Winter Riding in Death Valley *pics*

[Lightcycle]

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Hello from Death Valley, where the temperatures reach a balmy 24°C during the middle of the day!

We both got sick and tired of being buried under 5 feet of snow up in Canada, so we tossed the enduros on the back of the truck and drove a couple of days down into the California desert to do some Dakar Rally-style riding!

This is our home for the next little while

The campsite at Stovepipe Wells is pretty much empty. There are some RVs and camper vans, but not too many willing to brave the single digit temperatures overnight in a tent.

 

[Lightcycle]

It's been a couple of months since we've been on two wheels, so to get our riding muscles back into shape, we do a little jaunt on the asphalt to partake in some Death Valley touristing.

Riding past the stunning coloured rocks of Golden Canyon

Brilliant blues, lush browns and fiery oranges!! What a completely different colour palette from the drab grey skies and white, snow-covered ground where we came from. We're soaking this and the warm weather up like sponges!

We took a quick ride to check out Badwater Basin, currently the lowest point in North America at 282ft below sea level

Before this trip, the lowest point in North America was deep in my soul, crushed beneath 5 feet of snow and ice.

The white stuff on the ground in the pic above isn't snow, thank god! It's salt.

Foot traffic has trampled the salt onto a flat walking path

Oh, it feels so good to be back out on two again!

 

[shanekingsley]

Ah so nice to read your ride reports again

What made you decide to go to Death Valley of all places this time?

 

[Lightcycle]

What made you decide to go to Death Valley of all places this time?

This guy convinced us:

We spent two weeks at the beginning of this year watching MotoGP star Danilo Petrucci attempt the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. We were captivated by the images of the riding conditions in the desert, so we wanted to do some desert riding ourselves!

 

[Lightcycle]

Sunrise here is at 7AM and the sun disappears below the horizon at 5PM. This only gives us about 10 hours of riding time. Since we ride so slow and stop often to take lots of pictures, we really have to make an effort to get up right at sunrise to make the most of the shortened days.

Our route for today takes us into Chloride City, an old mining settlement established back in 1905, during the boom in mineral mining. It's now turned into a ghost town.

Taking in the beautiful desert scenery

To get to Chloride City, we have to climb back out of Death Valley, abandoning the warm temperatures of the valley floor. It's probably back into single digits. Cold enough that we have to layer up. At this time of year, it's only warm down at the bottom.

It didn't take long to get our dirt legs underneath us, as we negotiated the steep, rutted trail upwards

We stopped by this old shack, one of the few buildings left remaining at the site where Chloride City used to be situated

When we peeked into the shack, we were surprised to discover that it's a storage shed for mining tools and there's an entrance to the mine right behind it!

'Splorin'! Hard hats must be worn from this point on.

 

[Lightcycle]

After poking around Chloride City, we hopped back on the bikes and negotiated a nerve-wrackingly narrow trail with with a steep dropoffs, riding up to the top of the cliffs

From the top of Chloride Cliffs, you get an amazing view of Death Valley 5000 feet below

Having a zen moment up at the top of Chloride Cliffs

While we were hiking around the top of the cliffs, Neda spotted a glass jar with a notepad inside. We read the first entry, it was a heart-wrenching story which I won't share on the Internet. Better to be read in person, by those who venture out to that spot.

The notepad had been there for over two years and several other visitors have added their own entries. Neda jots down a few notes

 

[Lightcycle]

We leave Chloride Cliffs and head back down to the main road, crossing the state border into Beatty, NV, the closest town outside of Death Valley.

The park is huge, with very large distances between the different trails and sites. Our tiny enduros tanks are only able to manage a measly 200 kms till dry. From eye-balling the map, it would be clear that we'd need to bring extra gas into the valley with us. Since Chloride City was so close to Beatty, we rode into town to fill our tanks and save our gas reserves at camp.

We weren't the only ones filling up

These wild donkeys roaming around Death Valley and Nevada are actually invasive species, not native to North America. Originally from Africa, the were brought over by Christopher Columbus as a desert pack animal. Today, they compete with sheep and other local species for vegetation and other limited resources.

They're cute though. And relatively friendly... if they think you have food for them...

Back on the road! Heading back into Death Valley, we pass another ghost town, Rhyolite

Rhyolite's a bit different from other ghost towns in the valley, in that a bunch of artists have added sculptures in and around the site. The collection of outdoor installations is called the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

This one is called the Last Supper created in 1984 by Charles Albert Szukalski

Hey! Is that a giant, nekkid lego mermaid in the back over there? Well, then. I must check it out up close...

Yep, checks out okay.

All of the sculptures are right on the trail, making them very interactive. This one above is called "Lady Desert The Venus of Nevada" by Dr.Hugo Heyrman.

My favourite sculpture at Rhyolite. This one is called "Portone" by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, it was just added a few months ago

 

[Lightcycle]

From Rhyolite, we make our way to Titus Canyon. This is perhaps the most well-known dual-sport ride in Death Valley. The gravel road is hard-pack, and well-maintained, totally doable by big bikes.

Stopping for a scenic break

Titus Canyon Road starts off as a twisty trail that winds around the Grapevine Mountains. About 35 kms in, after the Red Pass, the walls of the canyon rise up all around you, as the path follows a dried up river bed. Definitely not for the claustrophobic!

Visitors to Titus Canyon are warned that the road is sometimes closed due to flash floods. Thankfully, it doesn't rain too much in Death Valley. Due to the tight passage through the canyon, the trail is one-way only, running from east-to-west.

Pea gravel collects at the bottom of Titus Canyon and makes our front wheel and handlebars dance a bit uncomfortably as we wind between the narrow rock faces on either side of us. At this time of year, the sun never makes it fully overhead, taking a more parabolic arc closer to the horizon, so we ride in the shadows of the canyon walls the entire time.

What a fabulously scenic ride through Titus Canyon! The trail spits us out on Scotty's Castle Road, and it's just a quick 20 minute ride back to our campsite at Stovepipe Wells.

Great first day of riding, with more to come!!!

 

[mimico_polak]

I’m full of awe, wonder, and extremely jealous all at once.

Looks awesome! Enjoy and be safe!

 

[sburns]

Kewl trip man, yeah this winter is feeling heavy....

Death Valley has been a interest of mine for a long time, one of the hottest places on the planet, and has a certain mystic about it.
Years ago I met this army vet in Atlanta, told me a story about this festival in DV, and at night they use to fire tracer ammo (heated pellets) from big guns to light up the night sky. Very American.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[Lightcycle]

Our next ride is going to be one of the longest riding days, so we make sure we wake up before dawn to prep the bikes.

"In winter carry chains." Hmmm....

No problem! Our motorcycles have chains. They must mean no shaft drive bikes. Glad we didn't bring the GSes!

We are staging at Panamint Springs, on the west side of the park. From there, we ride on a twisty asphalt road which winds around the lip of the Panamint Valley. If we peer over the guardrail, there's an immediate 4500 drop-off which gives us a great view of the valley floor. Powerful gusts of winds blow our bikes this way and that, and I'm really glad for that guardrail! We stop just before the West Gate, which is where we turn off to Saline Valley Road, the start of our trail.

Saline Valley Road

The first few kms are flat and uninteresting, but then the road begins to slowly climb and suddenly Joshua Trees crowd around us on both sides of the trail, watching us plod along like spectators at a sporting event.

Kinks and turns disrupt that straight dirt road and we don't mind at all. Because that's when the fun begins! I'm having a blast pushing my bike down into the corners and power-sliding the rear around the turns with the throttle.

We reach the fork in the trail, and the plan is to head NE up Hunter Mountain to Tea Kettle Junction, where we'll turn back south towards the Racetrack Playa, down Lippincott Road and then meet up with Saline Valley Road again, making a giant loop for the day.

Fun twists and turns on the gravel road

A sign warns us of a large sand trap about 40 kms ahead. No problem! After watching the Dakar Rally, I'm eager to try out a bit of sandy track!

But wait, this "white sand" is reeeally slippery! What's up with that?

Maybe we were carrying the wrong kinds of chains?

I'm thinking of turning back at this point, but Neda argues that the icy patches might just be in the shadows of the hill, and if we hit the sunlit portions, there might be a dry path through.

So we ride further and discover... no way through. Hunter Mountain Road a no-go for us on this particular winter's day.

I think if it was just snow, it would have been fine. We could probably paddle through it. But our tires find no purchase on this slippery ice, and attempting the climb up the steep trail with steeper drop-offs on the side means that it's too dangerous to continue, lest we get caught in an ice valley with no way for our bikes to climb out of.

 

[Lightcycle]

We turn back to the intersection and head further up Saline Valley Road, just to salvage the day and get more riding in

Right after this photo was taken, a deafening roar pierces the air above us.

We quickly stare up towards where the sound is coming from, but we're looking in the wrong place. Further ahead of the sonic rip in the sky, two fighter jets have buzzed by our heads.

They were flying so low, you could make out a lot of details in the plane. OMG, that was so cool!

I thought it would be awesome to get a shot of our bikes with the jets flying above us, so we stopped for a few minutes waiting for them to return. Nada.

However, as soon as I put my camera away and we started riding again, the jets made another appearance. But I was too slow getting my camera out and missed them yet again. Dammit!

Unfortunately, sound travels slower than light, so you see the planes long before you hear them. By the time you hear them, it's too late!

It was like taking a picture of those elusive pandas in the zoo in that old Kit Kat commercial:

So I nicknamed the planes buzzing our heads, "The Panda Jets"!

We continue our ride, further up Saline Valley Road

Another roar fills the sky, we look up and ahead, and the planes have returned. This time flying well below the tops of the mountains. We stop and wait once again. There are two Panda Jets flying in tandem, I've missed the first one, but soon after:

Aha! Success! No shot of the bike in this one, but beggars can't be choosers

Edwards Air Force Base lies directly south of us, and F-35s routinely run exercises and drills through the narrow canyons in the western part of the park. The area they fly through is officially called Rainbow Canyon, but it's been nicknamed "Star Wars" canyon due to Luke Skywalker claiming that flying through the trenches of the Death Star would be "just like Beggar's Canyon back home!"

Not too far from where we are right now, the Father Crowley Overlook situated above the canyon is perhaps the only place civilians can watch fighter jets from above, as they perform their maneuvers in the valley below. The planes fly so close, photographers can sometimes get pictures of the pilots' faces inside the cockpit!

Not my pic, found it on the Internet

We continued up Saline Valley Road until we hit Lippincott and then turned back to where we came from. Any further would have caused a bit of range anxiety, after having exhausted a good portion of our fuel resources on our failed run up the snowy Hunter Mountain.

On the way back to Panamint Springs, we stopped for a break beside this friendly Joshua Tree

While we were stopped at the side of the trail, munching on Cliff's Bars, a rider on a 690 Enduro pulls up beside us and we all start chatting. Turns out he was from BC as well! He was riding the Socal BDR and he had just come down from the Racetrack. So jelly!

Jason lives near Squamish, where we also used to live before we moved to the Okanagan. We exchanged info and discovered we're on the same Facebook groups, so I'm sure we'll run into him again.

Although we're a bit disappointed that we didn't make it to the Racetrack Playa today, it wasn't a bad day at all. We had fun playing in the twisty gravel roads, while taking in the amazing scenery around us. And we were buzzed by Panda Fighter Jets flying so close above our helmets! The coolest part of the day!

 

[Lightcycle]

We are attempting to reach the Racetrack Playa once again.

Yesterday was not our first failed attempt. Almost ten years ago, we were riding here in Death Valley at the start of our RTW trip. Back then, I was on an overloaded R1200GS flailing around in the deep loose gravel on Racetrack Road, then I dropped my bike and sprained my ankle. No Racetrack Playa that day either.

If I was superstitious, I'd be starting to think the Playa is jinxed. At least for me...

Ubehebe Crater, or as Neda calls it, "Heebee Jeebie Crater"

Today we're staging at Ubehebe, making another attempt at the Playa, but from the opposite direction. It's only 50 kms away, so it (should) be a quick run directly south. Then we'll do some 'splorin', and then head back again. Don't have to leave too early today, we have lots of time.

I really want to see this Racetrack Playa. Two failed attempts now and it's become sort of a haunted bucket list item for me.

We set off on Racetrack Road and it's exactly as I remember it. Loose, deep gravel pushes our handlebars left and right. It's only till we build up enough speed to float the front wheel up above the gravel that we actually have fun in the loose stuff.

My bike is over 400 lbs lighter than the last time I was here, and I was having a blast braaaaping the throttle and roosting gravel behind me. Whoever follows behind the lead rider, best leave plenty of room ahead. Otherwise, they'll be picking dust and gravel out of their teeth! These bikes are a much better (and fun) tool for trails like these.

Mugging at Tea Kettle Junction

With our super-light enduro bikes basically surfing above a bed of gravel marbles, we make it to Tea Kettle Junction in record time. That was super fun!

With a name like "Tea Kettle Junction", visitors often tie their own tea kettle to the sign. Based on the writing on all these tea kettles, I am guessing they remove these kettles every couple of months or so. There weren't any kettles on there dated earlier than December 2021.

Tea Kettle Junction: The collection

 

[Lightcycle]

Just past Tea Kettle Junction, we see the Grandstand appear in the distance, long before we even reach the north end of Playa. The Grandstand is a huge rocky island in the middle of a dry lake bed. Because of the oval shape of the bed, it's nicknamed "Racetrack Playa". That rocky island is huge! It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, the closer we get.

Finally, we reach the playa where we park just opposite the Grandstand on the north end. Then we grab our cameras and start walking to the big, dark rock formation:

If you look closely, you can see people climbing on the Grandstand

We noticed a few of the hikers are wearing motorcycle gear. When we walk back to the parking area, we see that a gaggle of enduros have joined our bikes.

Plastic Bike Convention

With the exception of two larger Tenere 700s, all the bikes were 250-450cc street-legal enduros. Nice choice of bikes for this terrain, if I don't say so myself! We all belonged to the Clan of the Plastic Bike!

We get to chatting and find out that these guys are all from Utah. There are ten riders, and they always do an annual enduro trip somewhere this time of year. Best part is... they have a chase vehicle following them around! All loaded up with extra fuel, parts and tools! LUXURY!!!

One of the riders put a shift pedal through his crankcase the day before. But no problem? They had towed A SPARE BIKE to DV just in case something like that were to happen. Nice.

Wes, from St George, gave us his email address and told us to contact him if we were ever headed up his way. He promised there'd be some excellent riding in the area. Super nice guys.

We say our goodbyes and head further down to the southern end of the Playa. The oval dry bed is about 4.5 kms long and 2.1 km wide.

Now *THIS* is what we came down here to see: the famous sailing rocks of the Racetrack Playa!

At the south-eastern end of the Playa, large rocks have left long, comet-tail grooves in the dried ground behind them.

How do these rocks move across the desert floor? Wind? UFOs? No one knew for sure.

Until 2014, when researchers set up a camera to capture the rocks' movements. Turns out that a thin layer of ice, just mms thick, sometimes forms on the surface of the dry bed. When these sheets of ice melt, they cause the rocks above them to move slowly.

Ok, whatever. I still think it's UFOs.

Neck and neck. Too close to call it. Gotta go to the photo finish...

Come on, little buddy! You can do it! Come to poppa!

The sailing rocks of the Racetrack Playa were really cool to see in person. Especially after ten years of trying to make it out here. So worth it!

We backtrack north to where we came from. Wes and the boys are still parked by the Grandstand so we waved at them as we rode by.

Further up, we ran into a group of five heavy-weight Adventure motorcycles stopped on the trail, all line abreast. It looked like they were having a serious discussion. We stopped to see if anything was wrong and one of the riders asked what the trail was like where we came from.

"Same as this!", I pointed all around us.

They didn't seem to like that answer at all, and I think they were debating whether to turn their 600lb+ behemoths around and go back.

Shrug. We said, "Good luck!" and braaaaapped out of there, leaving behind us a cloud of dust, gravel and carefree fun.

Another great day in the desert!

 

[veteq]

What an amazing trip you just went on, love the photos.

 

[Jayell]

Fantastic! Keep it coming! Ride safe!

 

[Lightcycle]

My Dakar Rally itched hasn't really been scratched due to a lack of dune riding. Although I've ridden in sand before, I really wanted to try my hand at riding up and down dunes! From all the rally race coverage we've watched, it looks like it would be so much fun.

Vehicles aren't allowed to ride the sand dunes inside the national park, but the Amargosa Dunes are located just outside of the park boundaries, across the Nevada/California border. So we make our way over there.

"Hello! How you Dune?"
"Great! Sand-Q very much for asking!"

The dunes cover an area of 5 square miles, and the peak is about 500 feet in height. As we approached the big pile of sand, we saw a couple of dune buggies making their way down from the top. They were just finishing up for the day, so when we arrived at the base we had the whole complex of dunes to ourselves.

That worked out really well, since our bikes weren't equipped with whip flags. Now there wouldn't be any danger of us being crushed by a dune buggy flying over a blind crest!

Suiting up for a run up the dunes

The sand in this place consists of crushed grains of quartz and feldspar rock, which makes the surface a lot firmer than beach sand. Again, this worked out in our favour because we weren't running paddle tires, and my engine was working hard, spinning my bald TKC-80 rear tire, in a futile bid to gain meaningful traction.

Big Dakar Dreams behind those goggles!

Oh My God! Soooo much fuuuuun!!!!!

We didn't get enough speed to make it up the big dune, but we still had a blast going up and down the smaller ones. If you can't crest a dune, you gotta bail early enough so you can turn around, otherwise you just come to a dead stop and sink in the sand:

Things I learned today: Don't stop in deep sand...

I love riding in the dunes!

Neda kicking ass in the sand

Dune riding is exhausting! Especially if you're newbs, like us. After only an hour of dune bashing with many rest breaks to catch our breaths, we were done.

I can't see how those Dakar racers ride for 3-4 hours full throttle at 180 km/h, every single day for two weeks! Incredible!

As we pack up our bikes and tent to head back to Canada to trade in all this sand for snow, we both remark that the desert has left behind a bit of itself in our hearts. And in our hair. And all of our clothing...

And now we can look forward to planning our next trip: the dunes of Saudi Arabia racing as a privateer for Dakar 2023!!!

 

[shanekingsley]

My Dakar Rally itched hasn't really been scratched due to a lack of dune riding. Although I've ridden in sand before, I really wanted to try my hand at riding up and down dunes! From all the rally race coverage we've watched, it looks like it would be so much fun.

Vehicles aren't allowed to ride the sand dunes inside the national park, but the Amargosa Dunes are located just outside of the park boundaries, across the Nevada/California border. So we make our way over there.

"Hello! How you Dune?"
"Great! Sand-Q very much for asking!"

The dunes cover an area of 5 square miles, and the peak is about 500 feet in height. As we approached the big pile of sand, we saw a couple of dune buggies making their way down from the top. They were just finishing up for the day, so when we arrived at the base we had the whole complex of dunes to ourselves.

That worked out really well, since our bikes weren't equipped with whip flags. Now there wouldn't be any danger of us being crushed by a dune buggy flying over a blind crest!

Suiting up for a run up the dunes

The sand in this place consists of crushed grains of quartz and feldspar rock, which makes the surface a lot firmer than beach sand. Again, this worked out in our favour because we weren't running paddle tires, and my engine was working hard, spinning my bald TKC-80 rear tire, in a futile bid to gain meaningful traction.

Big Dakar Dreams behind those goggles!

Oh My God! Soooo much fuuuuun!!!!!

We didn't get enough speed to make it up the big dune, but we still had a blast going up and down the smaller ones. If you can't crest a dune, you gotta bail early enough so you can turn around, otherwise you just come to a dead stop and sink in the sand:

Things I learned today: Don't stop in deep sand...

I love riding in the dunes!

Neda kicking ass in the sand

Dune riding is exhausting! Especially if you're newbs, like us. After only an hour of dune bashing with many rest breaks to catch our breaths, we were done.

I can't see how those Dakar racers ride for 3-4 hours full throttle at 180 km/h, every single day for two weeks! Incredible!

As we pack up our bikes and tent to head back to Canada to trade in all this sand for snow, we both remark that the desert has left behind a bit of itself in our hearts. And in our hair. And all of our clothing...

And now we can look forward to planning our next trip: the dunes of Saudi Arabia racing as a privateer for Dakar 2023!!!

Awesome report and pics Gene! Wow thanks for sharing that - so fun and amazing.

 

[Jayell]

And now we can look forward to planning our next trip: the dunes of Saudi Arabia racing as a privateer for Dakar 2023!!!

Malle Moto, of course!

 

[Lightcycle]

Malle Moto, of course!

Haha, yes. By default, not by choice...

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