Death Valley flash flood

[Drew Wiley]

There are any number of people who have never been found. And then there are those rumors that the Manson family might have done a few in, way back when.
Desert is desert because it's dry. And being one of the hottest places on earth, where even your shoe soles will melt on pavement in summer, Death Valley is not
the smartest place to get lost or broken down on some back road.

[David_Senesac]

Latest report shows still a lot of closed roads though rumors on a sleepy locals discussion forum seems to be that many roads will be open by late winter.

Death Valley National Park Morning Report : Wednesday, November 25, 2015
...
Current Road Conditions
:
ALL BACKCOUNTRY ROADS ARE POTENTIALLY FLOOD DAMAGED; high-clearance4x4 recommended.

Badwater Road.................Open to Badwater; CLOSED beyond first 17 miles.
Big Pine Road...................CLOSED from Ubehebe to Eureka Valley; Open from Big Pine to S. Eureka Rd.
Cottonwood Canyon Rd....Open first 8 milestohigh-clearance vehicles; 4x4 needed into Marble Canyon; upper Cottonwood washed out.
Greenwater Valley Road...CLOSED by Inyo Countyduring road repair.
Harry Wade Road............CLOSED due to flood damage.
Lower Wildrose Road........CLOSED to through traffic from Wildrose to Panamint Valley due to flood damage.
Mesquite Springs Road.....CLOSED
Scotty’s Castle...................CLOSED due to flood damage
Saline Valley North............CLOSED By Inyo County.
Saratoga Springs road......CLOSED due to flood damage.
20 Mule Team Canyon......CLOSED due to flood damage.
West Side Road................CLOSED due to flood damage


I'm also expecting to make a trip out to Death Valley sometime mid February through March dependent on whether El Nino comes through and greens up landscapes. Last visit was the big bloom of 2005. Recently extensively analyzed topos and Google Earth over the huge park and found several interesting obscure features that have likely never seen tripods and require serious hiking. During my 2005 visit talked at length with one VC ranger about backcountry visitors and found out they receive very very few requests for visits away from roads, 4wd routes, mining relics, and established trails. Thus much like other Southwest desert parks there really are vast areas people in this modern era much less photographers have ever walked. Simply put real desert scares people and he had a good chuckle listening to some of the places I'd rambled about during my short couple weeks.

[Sirius Glass]

After the El Nino Spring in Death Valley should be really great for photography using a lifted ruggedized four wheel drive vehicle if the roads are open.

[Jmarmck]

I took the road in from Eureka Valley last January. I managed to bust a shock mount on an unexpected wash about 10 miles from the north pass. It was nothing but washboard then. I can only imagine what it is like now.