2023-08-03, 11:37 PM
(2023-07-28, 07:38 PM)Kauri Wrote: - Chloride City: Just don't come in from Monarch Canyon. That's a serious 4x4 road. Hopefully other folks here can give input on the route in from the Nevada side. But there will be a point past which you shouldn't take the Sienna, as the road gets steep and off-camber (I think there are some good videos on YouTube).
- Telephone Canyon: You probably won't be able to do any of it with your Sienna, but I think that might be another nice hike to consider.
There are three roads that one could reasonably use to approach chloride city from the Nevada side. I'm very familiar with two of them, and have never driven the third.
Most people use the road from Hwy 374 at the "welcome to nevada" sign, very near the Death valley entrance sign. This road is somewhat bumpy/rocky, but not a problem overall with one exception. There is one water cut drainage that could be tough for low clearance vehicles around 3.5 miles from the Hwy. Though once I saw something like a sedan go that way and I didn't see them come back, so I guess they made it?
Another way that I've never tried, also joins with Hwy 374 at these coordinates 36.87215, -116.82908. It's in a flatter part of the basin and I wonder if it might be real easy, but I've never bothered to find out.
The final approach road is from Hwy 95 near a VHF tower 36.81219, -116.72950. It's a great road if you can get past the two washes that you must drive down into and then out of. They're about 3 miles from the highway. Clearance isn't a problem, but 2WD might be. One of them has a somewhat steep drive out and might be trouble, or maybe not? I'm always in 4WD, so I can't say for sure.
All that said, if you can get past the aforementioned obstacles, I think you can easily drive to the road junction where it starts to climb to Chloride city, 36.71776, -116.88524. You'll definitely not want to go any further. Also there's a good roadside campsite just inside the park boundary if that's something you're looking for.
Dumont dunes is reliably busy with ATVs. I can't imagine you'll enjoy walking there and it probably wouldn't be safe. I've never been to Big dune, but it looks nice from the highway and I expect sees far fewer visitors. I think it's worth checking out.