Death Valley Oct 21-23 2011 Planning: Sign up here

[bstoner59]

That is the trail I did last weekend by myself. Took me 3.5 hrs from Ballarat to West Side Trail. No spotter no damage other than a kiss from a rock on my passenger step. Its tight in spots but not too bad...we got it handled!!!


I put us in Fernace Creek around 6. That is an hour to Ballarat, 6 to West Side and 1 to camp.

 

[BigJ]

Ah sweet! That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Its on then!

B did you keep rolling or did you stop to smell the roses from time to time?

And what do you think about distance then? If it took you 3.5 from Ballarat to the intersection of Warm Springs and West Side, round that off to 4hrs.

From Ridgecrest to Ballarat is all pavement and should take tops an hour. So if we start at 9, we're at West side by what, 2 or 3pm worst case? From West Side to Furnace Creek is 1.5-2hrs away tops, meaning we'll roll into camp about 4 or 5pm? That sound reasonable to you? Sounds cool to me.

Day 2 is a lot of miles too, but I guess we can just take it as it comes.

 

[BigJ]

PS: All in favor of B taking point thru all that say "aye".

Aye!

:mrgreen:

 

[bstoner59]

I went as quick as possible no stops. The trail from Mengel Pass is slooooow!!! Lots of small bumpy rocks...10-20mph tops. I would give us at least 2 hrs for stops and helping each other through the tricky parts.

 

[BigJ]

Aight. Since its just you and me so far meeting Friday morning, how about we meet 730ish and roll out at 8am? Buy ourselves an extra hour.

Also, I've been told a few times to fill up/resupply in Beatty or Stovepipe, not Furnace. Sounds like Furnace gouges the resort crowd and gas can run an extra $1 per gal, and food can be way more expensive. We'll make the call when we get there, but just a heads up.

 

[LVdezertdawg]

Aight. Since its just you and me so far meeting Friday morning, how about we meet 730ish and roll out at 8am? Buy ourselves an extra hour.

Also, I've been told a few times to fill up/resupply in Beatty or Stovepipe, not Furnace. Sounds like Furnace gouges the resort crowd and gas can run an extra $1 per gal, and food can be way more expensive. We'll make the call when we get there, but just a heads up.

Go into Beatty, it is at least $1 cheaper there, almost $1.50 cheaper this spring. Stovepipe was .80 to $1.00 less than Furnace.

 

[BigJ]

Will do 'dawg. Gonna miss you out there.

How's Mark? I'm hoping he can find the time too.

 

[LVdezertdawg]

Will do 'dawg. Gonna miss you out there.

How's Mark? I'm hoping he can find the time too.

I will make the one in Nov and I told Mark I was going to drag him along.....he smiled!!!!

 

[BigJ]

Hah nice! I think I need to figure out how to get a Ranger to roll up on us and start shaking Mark down for being on private land or somethin...

:mrgreen: :banana:

 

[bstoner59]

Aight. Since its just you and me so far meeting Friday morning, how about we meet 730ish and roll out at 8am? Buy ourselves an extra hour.

Also, I've been told a few times to fill up/resupply in Beatty or Stovepipe, not Furnace. Sounds like Furnace gouges the resort crowd and gas can run an extra $1 per gal, and food can be way more expensive. We'll make the call when we get there, but just a heads up.

I'm good with that! I'm bringing 30 gallons of gas after I saw those prices last weekend!!! It was $5.50/gallon in Panamint Springs and Shoshone