Hiking Death Valley (Feb 2019)

turbodb

Well-known member
The Day the Tent Closed...with Us Inside

Before it even began, the trip was off to a rough start. See, we'd planned - if you can call deciding to go on a trip just a few days prior to departure, "planning" - to leave two weeks earlier, but inclement weather caused us to push the trip back. Even so, the weather report was iffy just a few days before the new date - something we decided we'd ignore so we could get out and explore.

Plus, by pushing the date, we'd gotten a couple of friends - Ben @m3bassman, Zane @Speedytech7, and Mikey @pizzaviolence to join @mrs.turbodb and me on this adventure - no small feat since the plan was to do something completely different than normal - spend the vast majority of our time out of the trucks, hiking some of the beautiful canyons that the Death Valley desert has to offer.

So it was that on the morning of February 13, we packed up the truck and headed south - happy to escape the snow that had enveloped the Seattle area for the previous two weeks, hoping that the weather we'd find ourselves in was more inviting.

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Now, getting to Death Valley is never a quick operation - for us, it's a 19-20 hour ordeal through the back-woods of Oregon and Nevada, with a stop for the night somewhere around the latitude of Reno - approximately 15 hours from home. This trip was no exception - in fact, the cold weather we were running from at home had an even stronger grip as we made our way south - snow, rain, and a headwind making us question if we had really made the right decision.

We did get to see this Toyota Truck - outfitted with a Wildernest - as we passed through Oregon. And he was pretty excited to see us.

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With stops only for fuel and food, we pushed on. Our destination was just south of Fallon, NV, where we were going to meet up with Ben and Mikey for a few hours of sleep, and then make the final push to Death Valley early the next morning. And so it was that around 1:00am, we rolled into camp - a camp on the side of a hill that, despite the early, hour we could see from literally miles away. See, the rain had (thankfully) stopped and having arrived a half hour earlier, Ben had turned on not only his headlights, but also his Hellas and what we like to refer to as his "small collapsed sun," (aka his bro bar) to guide us in.

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Not actually Ben. He's got more lights.

There were warm greetings all around as @mrs.turbodb and I got the tent setup and then we all quickly agreed that rather than leaving at 5:30am, a better start time might be 6:30am - that extra hour of warm sleep a welcome end to a long day. As we got cozy under the covers, the wind whipped around the tent, but we didn't care. We put in our earplugs and closed our eyes, the new Exped MegaMat 10 Duo LXW - brand new on this trip to replace the ageing foam mattress - so comfy that we were nearly instantly asleep.

The wind not only continued through the night, it picked up steam. A few times, it lifted the fold-out part of the tent a few inches off the ground but nothing I hadn't experienced in the Henry Mountains a few months before. But then, at 4:57am, a strong gust must have caught the tent at just the right angle and WHAP, the entire tent folded up with us inside! Well, not completely, since we were still in there, but the floor of the tent was now sticking vertically in the air, and we'd been completely thrown onto the other half of the tent floor - not a good situation!

I quickly got the tent re-deployed, and a quick visual inspection showed the only thing hurt to be our egos, so we flipped the bedding around to put most of our weight on the fold-out side and tried to go back to sleep, hoping that the adrenaline coursing through our bodies would give us another hour of shut-eye before we had to get up and on our way.

Alas, it wasn't to be - about 15 minutes later, we heard the rain - which had held off all night - start, and it was furious. Blown sideways by the driving wind, everything was soaked within minutes. Ben was out of his tent at this point, quickly putting it away, and we soon followed - it was clear that we weren't going to be getting any more sleep.

Both of us were luckier than Mikey, who was sleeping in a ground tent, and who later related to us that he "thought the tent was working great, until I realized that my sleeping pad was just soaking up all the water."

:annoyed_gaah:

And so it was that by 6:00am, we were on the road - once again in heavy rain - to Death Valley.

We Luck Out and It's Beautiful

Despite the weather, we made good time heading south. There aren't many towns in this part of Nevada, so we stopped where we could for fuel, ate breakfast as we drove, and caught up over the CB radio. By 8:00am we were nearing Hawthorne, NV and the then a couple hours later, Tonopah and Goldfield.

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If the weather had been nicer, and if we'd had a bit more time, I always recommend stopping in Goldfield for the Enchanted International Car Forest (photos) (more photos), but neither weather nor time were cooperative today and so we pushed on to Beatty where we got our last fuel before heading into the park.

It's here that I feel obligated to note that the Arco station in Beatty now accepts credit cards - a welcome convenience given the (relatively) cheap price of fuel for the area, now without having to remember cash!

All fueled up, we headed into the park. "Welcome to the hottest, driest place on earth." said Ben over the radio. It was raining, and visibility was well under one mile.

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And, just as we took our first photos, we all got the following notification over our cell phones. "Just perfect" given our plan to hike up a canyon.

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Luckily - we hoped - for us, we still had a couple hours to drive before meeting up with Zane for our first hike. Fingers crossed, it wouldn't be raining near Jubilee Pass - or if it was, it'd just be a light, intermittent, drizzle. So we pointed the trucks that direction and made reasonably good time - the weather reducing the number of stops we made for photos.

Of course, it's not every day you see significant amounts of water in Badwater Basin, so we made a few stops along the way to capture the event as best we could.

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Eventually, and right around lunch time, we found Zane. He'd arrived just a few minutes earlier - his trip up from the south a shorter one - and was putzing around the trailhead, eavesdropping on our CB chatter as we approached. Unfortunately, it was still raining quite hard at this point and so even our quick greetings resulted in 5 very wet campers. We climbed back into the trucks and continued the conversation over the radios.

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All hungry for lunch, we decided that the first order of business was to eat, and then we'd figure out what we wanted to do about the hike. So we ventured back out into the downpour and got sandwiches assembled before retreating to the trucks once again for consumption. But lunch could only delay the inevitable for so long, and soon we decided that having come this far, and with no rain in the forecast for the remainder of the trip (so we could dry out our stuff), that there was no real reason not to go on the hike.

I suggested to my better half that she wear only the minimal clothing necessary - essentially a shell - so that there was as little to dry out as possible, and with that we locked up the trucks on the side of the road (the "trailhead") and set off on foot.

Now, and astute reader may have noticed that I have yet to mention where we were actually going on this hike. It turns out, there was no trail where we were going - rather, we were headed cross-country, up an alluvial fan, and into Kaleidoscope Canyon.

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Don't miss the rest of the story, and all the remaining photos - it'd all be included here if it fit. But until then...

Keep reading the rest here
Hiking Death Valley (Feb 2019) Part 1




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turbodb

Well-known member
Hiking Death Valley Part 2 - Room Canyon and...Water Crossings?

The night passed much more peacefully than the one before and we slept extremely well on our new Exped Megamat Duo 10 - a great fit in the @Cascadia tents Mt. Shasta, and significantly more comfortable than the foam mattress. Hoping for a dramatic sunrise, I was up early to explore camp.

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In the end, given our location in the pass - there wasn't much color in the sky, the weather seemed to be holding and the temps were warmer than the day before, and I was happy to explore the hilly area around camp to see what secrets it held.

short history we found in the cabin said:
Rhodes Spring was founded in spring 1886 by A.G. Rhodes and his partner where they mined and 1200lbs of silver ore - netting them $800. On their return trip in the fall, they apparently perished somewhere in the desert and the claim was abandoned for the next 20 years. In 1905, prospectors in the area discovered Rhodes' location markers as well as two additional tons of silver ore awaiting shipment. Silver continued to be mined in the area for a couple more years before shutting down once again in 1907, just before three prospectors discovered a gold deposit worth $25,000 per ton in 1908. Unfortunately, this turned out to be an isolated pocket and no further gold was found despite extensive tunneling. It wasn't until 1935 that Lou McGirk filed a location notice and developed a small cone-crusher mill mining operation a quarter mile up the canyon, continuing operations on a small scale until the mid 1950's. The cabin, as it exists today, remains from this era of the mine's history.

The area itself had a few different structures on it - the cabin of course, which we'd explored the evening before - but also a secondary building a little further up a wash, and a large concrete water storage tank on a hill to the north. Each offered splendid views back towards camp and down into the valley to the west.

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As I explored some more, I was excited to come across the conical mill that had been mentioned in the cabin's history, and I enjoyed the few wildflowers also blooming in the same wash.

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As I headed back towards camp, the sun was trying it's hardest to break through the clouds - unsuccessfully at our location, but with great zeal a little further west. What a morning!

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And then, as I walked down a wash adjascent to the conical mill, I discovered a cave. Could this have been the location of the gold deposit that was found in the early 1900's? I'll perhaps never know, but I was still elated to be able to explore this cool little relic before heading back to camp past a rusted-out old car that had clearly seen better days!

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Back in camp, everyone else was starting to stir and it was time to make breakfast and get our tents put away. Of course, I couldn't resist a few photos of the truck - especially given the relatively small amount of driving we'd be doing this trip, and the peeking out of the new ADS suspension that I'd recently installed.

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As @mrs.turbodb made breakfast - cereal with fresh strawberries and dark chocolate granola bars, I looked around the cabin a bit more. The evening before we'd wondered over the "garden" out front, and as I once again tried to figure it out, it finally dawned on me what this was - it was a miniature golf course! Each can was a hole, some a bit more interesting to putt into than others. :biggrin:

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With breakfast wrapped up and our equipment stowed, there was just one thing left to do before pulling out - sign the guest book. It was only after returning from the trip that I realized I should have checked the book for an entry or two from previous visits by my dad and uncle, since I knew that this southern end of Death Valley was one of their favorites!

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We had only a couple miles of dirt to get back to Highway 178, but I took full advantage to stretch out the legs of the new suspension - this my first opportunity to do so since I'd completely the installation a few weeks earlier. Needless to say, I was impressed - it was significantly better (especially in the rear) than what I'd had installed previously, and of course it was nice to not have to worry about bottoming out the rear as we'd done so many times on the Mojave Road in December.

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As we headed west, we reveled in the morning sun - we'd gotten a peak of it the evening before, but seeing Death Valley bathed in light, and snow on the top of Telescope Peak was more than we could resist. Even with a full day of hiking and exploration in front of us, we took the time to enjoy the moment.

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Don't miss the rest of the story, and all the remaining photos - it'd all be included here if it fit. But until then...





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turbodb

Well-known member
Hiking Death Valley Part 3 - We Trek Miles Across the Desert

Our sleep was short-lived, the wind continuing to pick up as the night wore on. In fact, this chapter technically starts on February 15th, since it was 11:45pm when we awoke to the most violent shaking of the tent I've ever experienced - significantly more violent than the night I spent with Monte @Blackdawg and Mike @Digiratus at the base of the Henry Mountains in Utah. I'd already gotten up once to secure the ladder, tying it to a full 5-gallon jerry can of water and the slider of the truck to ensure that the fold-out half of the tent wouldn't make a second attempt on our lives. But as the gusts continued to increase, I finally decided that we needed to move in order to ensure the survival of the tent itself - and so it was that at midnight, we climbed down out of our cozy den and moved the truck nearer the valley walls... hopefully into a bit more of a wind-shadow.

Earplugs back in and ladder re-secured, we climbed back into bed for what would continue to be a restless night of sleep. We found out the next morning that while everyone else had fared a bit better, even Zane @Speedytech7 had resorted to bungee cords to hold down two corners of his rain fly despite having Ben's @m3bassman truck and tent as a direct wind-block. And Mikey @pizzaviolence once again retreated to Ben's cab, the night much too violent for his hammock-strung-between-two-trucks setup.

As morning broke, things had calmed down significantly and - as I climbed out of the tent - it was going to be a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky and the sun just starting to pour down into our valley.

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Having been in a bit of a rush the previous afternoon when we'd been here, and then having arrived after dark the evening before, I was keen to explore around camp and see what I could find. Ben was up as well, so we spent a bit of time looking around - the highlight of our search a gypsum mine that had been carved deep into one of the mountains - apparently used from 1909 to the 1950's by the Avawatz Salt & Gypsum Company. The shaft itself had been securely blocked by a large metal grate, but it seemed to still be in reasonably good shape for it's age - likely the result of relatively little human activity at the site!

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I spent a bit more time wandering up a nearby wash and finding a good place to avail myself of the luggable loo as Ben made coffee and checked out his brakes- topping off his brake fluid after his little incident the day before. The warm, early morning light making for some sweet displays of color.

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Still early, we all had quick breakfasts and got back on the road - our plan for the day simple: park somewhere on the side of Harry Wade Road and head due west, across the desert. Once we made it the 3.5 miles to the other side and the Owlshead Mountains, we then had another 5 miles of hiking three different slot canyons before making the return trek back across the desert to our trucks.

I mean, how hard could it be, right? :biggrin: :notsure:

At any rate, I'm getting ahead of myself, since the trip out to the valley was spectacular in itself.

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Having taken a different route out of camp than we had in, we found ourselves slightly further north on Harry Wade Road, but still about an hour south of our "side of the road" trail head. It was a beautiful day, and we all enjoyed the easy, secluded drive north - once again encountering the Amargosa River in it's flowing glory.

And once again, I made my way through with as little fanfare as possible - cognizant of the mud that could end up in my bed and all over the tent if I went too fast.

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Ben - after letting us know over the CB that he was going to "take it easy" today, apparently meant that he was going to try to destroy his truck - which is exactly what it sounded like he'd done as he pulled out of the wash. Luckily for him - and to all of our surprise - he'd managed to "fold out" his wheel well liners on both sides, and they were making quite the ruckus.

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Liners folded back into place (and secured only by "hope?"), we were once again on our way and it wasn't long before we arrived at our destination, technically known as: some spot along the road. We pulled off as far as we could - careful to stay within the grading berms - and prepped ourselves for the journey ahead. Lunches were made, water bottles filled. And then, we set off across the desert. Truth be told, it didn't look that far to the other side.

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It turns out - like driving distances in Death Valley - hiking distances are also deceptive. It was in fact, that far to the other side of the valley, and in fact, the other side of the valley was simply the beginning of a long alluvial fan up the Owlshead Mountains. Perhaps 60% of the way across, we also encountered the same river we'd crossed in the trucks - now, our turn to stick our feet in water that few ever get to experience. It was cold!

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As we continued up the alluvial fan - now nearly an hour after we'd started and not yet to the first slot canyon, we turned and looked for the trucks. Yep, there they were - three little ants crossing the valley, only just visible to the naked eye.

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The trucks are in the very center of this photo. Seriously.

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Here's the center, zoomed in with a mountain for reference. Trucks.

Eventually, we reached the first of the Smoke Tree Slot Canyons. Named for a few Smoke Trees that happen to grow at the mouths of the area, these slots were discovered and hiked for the first time in early January, 2016. As such, we were excited to be some of the first to experience the secrets they held as we finally approached the entrance to Slot #1.

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Don't miss the rest of the story, and all the remaining photos - it'd all be included here if it fit. But until then...





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turbodb

Well-known member
Rig Review: Hiking Death Valley - What worked and what didn't?

Rig Review is a new type of post that I'm going to try to write up after most trips, where I'll note any things that worked really well, or could have been better. The idea has always been to optimize the Tacoma build and setup over time, so there's nothing really new from that perspective.

I won't talk about everything I've got going on - just new equipment to the trip and/or any outliers that deserve a mention. At the very least, I figure that long-term, real-world reviews of the products I use are good for everyone!


February 18, 2019.

Hiking Death Valley was a different kind of trip - one with more time away from the truck, and less time driving. So the rig review this time has a little less to go on - but that doesn't make me any less passionate about the bits of kit that were working well!.

Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LXW (new)
TL;DR - if you ever feel like your RTT mattress leaves a little something to be desired, don't buy a foam topper to try to increase it's thickness. Get an Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LXW. You won't regret it even though it's pricey - this is the most comfortable sleeping experience I've ever had.

For the last few trips, I've started to notice that the foam mattress in the @Cascadia Tents Mt. Shasta Pioneer has started to be a little less "supportive." I think this is mostly due to age - it's been used for over 100 nights at this point - and a lot of folks end up adding those egg-crate style toppers to their mattresses in order to counter this phenomenon.

I wasn't keen to add a topper since I already feel like I'm smooshing stuff quite a bit when I close the tent, and so I set about researching a replacement mat. The key - I believed - was that it be inflatable. That inflation would provide extra support where the foam couldn't, and thus keep hips, shoulders, etc. up off the floor through the night.

When I stumbled across the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LXW, I initially just scoffed at the price and moved on. But the more I researched on various forums, the more the Exped continued to be brought up as the ultimate in a good night sleep. At four inches thick, and composed of both foam and air, it seemed like it could do a good job... if I could just get over it's hefty price tag.

Ultimately I did, and let me tell you - my body, and more importantly @mrs.turbodb's body, have never been happier after a night in the RTT. This thing is seriously like sleeping on a home mattress. It's that good. Shocking I'd say. Easily worth the price - assuming it lasts - and now my all-time favorite mod to my camping setup. Wow, that surprises even me.

Oh, and as a side benefit - because of the construction (air simply pushes out of the mat), the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 compresses even more (and more easily) than the original CVT foam mattress - making closing up the tent easier than ever before.

As far as fit goes, there are three versions of this mattress depending on the size of your RTT:
None of these is as long as an unfolded tent - generally 96" - but that's OK. The matt leaves about 6-8" of space on each end, which I find to be a good place to stash shoes, clothes, bags, etc. that I bring into the tent. Plus, those spaces really aren't usable for sleeping anyway due to the angle of the tent wall as it reaches the floor. If it really bothers you, you can easily slide the Exped toward the head end of the tent and leave all the space at the foot end - you'd never notice it while sleeping.






Rear Shock Relocation, ADS Suspension, and SPC Upper Control Arms

TL;DR - the ADS setup is working great. We didn't do much dirt travel this time, but what little we did do was no problem at all. More to come in the future.

This was the first trip with the relocated rear suspension running 10" travel ADS 2.5" smooth body shocks with remote reservoirs in the back of the truck as well as new SPC Upper Control Arms and ADS 2.5" coilovers with remote reservoirs in the front of the truck. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this setup was not only better and more comfortable than running without rear shocks along the entirety of the Mojave Road, but was also better than my previous rear shock setup. The fronts were a little harder to tell - but again, we weren't really pushing it this trip.

Additionally, there were no problems bottoming out the rear shocks, which was a good thing. Hopefully that remains the case into the future.




Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews

In all fairness to the rig, I didn't really do anything except maintenance since the last review, so it's my fault that there's nothing to list here. My apologies to the truck.

Unchanged / Still an issue from previous Rig Reviews

There are some things that have been featured in Rig Reviews that are - as yet - unchanged from when I originally reviewed them. Rather than highlight those things again, I'll simply link to them here.
  1. The Swing-Out Table - as expected, it was unusable on this trip.
  2. The Electrical System - continues to have the limitations of a single battery system.
  3. The Ham Radio Antenna - continues to have the shortcoming mentioned.
  4. The CVT Roof Top Tent
    1. Stargazer windows in the rain fly continued to be a significant issue, which I hope to address for the next trip.
    2. Rubber cover zipper was still tough to close; this is on me though - I need to clean and wax it.
  5. Stealth Custom Series (SCS) Stealth6 Wheels - mud wasn't that big of an issue this trip, but I still need a way to pull the wheels further inboard.
  6. Coleman Camp Stove/Grill - the wind screens fall down any time the grill is jostled just a little bit, and it sounds like the world is coming to an end.
 

turbodb

Well-known member
Starting the next trip report - this time for Anza-Borrego

 

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