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

[Beardilocks]

This is obviously Saline-centric info, but if the park is working there, it is working elsewhere I would imagine  Repairing the Lippencott road?  Never would have expected that.    In that report when it says the road the the Racetrack, and then Teakettle, I'm guess is meant the Hunter Mtn route to the Racetrack Valley, and then down the valley past Teakettle and Ubehebe, maybe?  With all this fresh grading, things could be really good on back country roads - some of these have probably not been maintained in years.  I don't know how often the Racetrack Valley road gets graded, but conditions vary so much I would guess only from time to time.

Thanks for the update!

Yeah, I snagged this from the Saline Valley Preservation group's site.  They have been particularly vocal about getting the springs opened up ASAP and AFAIK this was an NPS response to their barrage of inquiries.  

My gut feeling to the Lippencott repairs is either that it's been on their eventual to-do list for decades and as long as they're out there they may as well run a grader over it (as netllama suggests) or that they are trying to develop more routes in/out of Saline Valley.  After having vehicles stuck in the snow on BOTH North & South Passes last year (both of which required air rescue) and the Saline Valley group's sheer determination to get out to the springs whether there are roads or not or 10ft of snow (there has in fact been quite a lot of visitation to the springs in the last few weeks despite the washed out road and closures), NPS might be thinking that they need a lower elevation route for getting folks in & out that's not quite as rough as Dedeckera.  Just speculating.  

I've read a lot of debate about Lippencott over the last few days since this came out.  Even down to fears that mentioning the name of the road on the interwebs will massively increase traffic.  It is a beloved gatekeeper for many.  I don't think simply grading/repairing the road will have any effect whatsoever.  Unless NPS themselves start advertising it as a route.  NPS often describes the trip out to Racetrack itself as a harrowing experience.   I don't think there are many folks that are going to plan a loop through Racetrack/Lippencott/Saline if they're not in a reasonable vehicle.  But then you should probably never underestimate tourists.