California: Death Valley

[tubebender]

Day 1
Tuesday, Jan 31.

For the last three years I’ve been going to Death Valley with my riding buddies, part of the ADV Death Valley Daze scene. Always took my trusty KLR and tent camped. Now that I have the Tenere I wanted to take my wife Virginia and show her some of the places I’ve been to.

Due to some unknown reason, my local riding group went the week after the regular DVD weekend. The park service decided to close the main Furnace Creek campground so they moved the tent campers to Texas Spring and the RV’s to Sunset (yes, I have a toy hauler). Not really a problem except we couldn’t have a campfire.

Death Valley is one of the best places to ride. It is so huge and varied. You can start a ride warm and dry and get snow, rain, wind, pavement, graded dirt, rock gardens, sand, and soft silt………..all in the same day!

When we got DV we met up with my dad Gordon and his companion Carol.

This is my dad’s rig, he built it from scratch about 6 years ago. He and Carol go all over the freaking place. Not to bad for a guy who just turned 83!

I guess this is why they call the campground Sunset.

 

[tubebender]

Day 2
Wednesday, Feb 1

Virginia and I got up and had breakfast, threw on our riding gear and went for a ride!

We are going to explore the lower part of DV today so we headed south. Only a few miles of pavement, then turned onto West Side Rd. About 40 miles of graded dirt on the west side of the valley. Oh, I should mention this is first time in the dirt 2 up!

The Amargosa River flows through the valley but it is under ground. When it does rain the watershed channels the water into the valley where evaporation leaves the salts and other minerals on the surface.

Looking south.

Looking north.

There are many sites and sights along the way.



Shorty’s Grave

East side of valley.

Old borax mines.

Bennett’s Long Camp A group of 49’ers who were stranded in the valley.

Still headed south.

Looking up Warm Springs Rd. I know it well. Not something I’d attempt on the Tenere with a pillon.

Finally got back on the pavement near Ashford Junction and head north.

We stopped at Badwater, the lowest point in the US at 282 ft below sea level.

Salt crystals.

The next four pics were taken along Artists Drive. The colors here are more pronounced in the morning sunlight; our camera cannot do it justice.

After riding around in the valley, it was time to see it from a higher elevation. We rode up to Dante’s View which is almost directly above Badwater Basin. At 5500 ft, the views are awesome! If you look closely at the 2nd picture, you can see the road we were on earlier.

We headed back to camp and ran into the rest of our core group who had arrived today. This included our most valued member Tommy.

Why is he so valued you ask???????????????????????????
Read on.

 

[tubebender]

Roughing it.

Meet Tommy.

He is our cook! He cooks us breakfast and dinner every day, feeding 15 to 25 people.
Even after riding 200 miles, swearing he is never going to ride with us again ‘cause the silt, the rocks, and the snow is not what he signed up for!

We had a great dinner of BBQ Chicken, corn, enchiladas and cupcakes (supplied by my wife).

As we were sitting around the campfire planning tomorrow’s ride and telling stories, the wind started to pick up. We didn’t think it would be too bad, so we said goodnight and headed back to our campsite.

Boy, were we wrong!

 

[tubebender]

Day 3
Thursday, Feb 2
The wind has been blowing all night and shows no sign of letting up. We find out it’s been a steady 20 mph with gusts to 35 mph. The trailer has been rocking all night, and not in a good way! We head up for breakfast and find that the tent sight has been hammered. The EZ-Up awnings are now just twisted pieces of garbage. Tommy’s tent is keeled over to one side and he is not happy.

I had been battling the onset of a cold for a few days and was not feeling to well, so I opted not to ride today. We holed up in the trailer for the rest of the day as the wind continued to blow.

Some of the others ventured out and the stories that night were of trying to stay on the road or on the bike. Debbie was trying to swing her leg over her KTM when a gust hit her and knocked her and the bike down.

We rearranged the camp so Tommy could make dinner. Much happier now! Dinner tonight was grilled Salmon with wok seared shrimp and veggies.

 

[tubebender]

Day 4
Friday, Feb 3

Wind finally died down around 3:00 AM so today is looking pretty good. At breakfast we sorted out who was going where. The hardcore group was going to attempt a 250 mile loop so our group (the wimps) would carry extra gas and cache it so they could make it back.

Our group today consisted of two more couples and other assorted characters.
We went north today and toured Scotty’s Castle.

We then headed to Ubehebe Crater dropping of the extra gas along the way.

Ubehebe Crater

Group shot.

Our ultimate destination was the Racetrack; 29 miles of dirt road in.

Tommy was my wingman today.

Eating dust today.

We took a break at Teakettle Junction.

The Racetrack is one of the most unusual places in Death Valley. A high, dry playa, its draw is the imprinted tracks left by stones as they are moved across the surface. These stones have never been filmed, so it is speculated that high winds move them when there is just enough water to make the mud slippery.

We turned around and set our course for camp. Dinner was excellent!

This was the end of our 2012 trip as we had to leave the next day.

Hope you enjoyed it!

 

[eemsreno]

Thank you , very good report! I've always wanted to ride DV but it's a long way over there.

 

[TNWalker]

That was a great ride report! Thanks for sharing . ::022::

 

[Firefight911]

Awesome ride tale!! I head down there in a couple weeks!!! Makes me wish the time machine was working today!

 

[bvail]

Very nice, thanks for sharing. Last time I was out that way (not DV - just going across Mojave) temp was in triple digits and I was just trying to get from 'A' to 'B'. Winter is the time to go, for sure. Maybe one day.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Really cool report. Looks like a great ride. Thanks for posting. So how did the first 2-up thing go?

 

[tubebender]

So how did the first 2-up thing go?

Not to bad. Actually, this was the first time I've ridden the bike any significant miles on dirt. I took it easy, didn't push it.

On West Side Rd the washboard effect was pretty pronounced; felt the front compression was too stiff and the rear rebound too soft.

Softened the front a couple of clicks and upped rebound in rear as well as more rear preload. This helped a bit on the run to the Racetrack, but square edged bumps are really harsh. I'm waiting for Firefighter Phil to finish his experiments!

On the way out from the Racetrack I upped my pace 'cause I didn't want to eat dust. Got up to 70 indicated in a couple of areas, bike was moving around a bit but no dramas. There was only one instance where I felt the front push in a low speed, soft corner. I think this had more to do with the stock EXP tire at street pressure.

A couple of observations.
As I powered out of some corners I'm wondering why the bike felt like it wasn't pushing forward. Finally dawned on me I'm in TCS1 and it's doing it's job!
ABS is awesome too! There was another couple on a GS1200 and he came up and asked me if I'd turned mine off. Apparently he had a few moments where he couldn't get is bike slowed down for some corners. I just grinned and said no, my bike stops fine. ;D

 

[Maxified]

Excellent ride report! I really enjoyed the superb pictures and descriptions. You made me want to include DV as a future place to explore. Looks like you all had a great adventure.

 

[Firefight911]

Softened the front a couple of clicks and upped rebound in rear as well as more rear preload. This helped a bit on the run to the Racetrack, but square edged bumps are really harsh. I'm waiting for Firefighter Phil to finish his experiments!

I'm close!! Once I have the balance, front to rear, with a correct rear rate spring set up, I'll be able to get the final data out to everyone. It may be another month or so though as I leave for DV on the 23rd and won't be back until the 28th and I haven't found a spring yet so it is looking more and more like a complete shock this time around and that means I need an overtime or two to finish.

 

[Buckeye56]

Carl,

Boy does that bring back memories! I rode DV in April 2005 after the 100 year rains and it was spectacular! The wife had a business conference in Las Vegas, I tagged along and rented a Harley touring barge and did a day trip to DV. I had to enter the park near Shoshone as the other road was closed due to wash outs. I got to see the valley in bloom with California Poppies and a purple flower I do not remember the name of and see folks wind surfing and kayaking at Bad Water. It was quite an experience and I owe it to the wife to go again so she can see it too. Thanks for sharing your photos!

 

[Tremor38]

Re: Re: California: Death Valley

ABS is awesome too! There was another couple on a GS1200 and he came up and asked me if I'd turned mine off. Apparently he had a few moments where he couldn't get is bike slowed down for some corners. I just grinned and said no, my bike stops fine. ;D

8)

 

[wmbrlkride]

Cool this is what I brought the Tenere to do. But SOLO till I get my dirt feet back under me. I been to DV plenty of times on street M/C but not any dirt.Will have to get someone that won't lead me into places I don't to be going with Tenere and my lack of expecence.