2021-08-22, 02:56 PM
(2021-08-21, 09:30 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: It’s been about 14-15 years since I drove over lower Wildrose Road. Then and for quite a few years previous it was a mix of pavement, broken pavement and dirt due to repeated flash flooding. At times it was closed for lengthy periods until it could be repaired after flooding...
As for roads being closed entering the park, I get confused over the road from Sand Spring up Oriental Wash. I tried once to head up there in 2000 only to find a closure sign and barricade. The last time I traveled the road through Oriental Wash was in 2008 and I accessed it from the mouth of Tule Canyon just inside Nevada. That road was recently graded and angled over to the old road out of the park and up Oriental Wash...
I first started visiting the Park and the area around it in 2002. In that period, lower Wildrose Road was always an old road with bad pavement in certain stretches. I recall it was then closed for at least at least one to two years due to being badly damaged by runoff. Though toward the end of that time, I and others drove through there with no problem.
Since then I have driven through at least once, namely on September 1, 2020. I recall the road being okay, but I don't recall seeing any dramatic improvements or reconstruction. I didn't write anything about the road conditions in my notes for the day, so apparently nothing struck me as particularly good or bad.
I've also driven between Death Valley and Gold Point via the Oriental Wash road more than once. The "closure" you saw might have been temporary due to road damage. Or just a CYA sign like Inyo County has so many times put out on the Saline Valley Road.