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

[netllama]

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.

trip report please?

[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.

trip report please?

This visit was quite short.  Mostly an opportunistic detour from a SF->LA->SF trip that I couldn't wiggle out of.

Briefly:
We drove into DV much later than expected the on night of 1/18.  Entering from the south on Saratoga Springs Road, which has been graded into glassy smoothness with just enough surprises to keep me on my toes.
We camped a ways from the wetlands parking area.  Very quiet there.  I did a night hike into the wetlands area and that proved to be very worthwhile.  There was an amazing frog concert going on.  Very much worth the experience.

Next day we hiked up Willow canyon out of the Mormon Point parking area.  Quite a bit of water flowing out of the narrows at the end of the hike.  After that drove to Badwater.  Manly lake is quite large still, and I got a decent photo  of the lake. 
   
Then a rushed drive to the FC ranger station to try and snag an Echo campsite.  Too late.  So we drove up nearly 4000 feet to the Armargosa Cutoff and camped there.  Echo Canyon has also been graded to within an inch of its life.  Our Tesla would have made it in there without a scratch.  The parts of the cutoff that I drove and walked were in decent condition, just like I remembered it from many previous trips.  I walked back to the big step.  It had been "improved" by someone by knocking off some of the rock that made it difficult.  A dumptruck worth of rock had been added to make passage pretty easy.  Didn't go back any further.  Another peaceful night.

Since we were up there, we visited Inyo Mine.  Some of those buildings need some engineering love if they are to remain standing for the short term.  The mine is still open.  

Then down to Zabriskie for a walk halfway down.  Got an official designated campsite at the end of Marble/Cottonwood just before closing.  Then dinner at the Saloon, to appease my football loving wife (49rs playing). 

The sandy part of Cottonwood road had a few surprise woop-de-doos in it.  Otherwise, smooth sailing.  The campsite (closest to Marble trailhead) is nice and only one vehicle drove by at night.  Might have been the ranger, don't know.  
   
Marble Canyon has a wonderful if unchallenging narrows. Spent a good part of the day poking around some of the canyons past the narrows.  Then off to home by way of Trona and Lake Isabella.

[netllama]

thanks for the TR! the lake manly photo is lovely!

[MojaveGeek]

Nice photo of the lake!

[Beardilocks]

Well, here we are again folks.

As of 2/7/24 Badwater, 178, and Dante’s View are closed.  I spoke with park staff and they’re hoping it won’t be more than a few days to clear them.  “Debris on road & shoulder loss but no undercutting or pavement loss”. 

Sucks for me being in Greenwater valley.  Lol.  Ah well. 

The good news is we’re already almost up to the yearly average of rainfall in the park.  Do it should be clear sailing from here on out right?  🤣

[TacoLand]

I was waiting to hear from our man on the ground ... this morning DV NPS was reporting some temporary road closures on their site due to road debris and washouts, but have since removed that info for all but Dante’s View. Also saw a post earlier that they were running snowplows on Hwy 190 over Towne Pass – https://twitter.com/Caltrans9/status/175...8657299660

[Beardilocks]

Yep, about 20min after my post I saw Badwater/178 open back up. NPS lady said several days. Guess it wasn’t that bad. Looks like Dante’s is open as far as Greenwater but closed from there.

I heard 190 was closed SPW to FC overnight.

And I saw reports they were plowing 190 over by the Lee Flat entrance.

Have to see what tonight does. Looks like another 1/2” of rain but also much lower temps than last night.

[TacoLand]

Sounds gnarly. Thankfully you've got the inside of your truck to keep you company.

Sorry, low hanging fruit. Hopefully you're still getting some adventures / experiences in while all this is going on.

[DAW89446]

I heard 190 was closed SPW to FC overnight. 

The Sierra Wave News posted a Caltrans report from 0330 last night that CA190 was closed throughout the valley, and I posted it, but then a friend sent me another Caltrans report timed from 0930 that it was back open, so I deleted the thread.

[DVexile]

Weather forecast is for a few hundredths on the valley floor tonight. Looking at the radar I can see why, flow is directly from the west this time so the mountains will squeeze out almost all the moisture before it gets to the valley unlike the southwesterly flow from the past few days.

Finger crossed most of the roads stay open!