As the title states, my wife and I made a little trip to Death Valley. We left Reno on Thursday afternoon and headed south. We traveled down US95 on the Nevada side. We made it to Armagossa Valley, south of Beatty and decided to call it a night. We turned right into the desert out toward the big sand dune and found a spot for the night.
Camp in the morning.
Friday morning, we continued down US95 and turned toward Pahrump. Topped off the fuel tank and from Pahrump, we turned west and headed to Shoshone and into the south side on the park. We hit the West Road (south) and aired down.
We headed north until we came to Warm Springs Canyon Road and turned west and up we went. The King shocks made a huge difference on rough washboard sections. Since we had camped at Warm Springs before, we kept on going toward Striped Butte Valley.
We crossed the valley and started up Mengel Pass. The going wasn't too bad until we came to this section.
I made an attempt, but just didn't have the clearance. I backed up and stacked a few rocks and had my wife guiding me. I apparently, didn't have enough clearance and hit the frame. I backed up and added a few more on the opposite side to keep the front up and over we went. The only carnage was one of the e-brake cable guides got bent back a little, but nothing a little bending won't fix.
I kept threading my way up until I came to another boulder section. I got out and looked over the situation. I threw a rock to two into place and had my wife drive while I guided her through all the way to the summit of Mendal Pass. Got a little tippy on the way up. She is a great driver in the technical stuff. The front locker made all the difference (for both of us), it just kept the front pulling over the uneven rocks and dirt.
We made it to the pass and took a look around.
I took back over the driving and headed down the pass to Goler Wash. There were a few areas that kept things interesting, but overall it went pretty smooth. We made it to the bottom and stopped for lunch. While we were sitting there, three motorcycles rolled up and asked if they were at the bottom of Goler Wash and I told them that they were. Their plan was to head over the pass and back into DV. I wished them good luck as they were riding a 1200GS, 650GS(?) and a KLR650. I warned them it would be a challenge, but hopefully they made it up and over with few problems. As we were finishing up, a 2d JK with trailer rolled up and seemed to be a little shocked that we made it over in the truck. They asked about the water falls and I told them if you didn't know where they were, you wouldn't even realize that they were there as they had been filled in.
From there we headed up to the pavement at Ballarat. We aired up and drove to the South Pass road for Saline Valley. Aired down once more and headed to the springs. We got to the springs around 6pm on Friday night. What a day.
Saturday morning was great, got a little walk, shower and soak in and then the wind began. We spent from about 1000am on inside the camper to avoid the wind and of course, this was a serious wind storm, so we just hunkered down. The camper did great and luckily we took some movies and books. The wind continued into the night and Sunday morning. We had a small lull on Sunday morning, but then it started all over, so we packed up and headed north out North Pass. We made it home yesterday afternoon. The wierd thing is that the wind stopped around Bishop, but south of there it was going gangbusters. Barely a breeze at all in Reno. Oh well. It was a great trip and a true test of the Kings.
Hope you enjoyed the ride, I know we did.
Jack
Camp in the morning.
Friday morning, we continued down US95 and turned toward Pahrump. Topped off the fuel tank and from Pahrump, we turned west and headed to Shoshone and into the south side on the park. We hit the West Road (south) and aired down.
We headed north until we came to Warm Springs Canyon Road and turned west and up we went. The King shocks made a huge difference on rough washboard sections. Since we had camped at Warm Springs before, we kept on going toward Striped Butte Valley.
We crossed the valley and started up Mengel Pass. The going wasn't too bad until we came to this section.
I made an attempt, but just didn't have the clearance. I backed up and stacked a few rocks and had my wife guiding me. I apparently, didn't have enough clearance and hit the frame. I backed up and added a few more on the opposite side to keep the front up and over we went. The only carnage was one of the e-brake cable guides got bent back a little, but nothing a little bending won't fix.
I kept threading my way up until I came to another boulder section. I got out and looked over the situation. I threw a rock to two into place and had my wife drive while I guided her through all the way to the summit of Mendal Pass. Got a little tippy on the way up. She is a great driver in the technical stuff. The front locker made all the difference (for both of us), it just kept the front pulling over the uneven rocks and dirt.
We made it to the pass and took a look around.
I took back over the driving and headed down the pass to Goler Wash. There were a few areas that kept things interesting, but overall it went pretty smooth. We made it to the bottom and stopped for lunch. While we were sitting there, three motorcycles rolled up and asked if they were at the bottom of Goler Wash and I told them that they were. Their plan was to head over the pass and back into DV. I wished them good luck as they were riding a 1200GS, 650GS(?) and a KLR650. I warned them it would be a challenge, but hopefully they made it up and over with few problems. As we were finishing up, a 2d JK with trailer rolled up and seemed to be a little shocked that we made it over in the truck. They asked about the water falls and I told them if you didn't know where they were, you wouldn't even realize that they were there as they had been filled in.
From there we headed up to the pavement at Ballarat. We aired up and drove to the South Pass road for Saline Valley. Aired down once more and headed to the springs. We got to the springs around 6pm on Friday night. What a day.
Saturday morning was great, got a little walk, shower and soak in and then the wind began. We spent from about 1000am on inside the camper to avoid the wind and of course, this was a serious wind storm, so we just hunkered down. The camper did great and luckily we took some movies and books. The wind continued into the night and Sunday morning. We had a small lull on Sunday morning, but then it started all over, so we packed up and headed north out North Pass. We made it home yesterday afternoon. The wierd thing is that the wind stopped around Bishop, but south of there it was going gangbusters. Barely a breeze at all in Reno. Oh well. It was a great trip and a true test of the Kings.
Hope you enjoyed the ride, I know we did.
Jack
