Been to Death Valley Before?

[baz7175]

I'm planning another of my rather mental snapping weekends away in a few days time, this time round a 450 mile drive down to Death Valley, spend a day there and then drive back again...all in all, quite a short distance compared to my usual jaunts!

...as I've never been to Death Valley before I thought I'd throw the question out there about things that may not necessarily be on my to do list while there. Most of the better known stuff I already have planned for, such as Badwater Basin, the sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells, Ubehebe Crater, Scottys Castle, Harmony Borax Works, Artists Pallette and Dante's View, but I'm sure there are several other things that don't jump out from doing a few days of research on this interweb thingmajig...

So, anyone else been that can offer more insights?

ETA: No 4x4 or raised axel wagon available, just a simple boggo standard hirecar, so options off the beaten track are going to be limited...

Edited by baz7175 on Wednesday 25th January 03:10

[GlenMH]

Then don't try to get to The Racetrack! I seriously broke the hire car suspension getting out there as it is 26 miles+ each way up an unmade road. Magical place, though.

[Hub]

If you are entering or exiting the park at Beatty, stop at the Rhyolite ghost town nearby where there aren't many building left, but some random sculptures in the desert! (It probably is not worth a huge detour if you aren't already passing though)

http://goldwellmuseum.org/

[Speed addicted]

If you can work it in a visit to Bodie is well worth it. Abandoned mining towns are cool!
Also if you're in a Mustang don't pull onto the (what turned out to be) soft shoulder in death valley to take a picture. We had a worrying 10 mins or so while tried to extricate the bogged down Mustang form the soft ground, this ended with a long reverse to get back onto the tarmac as it wouldn't go forward.

[K12beano]

Was there for just two nights and didn't manage half of all that!!

Did get to Zabriskie Point for sunrise....

[baz7175]

GlenMH said:

Then don't try to get to The Racetrack! I seriously broke the hire car suspension getting out there as it is 26 miles+ each way up an unmade road. Magical place, though.

lol, a quick web search on it shows it's a stunning place to visit but precarious to get to - it says average time to do the 27 mile off road track is 2.5hrs and be prepared to change a tire once, perhaps twice, if you're lucky

Hub said:

If you are entering or exiting the park at Beatty, stop at the Rhyolite ghost town nearby where there aren't many building left, but some random sculptures in the desert! (It probably is not worth a huge detour if you aren't already passing though)

http://goldwellmuseum.org/

I'm contemplating a quick snooze at the only hotel in Beatty, I spotted Rhyolite off the access road to the North on the way there and back, cheers!

Speed addicted said:

If you can work it in a visit to Bodie is well worth it. Abandoned mining towns are cool!
Also if you're in a Mustang don't pull onto the (what turned out to be) soft shoulder in death valley to take a picture. We had a worrying 10 mins or so while tried to extricate the bogged down Mustang form the soft ground, this ended with a long reverse to get back onto the tarmac as it wouldn't go forward.

lol, sounds like fun! No Mustang for me, standard lunchbox on wheels unfortunately

K12beano said:

Was there for just two nights and didn't manage half of all that!!

Did get to Zabriskie Point for sunrise....

Cheers! Depending on how well the 7hr drive down goes through the night on Friday, hopefully I can find a good perch for sunrise (currently have Nemo Canyon on the West side of the park pencilled in for this if I'm still awake enough). Dantes View is then down for the sunset as the Badwater Basin overview looks awesome!

[baz7175]

Argh...I have the car all packed up and did a quick weather check this morning...snow on the West approach roads is dictating snow chains needed now...something I don't have with the hire car and they don't have available

[0a]

GlenMH said:

Then don't try to get to The Racetrack! I seriously broke the hire car suspension getting out there as it is 26 miles+ each way up an unmade road. Magical place, though.

? You just posted the biggest benefit of a hire car????

[baz7175]

baz7175 said:

Argh...I have the car all packed up and did a quick weather check this morning...snow on the West approach roads is dictating snow chains needed now...something I don't have with the hire car and they don't have available

Woohoo, one of the workmates gave me a number to call for traffic info, 2mins later I've another route that snow doesn't affect, 25mins extra driving time, but whats that when it's a 7hr+ drive to get down there to begin with

[GlenMH]

0a said:

GlenMH said:

Then don't try to get to The Racetrack! I seriously broke the hire car suspension getting out there as it is 26 miles+ each way up an unmade road. Magical place, though.

? You just posted the biggest benefit of a hire car????

Trust me: driving another couple of thousand miles with NO damping at the back (both rear dampers had dumped their oil on the way back from the racetrack...) was rather too entertaining. We were hitting bumps and then jumping half a lane to left or right completely randomly and then spending the next 30+ seconds bouncing.... Very interesting in the middle of a 4 lane highway round LA!

[baz7175]

GlenMH said:

0a said:

GlenMH said:

Then don't try to get to The Racetrack! I seriously broke the hire car suspension getting out there as it is 26 miles+ each way up an unmade road. Magical place, though.

? You just posted the biggest benefit of a hire car????

Trust me: driving another couple of thousand miles with NO damping at the back (both rear dampers had dumped their oil on the way back from the racetrack...) was rather too entertaining. We were hitting bumps and then jumping half a lane to left or right completely randomly and then spending the next 30+ seconds bouncing.... Very interesting in the middle of a 4 lane highway round LA!

My thinking exactly, with 600 miles to drive back to the SF Bay area with the first whack being through the desert, I decided to give it a miss...next time hopefully!

[K50 DEL]

I had a Nissan 350z Roadster on hire when I did the trip a few years ago, 26 miles of graded track seemed like a recipe for disaster so I gave that one a miss..... I loved Scotty's castle though!