Death Valley... Snow, Sun, and Stars 11/22/2013
It had been nearly a year since my last venture through Death Valley, More than enough time to plan a trip to circumnavigate the entire park. My plans were to take the 395 to the 190 into Panamint Springs then to camp for the first night at Stovepipe Wells. That first night was an adventure in its self worthy of fulfilling all expectations of the next couple of days. Little did we know what was in store.
BLIZZARD
Around midnight heading down to Panamint Springs... Full time 4 wheel drive on the 80 is God sent in conditions like these driving down the 190.
My buddy arrived around 3 am after driving the same route in his full time 4wd V8 4Runner. That morning we awoke to all of Panamint Springs snowed over in the distance and a constant drizzle in camp at Stovepipe Wells. Our plan for the day was to head to Eureka Dunes via Big Pine road, Steele pass, and camp at the lower springs. As with anything in life being flexible and fluid is always key to maintaining PMA... we stopped at Scotty's Castle to renew our annual passes and from there lets just say we were strongly advised not to traverse Steele Pass... ******... I guess our ID's that we had shown to renew our passes sparked such great concern to the rangers that we were strongly advised not to travel the trail due to weather and trail conditions and that if found crossing a closed federal sign we could face consequences that could jeopardize our "employment"... in a nut shell with out going into further detail. Anyhow with Steele Pass closed and verbally being told not to go that route we left and headed towards Ubehebe Crater.
New plan... Racetrack to Lippincott to Saline Valley and on to the Springs. FYI- Steele Pass at the time was closed by DV not because of snow, but due to flood damage of the trail from a couple of months earlier.
There was no snow at Scotty's or at Ubehebe Crater... heading into Racetrack Valley road.
Teakettle Junction
The Grandstand covered in snow
The Racetrack Playa covered in snow. I'll say it again... a surreal sight. Death Valley Race Track Playa covered in snow? It's blowing my mind!
Yes... by now we have come to terms that the Lippincott would be a no go. For a brief second I pondered the thought of walking down to carve a trail, then I came to my senses... we decided to just spend a bit more time enjoying the moment.
With 2-3 ft. of snow at Homesteak Camp we decided to leave and head towards the dunes... yes it was a long washboard drive with half of the route in the dark.
Stay tuned for Eureka Dunes and Geologist Cabin.
