< more recent | 8-14 February 2021 | older >
14 February 2021: We headed into the Panamint range today, following the tracers of the mining history at a number of sites in this part of the park, starting with the Charcoal Kilns that were used to provide fuel for the mining activity in the region. An interesting segue into the history of these old mine sites, with stops at a few different mining locations…
13 February 2021: Today the team checked out the Echo Canyon route, which we are going to do differently from most of the published itineraries for this trail. Instead of doing it as an “in-and-back” trail or taking the washboarded “farm” road back to Death Valley Junction, we decided to explore the foundations at the Lee’s camp site, then take the lesser used trail northeast across the Amargosa Valley to Beatty, looping back via the paved Daylight Pass road…
12 February 2021: Joined the team from the California 4-Wheel Drive Association for the pre-runs of the Death Valley Experience 2021 trails this weekend, starting with the longest one — Barker Ranch. The former Manson compound along the southwestern edge of the national park is remote and indeed would make for a good hide-out. The trail out there is long and scenic with just one “obstacle” and a lot of interesting history enroute …
11 February 2021: Spent a little time playing at Big Dune before continuing the journey into Death Valley and setting up a base camp at Texas Springs where we are going to meet up for the pre-runs of the Death Valley Experience trails …
10 February 2021: Back out to camp today, setting up for the night at Big Dune. Arrived just before sunset and threw down the small tent and got the fire going just in time. A beautiful night of desert solitude under the stars …
9 February 2021: Spent the day taking care of administrative matters and some logistics in Laughlin NV where the “strip” has a strange charm very different from the glitz of Las Vegas. Here it is like a step back into time, with cowboy kitsch and an easy-going pace along the Colorado River …
8 February 2021: Made it to Nevada and took some time to enjoy a loop from Laughlin around Grapevine Canyon and Christmas Tree Pass. It was a beautiful day and hiked up Grapevine Canyon to where there was actually water flowing. Spent some time contemplating the petroglyphs before continuing the drive along Christmas tree pass. There were a few people along the pass taking down the Christmas ornaments–I kind of wish they left them up all year …
THIS MONTH:
Advanced sand dune training with Barlow Adventures at the Imperial Sand Dunes in southern California. This three day driving and navigation program focuses on moving safely and effectively through large dunefields. Skills-building exercises are intended to improve pace, line choice and vehicle control, as well as developing precision map and compass navigation technique…
COMING UP SOON:
Joining in on a Ladies Offroad Network camping adventure in Arizona: Five days of fun learning out on the trail and in camp with Charlene Bower and a small group of adventure-minded ladies. The event consists of three core days of trail runs and training, and two days with additional optional activities designed around the event theme…
Trail Guiding for the California 4-Wheel Drive Association’s inaugural Death Valley Experience 2021 fundraiser event running from March 10-14, 2021. Each day will feature a choice of runs to some famous, some infamous and some secretive points of interest within Death Valley National Park. The runs will depart from Furnace Creek and from Stovepipe Wells. Some of the points of interest we will visit during Death Valley Experience 2021 include Zabriskie Point (famous), Barker Ranch (infamous) and the Racetrack (learn the secret of the moving rocks). Other points of interest include Dante’s View, 20 Mule Team Canyon, Artists’ Drive, Chloride Cliffs, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo, Titus Canyon, and Darwin Falls. All of the trail runs are suitable for novice drivers and SUVs with high clearance and 4-wheel drive…
Every Day Is a Clean Up Day in 2021. Ladies Offroad Network has partnered with TreadLightly! to create a year-long program that encourages members to pick up trash on the trails whenever they are out off-roading. Participants simply pick up the trash, weigh it, take a photo, and log the location and time it took, then upload the details. At the end of the year there will be a series of prizes based on pounds of trash removed from the trails as well as participation in other TreadLightly! initiatives. This is a great way to do some good on a local level and make a larger impact via the national program…
Looking ahead to a return to Paris as soon as possible to reconnect with friends and some favorite places in the city of light. Timing is still uncertain due to the pandemic, but we hope the trip is back on the calendar for early 2021…
DEATH VALLEY
Steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley a land of extremes. Yet, each extreme has a striking contrast. Towering peaks are frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor tiny fish and refuge for wildlife and humans. Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life survives in Death Valley. Death Valley in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert,t is one of the hottest places on Earth. Death Valley’s Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet below sea level, and it is 84.6 miles east-southeast of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth. Death Valley runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west; the Grapevine Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. Death Valley is technically a “graben”-—a downdropped block of land between two mountain ranges. The valley is extremely dry, because it lies in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges (including the Sierra Nevada and Panamint Range). Moisture moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass eastward over the mountains to reach Death Valley; as air masses are forced upward by each range, they cool and moisture condenses, to fall as rain or snow on the western slopes. When the air masses reach Death Valley, most of the moisture has already been lost and there is little left to fall as precipitation. …
WHY ITS SO DRY
The extreme heat of Death Valley is attributable to a confluence of geographic and topographic factors:
Solar heating: The valley’s surface (consisting of soil, rocks, sand, etc.) undergoes intense solar heating because the air is clear and dry, and the land is dark and sparsely vegetated. This is especially noticeable in summer, when the sun is nearly directly overhead.
Trapping of warm air: Warm air naturally rises and cools; in Death Valley this air is subject to continual reheating as it is trapped by high, steep valley walls and recycled back to the valley floor. Warm air also is trapped by the valley’s north–south orientation, which runs perpendicular to prevailing west-to-east winds.
Migration of warm air from other areas (advection): Warm desert regions adjacent to Death Valley, especially to the south and east, often heat air before it arrives in Death Valley.
Warm mountain winds: As winds are forced up and over mountains (e.g. the numerous ranges west of Death Valley), the winds can be warmed in several ways. The resulting dry, warm winds are known as foehn winds. Their warmth can in part be caused by the release of latent heat, which occurs when water vapor condenses into clouds …
Nesconset | Paris | Belgrade | Akron | St. Louis | Clinton | Grants | Yuma | Borrego Springs | Laughlin | Baker | Barstow | Ridgecrest | Lone Pine | Death Valley | Beatty | Sedona | Phoenix
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
1-7 Februay – Glamis
15-31 January – Roadtrip Southwest
1-14 January – Long Island
22-31 December – Holiday Roadtrip
15-21 December – Holiday Roadtrip
7-14 December – Holiday Roadtrip
1-6 December – Long Island
15-30 November – Long Island
1-14 November – Long Island
28-31 October – Roadtrip East
22-27 October – Moab
15-21 October – Moab
8-14 October – Moab
1-7 October – Roadtrip West
16-30 September – Roadtrip West
1-15 September – Long Island
16-31 August – Long Island
1-15 August – Summer Roadtrip
22-31 July – Summer Roadtrip
14-21 July – Summer Roadtrip
1-13 July – Long Island
16-30 June – Long Island
1-15 June – Bald Eagle
16-31 May – Central PA
1-15 May – Re-opening Trails
April – Lockdown NY
16-31 March – Lockdown NY
9-15 March – Roadtrip Home
1-8 March – Moab
23-29 February – Vegas to Anza Borrego
15-22 February – Southwest Roadtrip
8-14 February – Southwest Roadtrip
1-7 February – Glamis to Vegas
27-31 January – Yuma to Glamis
15-26 January – Nevada to Arizona
Archive
EVENTS
LADIES OFFROAD NETWORK NONCON 2020
Recap from the Ladies Offroad Network camping and wheeling event, dubbed the “NonCon” as in “not the convention,” that came together after the official convention was cancelled due to the pandemic… [read]
RE-OPENING
Report from the first trail run with the Off Road Consulting group at Rausch Creek Off Road Park as the post-pandemic phased re-openings begin in Pennsylvania and some of our favorite local trails re-open to the public after the two-month shutdown… [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
