2024-04-04, 02:01 PM
I spent most of the last month out in various deserts, including DV, SW Utah, and Gold Butte, NV. Once I get a few days' sleep to make up for all my hiking, I will do a TR here. Unlike our resident dirt bags, I stayed in lodging except for Gold Butte. In DV we stayed at SPW for 12 nights.
This is an NPS franchise and I guess it comes up every 5 years or so. So it's new management now. Here are some things that are different.
Branding. They now call it "Stovepipe" (no "Wells") I guess they got some PR folks in who did not like the proper name. And they printed up a fancy new color map to show where the rooms and RV sites are. There is a new logo which I guess is supposed to be an abstract sand dune. And the staff all wear baseball caps with "STOVEPIPE" blazed across the top. (My personal take: If you take away the "Well" then WTF is a place named "Stovepipe" out in the middle of the desert?).
WiFi: Yes! In the room (password protected, but everyone must know it) and also a "Guest" network that covers the rest of the area. The Guest worked pretty well at non-prime time. The in-room worked great the whole time.
Furnishings: They took out the in-room coffee makers. And the morning coffee urn in the lobby disappeared with Covid and I'm sure will never return. Otherwise unchanged.
General store: Really, it's been mostly a cheaper gift shop for years. Well now you can't find any T shirts that say "Death Valley" (except for DVNP) - they all say "Stovepipe". Which I'm sure all your friends at home will appreciate, not. There seem to be fewer and fewer food and other "general" options there.
Web site. Grrr. It doesn't tell you anything about availability, offering only a "request to book". Strange. So you can't really poke around and see what is actually available.
Otherwise seems pretty much unchanged. One of the ice machines (nearest the pool) is gone and the one hidden in the Roadrunners building is not on the map but still operative.
There was trenching for a cable of some sort going on between SPW and FC. Wonder what that is. I don't know if the WiFi back haul changed to give more bandwidth or what. The cell site is still up.
This is an NPS franchise and I guess it comes up every 5 years or so. So it's new management now. Here are some things that are different.
Branding. They now call it "Stovepipe" (no "Wells") I guess they got some PR folks in who did not like the proper name. And they printed up a fancy new color map to show where the rooms and RV sites are. There is a new logo which I guess is supposed to be an abstract sand dune. And the staff all wear baseball caps with "STOVEPIPE" blazed across the top. (My personal take: If you take away the "Well" then WTF is a place named "Stovepipe" out in the middle of the desert?).
WiFi: Yes! In the room (password protected, but everyone must know it) and also a "Guest" network that covers the rest of the area. The Guest worked pretty well at non-prime time. The in-room worked great the whole time.
Furnishings: They took out the in-room coffee makers. And the morning coffee urn in the lobby disappeared with Covid and I'm sure will never return. Otherwise unchanged.
General store: Really, it's been mostly a cheaper gift shop for years. Well now you can't find any T shirts that say "Death Valley" (except for DVNP) - they all say "Stovepipe". Which I'm sure all your friends at home will appreciate, not. There seem to be fewer and fewer food and other "general" options there.
Web site. Grrr. It doesn't tell you anything about availability, offering only a "request to book". Strange. So you can't really poke around and see what is actually available.
Otherwise seems pretty much unchanged. One of the ice machines (nearest the pool) is gone and the one hidden in the Roadrunners building is not on the map but still operative.
There was trenching for a cable of some sort going on between SPW and FC. Wonder what that is. I don't know if the WiFi back haul changed to give more bandwidth or what. The cell site is still up.