Need Death Valley Advice re Racetrack & Saline Valley

**SocalAstro** · 25-Dec-2010, 10:46

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Sipress

I'm heading to DV the morning of the 25th (tomorrow) for four days. Most of my canyon hideaways for camping are inaccessable now. Still, I'm hoping to catch some good light and the unexpected magic that can just happen to you. One thing about nature photography, you get what's there when you're there!

Jeffery,

I will be heading out there tomorrow (the 26th) myself; maybe we'll see each other while out there. Im driving a silver G500 so look for me :-)

Cheers,
Leon

**Richard K.** · 25-Dec-2010, 12:03

Jeffrey and Leon, please let us (me!) know how you made out!! Thanks!

**generubin** · 25-Dec-2010, 20:08

About Saline Valley this coming week. I have been going to Saline for over 25 years, often during time of snow. If you call the Park Service, they will always tell you the Saline Valley roads are closed and impassable. They figure, if you are asking, you are inexperienced enough that they do not want to go after you. Lippincott Road is only 4,000 feet at highest, rarely has snow. It is a very serious 4WD road however. Most people access by the South Pass. South Pass is a graded road that does go over a 7,000 foot pass. This road under good weather and conditions is passable in a sedan. During times of storms you would want a 4WD AND YOU MUST BRING CHAINS. I have a 4WD Dodge Diesel, I bring chains for front and rear. There are many 2wd high clearance vehicles which do fine as long as they have chains. The 4wd vehicles with no chains are worse off than the 2wd with chains.

I will be heading into Saline this 28th with another vehicle via the South Pass. There is actually less snow this winter than most as the temps of this storm has been warmer than usual. As usual, we'll probably be saving the butts of some lost souls stuck in mud or ice in a rental vehicle. Me, I'll be nice and warm at night, just bought the photographer's dream from this nice fellow, check out his website: http://jayaronowcampersales.com/

If any of you make it into Saline, I'll be at the camp where we are jammin' fiddles, mandolins and guitars. Come by and say "Hello"

First pics below are from Saline Valley South Pass last February. Lat pic is my nice warm new toy.

Gene

**SocalAstro** · 31-Dec-2010, 09:59

Originally Posted by Richard K.

Jeffrey and Leon, please let us (me!) know how you made out!! Thanks!

Richard,

I got back late wednesday night from DV. The weather was great. I spent one night out the racetrack Playa and it got down to 27F.

The road to the Playa from inside the park (27 miles) was dry and not too rough. The Playa itself was dry and you could walk on it but it appears to have been wet just a week earlier as I saw some footprints on it that went out about 30-40 feet from the entrance point.

Titus Canyon road was closed most of the time. It was open on Tuesday but closed again on Wednesday due to another storm that appeared to be coming but never materialized.

Lots of the roads (Artists Drive and Devil's Golf Course) were closed due to flooding but were opened up again by Wednesday.

There was quite a bit of water at Badwater Basin which made for some nice reflections.

Overall, I would say take your chances and go out there; There are lots of things to see even if some of the roads are closed off.

I never made it out to Saline Valley road since my spare tire had a slow leak in it and I didn't want to risk getting a flat out there.

Here's a composite shot I took from the Playa (6:30PM-1:00AM) with a Canon 5D2. I took the same shot on 4x5 but it'll be a couple of weeks before I develop E6 :-)

Cheers,
Leon

**Richard K.** · 31-Dec-2010, 10:05

Thanks for the report, Leon. When you say 27 miles to the RaceTrack, that's from where to where? Was it very washboardy? Any idea if Aguerreberry Point was accessible?

**SocalAstro** · 31-Dec-2010, 10:26

Originally Posted by Richard K.

Thanks for the report, Leon. When you say 27 miles to the RaceTrack, that's from where to where? Was it very washboardy? Any idea if Aguerreberry Point was accessible?

The 27 miles is from the Ubehebe Crater. It's about 21 miles to Teakettle Junction and another 6 miles to the Playa.

The road was OK overall Some parts were washboard-y but long stretches of it were smooth. I think It could be done in about 90 minutes or so.

Augerreberry Point was open. Wildrose Road to the Charcoal Kilns was open as well, but had deep snow 100-200 ft from the Kilns so you had to walk the last few 100 ft.

-Leon