Death Valley CLOSED: Fall/Winter 23/24 Trip Planning

[TacoLand]

Thanks for the info. Thinking of a mid-January trip & if we get that far north in the Park will probably shoot for walking Titus since it's a more rare experience (sans cars) than revisiting Fall Canyon.

[Bluegreen kayak]

A nice Christmas present, having so many of the roads and much of the park open again. My usual March visit is looking a lot better than it did back in the fall. Happy Holidays to all of you desert fans!

[TacoLand]

Update posted today by DVNP regarding West Side Road:

West Side Road - The southern end is open from Badwater Road to Warm Springs Canyon Road. It is closed north of Warm Springs. NPS crews are working on Trail, Hanaupah, Galena, Johnson, and Queen of Sheba currently (as of Jan. 17, 2024). More of West Side Road will open once that work is complete. However, the section from Trail Canyon to the northern junction of Badwater Road will not open soon. There is still a very muddy section where the elevated road got washed away. The contract to repair that section is scheduled to start in April.

[MojaveGeek]

Thanks!

I also saw on the park page that Emigrant could open at the end of this month. The road up Wildrose is probably OK as they say it will open when Emigrant does.

I'm a bit surprised the spur to Keane Wonder has not been opened yet. That is a relatively low hanging fruit with a lot of visitor potential. But it crosses that wash on the way in which drains a fairly big area so perhaps really badly trashed.

[Beardilocks]

Can confirm that there’s loads of big machinery up West Side.

Interesting to me that they’re willing to open so much of from the south as a dead end road. A rare time when Trail will be such a long slog to get to.

[MojaveGeek]

Can confirm that there’s loads of big machinery up West Side.

Interesting to me that they’re willing to open so much of from the south as a dead end road. A rare time when Trail will be such a long slog to get to.

Thanks for the update.

Seems like a great time to go out there if you want to be in that area without much traffic.

[TacoLand]

Thanks for the update.

Seems like a great time to go out there if you want to be in that area without much traffic.

Probably not much traffic because it's closed. And if you do see traffic it's going to be NPS crews working on reopening the roads ... so they might not take too kindly.

[Beardilocks]

West side is gated both ends. Classic “Hard Closed”. 😁 Unlike most of the Inyo Co roads and Owlsheads which are “no-liability” Soft Closed.

I think Geek meant when they open the South end. I imagine they’ll have a grader or front loader blocking anything north of trail canyon

[Beardilocks]

As DAW mentioned in another thread, Big Pine Rd/North Rd/Eureka is to officially open 1/22 along with Keane Wonder.

It was also reported that Emigrant Rd to the Kilns should open 1/31.

[AlanMcR]

As DAW mentioned in another thread, Big Pine Rd/North Rd/Eureka is to officially open 1/22 along with Keane Wonder.

It was also reported that Emigrant Rd to the Kilns should open 1/31.

It figures. We just left DV on the 20th. Having those open would have made the trip so much better.