real lives, wherever that might be.
Might also be talked in to moving everything up a day (leaving Thursday nite and rallying up Friday morning), which might mean less time off for people.
Not committing to anything yet, but wanted to post this up for a general indication of interest. This years Rover Rendezvous may be around the same time -- last year it was that following weekend, so you might be able to combine the events if you took the full week off. (Remember though, it is not in Death Valley this year I am pretty sure they are doing it at Big Bear but haven't seen the schedule)...
Post up if you'd be interested! The wheeling will not be extreme (I've done it in stock vehicles except possibly up the backside of Cerro Gordon if it is muddy/snowy) -- but you will clearly want a rig that is in good mechanical condition as we will be miles away from the nearest gas/service station. Steele Pass and the Warm Springs in particular are in one of the most remote parts of the National Monument...
We would be dry camping in areas without developed campgrounds. So you should be comfortable with Wilderness style camping (Mojave Road style)...
Haven't seen any planned club trips for that weekend/week, so wanted to throw out a proposal:
Last year, we did Mojave trail expedition style as a club event. This year, I'm thinking about doing an expedition style trek (family friendly) into some of the unique areas of Death Valley that I've explored in the past but haven't been to in a while. Of course, conditions might change based on whether we run into any Snow...
Rough itiinerary would be to:
Day 0 (Friday) travel to Big Pine, California and rally up there Friday night for an early morning departure. Big Pine is probably 8 hours from Bay Area, 6 hours from Sacramento, and 5 hours from Los Angeles.
Day 1 (Saturday) - Via Death Valley Road, go to Eureka Sand Dunes, cross Steele Pass. End up at the Warm Springs where we would overnight on Saturday. Highlights are the dunes, Marble Bath, and the Hot Srings.
Day 2 (Sunday) -- Wheel up the backside of Cerro Gordo. Camp there (if we can get permission). Explore some of the surrounding area and the ghost town. (If this is not passable this time of year, we would instead head out the South Side of Panamint, possibly linkng a run up the infamous Lippinecott Grade to the Racetrack as part of the Route).
Day 3 (Monday) -- people could head home.
Or, if we wanted to continue:
Wheel to the Geologist Cabin Area (via Goler Wash, Manson's cabin, etc..). Set up camp for the night at the Geologist cabin, or one of the other old cabins in the area..
Day 4 (Tuesday):
Head out the backside of Goler Wash road towards Furnace Creek/Scotts Castle area. Do a little exploring, either overnight there or on the way back at Panamint Springs..
Day 5 (Wednesday)...
Head back to our real lives, wherever that might be.
Might also be talked in to moving everything up a day (leaving Thursday nite and rallying up Friday morning), which might mean less time off for people.
Not committing to anything yet, but wanted to post this up for a general indication of interest. This years Rover Rendezvous may be around the same time -- last year it was that following weekend, so you might be able to combine the events if you took the full week off. (Remember though, it is not in Death Valley this year I am pretty sure they are doing it at Big Bear but haven't seen the schedule)...
Post up if you'd be interested! The wheeling will not be extreme (I've done it in stock vehicles except possibly up the backside of Cerro Gordon if it is muddy/snowy) -- but you will clearly want a rig that is in good mechanical condition as we will be miles away from the nearest gas/service station. Steele Pass and the Warm Springs in particular are in one of the most remote parts of the National Monument...
We would be dry camping in areas without developed campgrounds. So you should be comfortable with Wilderness style camping (Mojave Road style)...