2020-11-15, 09:27 PM
I posted in the other thread before I saw this, but copied it to here for clarity.
The old Toll road isn't a bad drive. 4WD is certainly helpful. I rescued a kid out of there, at the stairsteps just past the Falls parking lot, who decided he could make it up there in his Chevy Corsica. Short answer; no, he couldn't. And yes, alcohol was involved in the kid's "adventure". Yet, back in 2007, my son Noah went to Darwin almost daily for the mail, driving a 1978 Dodge Polara (the Green monster). I certainly would never recommend someone trying the Toll road in a 2wd passenger car, as the stairsteps can be messy, as well as the deep sand.
To be clear, the Toll road didn't go to China Gardens. It went straight from Darwin down into Panamint Valley, and followed relatively the current Highway 190 route to Stovepipe Wells.
There are a couple of offshoots from the Darwin road. One, before getting into the upper wash, leads up to a mine you can see from the Toll road. You can drive it, but I wouldn't recommend it. We did it once, but I barely made it, locked front and rear, and aired down. At one point, we had light under the front tires while climbing the hill. I try to avoid that whenever possible. There also is a now single track (barely) road leading back into the hill from when the ore bin is on the toll road. It's not longer even suitable for a bike, but could be hiked. I don't know what's back there, and I doubt it's very well traveled.
David Bricker / SYR
The old Toll road isn't a bad drive. 4WD is certainly helpful. I rescued a kid out of there, at the stairsteps just past the Falls parking lot, who decided he could make it up there in his Chevy Corsica. Short answer; no, he couldn't. And yes, alcohol was involved in the kid's "adventure". Yet, back in 2007, my son Noah went to Darwin almost daily for the mail, driving a 1978 Dodge Polara (the Green monster). I certainly would never recommend someone trying the Toll road in a 2wd passenger car, as the stairsteps can be messy, as well as the deep sand.
To be clear, the Toll road didn't go to China Gardens. It went straight from Darwin down into Panamint Valley, and followed relatively the current Highway 190 route to Stovepipe Wells.
There are a couple of offshoots from the Darwin road. One, before getting into the upper wash, leads up to a mine you can see from the Toll road. You can drive it, but I wouldn't recommend it. We did it once, but I barely made it, locked front and rear, and aired down. At one point, we had light under the front tires while climbing the hill. I try to avoid that whenever possible. There also is a now single track (barely) road leading back into the hill from when the ore bin is on the toll road. It's not longer even suitable for a bike, but could be hiked. I don't know what's back there, and I doubt it's very well traveled.
David Bricker / SYR
DV Rat. Live upstate NY, play Death Valley, retiring to Hawaii. '95 Cherokee, barely.