Death Valley day #4: Warm Spring, Badwater & Wildrose
This post is part 4 of the "dv-2008-10" series:
- Death Valley day #1: driving, Darwin Falls & camping
- Death Valley day #2: the Racetrack, Hunter Mtn & the boxcar cabin
- Death Valley day #3: Owens Valley
- Death Valley day #4: Warm Spring, Badwater & Wildrose
- Death Valley day #5: sand, salt & holes
- Death Valley day #6: Titus, Eureka & flying things
- Death Valley day #7: Saline Valley
We got up & out of PSR early, and headed south. Our goal for the day was to drive all the way out to Butte Valley and potentially stay the night at the Geologist Cabin. The initial drive up to Warm Spring was fairly uneventful. We looked around a bit at the abandoned mine, signed the register, and then got back in the car. When I last drove this route back in April 2007, it was, by far, the most challenging off road driving that I had ever done. As soon as the road reaches Warm Spring, it quickly changes from a bumpy, high clearance road, to a 4x4, high clearance road. This time was not any different, and I immediately needed to engage four wheel drive to climb the initial batch of uneven rocks & gravel. Once I got past that bit, the next few miles weren't too bad, mostly alot of uneven road, but not too difficult. However, once I got 14.7 miles down the road (from the West Side Rd turnoff), I encountered obstacles that were far worse than anything that I remembered from 18 month earlier. The hill was about 8 car lengths long, with a series of basketball size, or larger rocks protruding up from the ground, which were definitely not movable without heavy machinery, or at least some kind of winch. As I had neither, I was really unsure how to proceed safely. Denise & I discussed the situation, and we agreed that there was no safe or obvious way to proceed, and that I had to turn back. Denise helped me to back down the portion of the hill that I managed to scale, and turn around (the road was no wider than 1 vehicle on the hill itself). We drove about 3.5 miles back to Warm Spring, and had lunch by the (empty) pool. We were all rather disappointed as we were looking forward to spending the night at the Geologist Cabin, and now had to formulate other plans.
We decided to stop by Badwater to get the obligatory shot of David running out onto the salt pan. Afterwords, we wanted to go to the visitor's center in Furnace creek investigate alternative camping options for that night, but were stopped right in front of Furnace Creek Ranch, when the road was closed due to a propane leak at the gas station. We were told that the road would be reopened in a few hours. We turned back and checked out the two nearest campgrounds, Sunset & Texas Spring. Sunset was little more than an RV parking lot. Texas Spring looked ok, although it was \$14/night. We backtracked a bit to check out Dante's View, since Denise hadn't been up there before. We had the entire overlook to ourselves, and the temperature was nearly 20F cooler than the valley below.
Next, I had the idea of perhaps just camping along the (unpaved) GreenWater Valley Road, which cuts off the road to Dante's View, and continues south. We drove about 3.5 miles in, and found what looked like an excellent camping spot just off the road. While I did manage to get the tent put up, the winds were brutal, and even fully staked with rocks for added assurance, the tent was getting whipped side to side fairly badly. Denise rightfully pointed out that this was going to be a potential disaster, and I broke down the tent and gave up. Along the way out, we decided that if the road north past Furnace Creek had been reopened, we'd just drive out to Wildrose and spend the night there. Thankfully, the road was open, and we made the 90 minute drive out to Wildrose.
Wildrose is yet another free campground, and it even has potable water, and a pit toilet. David & put up the tent while Denise worked on building a fire to roast hotdogs & marshmallows for dinner. It all turned out fairly well, and the campground was barely a quarter full that night.
This post is part 4 of the "dv-2008-10" series:
- Death Valley day #1: driving, Darwin Falls & camping
- Death Valley day #2: the Racetrack, Hunter Mtn & the boxcar cabin
- Death Valley day #3: Owens Valley
- Death Valley day #4: Warm Spring, Badwater & Wildrose
- Death Valley day #5: sand, salt & holes
- Death Valley day #6: Titus, Eureka & flying things
- Death Valley day #7: Saline Valley