Overland Southwest Roadtrip

We woke up freezing this morning in our mountain cabin up above Big Pine, CA. The cabin itself is beautiful, and in a location I’d love to spend days in. But the stove heater went out in the night, and their water pump went out this morning, so showers and toilets were in short supply, to say nothing of the catastrophe that was no coffee. But the roaring brook next right out front of the cabin (which provides its water and its electricity!) was stunning. And made the perfect sound to sleep to.

We drove down into Big Pine for a breakfast diner that was pretty perfect and then got on the road. We took a back road from Big Pine into Death Valley that passed back into Inyo National Forest, but through a much more arid and rocky part of it. We climbed up the rocky edge of the valley and then plunged down an incredibly steep grade into the center of the park. It is… unfathomably large. With mountains on both sides and an expanse of rocks and rubble in the middle, you can see for what feels like hundreds of miles except for when the mighty dust storms pick up.

Today was a “drive and admire” day, mostly. The views were spectacular, and so were the roads… most of the time. We did end up on an almost hour long stretch of washboard gravel. It was horrible. We noticed there were lots of tracks up on the shoulders, so we used that to bypass some of the worst of it, but that introduced a very disconcerting rotation of the horizon. I was fairly certain that it was possible that I wouldn’t not roll my 4Runner.

We got out and hiked around the trail at Titus Canyon, around an old sulfur mine, and saw the car parts in the dirt at Crankshaft Junction. The scenery was spectacular, but we all felt a strangely liberating and haunting feeling of being the only people around. In the entire day, driving over 120 miles, we may have only passed a dozen cars, and didn’t see any people anywhere.

This evening, we headed into Beatty, Nevada to stay at the Stagecoach Inn and Casino. It’s quite a show. The Denny’s in the lobby is apparently the only restaurant in town that was open. It seems odd to me that the only town next to a National Park, a town with its own 24-hour tire and tow shop, has only this one restaurant, but it was at least convenient. Then we hit the Blackjack tables just to say we did.

I’m proud to say that I played the roller coaster up and down, starting with my $20, and finished at $21 having had some free drinks and been able to tip out the dealer, so that’s a win in my book. Then we went back to the rooms to watch Clue because for some reason we had been quoting it all day on the radios, but none of us made it through more than the first ten minutes.

A day in Death Valley

So we’re back… Of the eight restaurants in town, four are open for breakfast, of those none are open despite posting hours that say they’re open.

Driving down into Titus Canyon, from Beatty NV to Death Valley. It’s a little long, but it was beautiful.

The end of Titus Canyon, through the narrow cliffs and back into Death Valley. Also a little long, but so beautiful. I wish that the videos and photos we took could do this justice, but it may be an indescribable experience.

I love that our chief qualification for whether something is touristy is if the road is paved.

One of the things I love about this trip is the smug sense of superiority I feel whenever I see people in rental cars.

Admitting to no weakness on my part, Furnace Creek internet access is pretty terrible and there is no cell service. Also I’m tired. Today was an incredible trip from Beatty back into Death Valley via Titus Canyon, then exploring Artists’ Drive and the Badwater in Death Valley before heading back to Furnace Creek for dinner, drinks, light repairs, and sleeping. So in lieu of edited photos, long-form post, and dashcam video tonight, allow me to offer: We didn’t die! The cars didn’t explode. Tomorrow will be more excitement, and I’ll update this post when I have better internets.

Photos from Thursday: Titus Canyon, the ghost town, Artists’ Drive, and the Badwater of Death Valley

This morning in Beatty, we looked for places to eat breakfast that didn’t list every dish as a “Slam.” It didn’t go well. There are several places which list breakfast hours on Google and Yelp, and yet none of them are open. So we set off on a great adventure across the casino floor from our hotel room to the Denny’s from last night. We’ve become regulars.

We went back into Death Valley today via Titus Canyon, a dirt road that climbs over the range on high rocky cliffs, passes by a small ghost town, and the dives deep into a canyon that’s barely wider than our cars. It’s a one-way back into the park and it took us a couple hours to do it, but it was the most astounding drive. Also surprisingly challenging, it gave us each a chance to put our cars through some paces. Evan experimented with the Rover’s “Hill Descent Mode,” which turns out to be a way to just be scary in low-range.

Back in Death Valley, we drove to the Furnace Creek resort town that we’re staying in to check-in, then drove further south. First, we did Artists’ Drive, a small paved loop that goes past a lot of multicolored rocks and hillsides that was incredibly pretty. Next we drove out to the expansive salt flats called “the Badwater.” With a sign that said “Sea Level” about a hundred feet up the cliff on the opposite side of the road, we walked out onto an evaporated sea that all of Death Valley drains into. The ground texture wasn’t like anything we were expecting. It’s just salt. The walking area is packed down hard and white, but extending for miles in each direction are little mounds of dirty salt crystal. It made a bizarre up-light in the harsh sun, and the wind was so extreme that it almost knocked us over. (And may also explain how we got so far out into the flats so quickly, because it took forever to walk back.)

It was getting late by this point, so we drove a little further down the park road but then headed back up to Furnace Creek for dinner and sleep. Red did develop a problem; the wheel-well liner worked its way loose in the crazy winds, which made some crazy scary sounds in the cabin. The whole thing is one big piece, so I couldn’t just pull the loose part. George had a couple machine screws I could fix it with. Also the rear bar of my roof rack wiggled its way free and now decorates the floor.