Death Valley and the White mountains of California
Three big bikes journey from San Francisco into the belly of Death Valley for a little adventure...
We left early Saturday morning, I had one stop to make to drop off a package before meeting Lew on his KLR and Nicolas on his KTM...
Nico-
Lew-
We headed east up and over Sonora Pass towards the east side of the Sierras, the Pass was fun, but getting to our first set of hotsprings outside of Bridgeport was awesome- hotspring waterfall...
Dropping down towards Mono Lake...
We jumped off the 395 and took the old abandoned route...
From there we headed to the Mobil at the base of Tioga pass for dinner, then camped above it, it got down into the 20's that night and we had all packed light and were expecting hot temps in Death Valley. I woke up early and started a fire...
We drove south to Bishop, filled up with gas and took 6 north to Silver Canyon road to access the White Mountains- it was a good start...
Got a little tricky as we warmed up to handling our big pigs off road...
Up high we hit a plateau and rode the beautiful mountains among the snow...
Then we started exploring and looking for some more challenging riding...
We were a bit lost, and looking to leave the mountains on the east side. It turned out to be long lava rock strewn paths and dead ends...
We finally hit a fun dirt road through cool spires of granite...
Then Nico found a perfect ditch to park his bike in...
The sun was going down and so were we, towards route 168 we hoped...
We got back to Bishop, it had been a long day of wrestling the bikes. Nico and Lew opted for a hotel while I set up camp at Brown's campground. Coffee the next a.m....
In late July of this year a big storm hit Death Valley and wiped out many of the roads, the local county put up road closed signs all over to keep the tourist from wandering in and getting stranded, the signs are still up and many of the roads are still like river beds- but for us on the bikes, this made for good riding and rarely running into others...
A cool old mining site along the way...
Common road conditions...
Nico stops to adjust his suspension...
We drove into the heart of the Saline Valley to get to the natural hot springs, the riding was fun and fast, and the sights spectacular and random...
The hot springs are amazing, well maintained by volunteers, and have no sulfur smell, and the surrounding view is epic...
We sat in the springs as a storm rolled by...
Camping near the springs...
The next morning we headed out over the south pass...
And east towards Panamint Resort for food and gas (and water at $4.00 a gallon)
I was super dehydrated from logging about 6 hours in the springs, needed fluids to be able to keep on...
From there we headed south to try to cross through the mountains on Goler wash. More closed roads...
And some wild Burros...
And the Ghost town of Ballarat, except the store was open and the guy was selling ice cold beer!
There is a semi dry salt lake there...
We got to Goler Wash road and headed in, the first rock step was tricky but we all got up it first try...
Then at the next rocky section we got off the bikes and walked for a bit to see what was ahead...
After some deliberation we decided that the risk of injuring our heavy loaded down bikes or ourselves wasn't worth it and retreated...
We stopped so Lew could tighten the bolts on his fairing and a stink bug came wandering through...
We drove up Surprise Canyon road to look for a good camping spot for the evening, and we were psyched to find a cool spot with concrete slabs, wood for fire and a fun jump...
The next day we headed out and up towards Beatty Nevada to get gas before riding Titus Canyon, on a seriously closed road...
And at the other end...
While in Beatty I asked a local how far away Big Dune was, he said ten minutes... so we took off in search of some sand dune adventures...
Riding dunes is like snowboarding in powder, it's all pleasure until you stop...
And when you do park the bike, it's good to find something for your kickstand to rest upon or your pig will roll over and play dead really fast, all I could find was a beer bottle, but it worked...
Well, that was fun. So now it was on to the Titus Canyon, we were hoping for a challenge, but it turned out to be a maintained road that tourists could take. So beside it being beautiful, we got to go fast on the road...
It was getting late so we headed towards the "Racetrack" to look for a place to sleep. The riding was 30 miles of washboards unless you hugged the edge or fishtailed around on the rocks in the center...
Tea Kettle Junction along the way...
We made it to an old mine as it turned dark, I'm not saying we camped there, I'm just saying tents were set up...
The next day we got to the Racetrack- a dry lake bed where there are rocks that get pushed around in storms and leave tracks...
And back out past the Ubehebe Crater...
We turned onto Death Valley road to head back toward Big Pine, the road was closed of course (which just means it will be fun)...
Crankshaft Crossing, probably about 10 old crankshafts strewn about...
Joshua Trees...
A sulfur smelling mine along the way ...
And finally out toward Big Pine with a view of the Sierras...
We rolled into Big Pine on Halloween, but I think these costumes were legit...
We decided to blast to Reno for the night before heading over the pass and home the next day, we definitely got a few groggy stares as we walked through the casino in our smelly gear...
And Back to SF...
A great trip.
Three big bikes journey from San Francisco into the belly of Death Valley for a little adventure...
We left early Saturday morning, I had one stop to make to drop off a package before meeting Lew on his KLR and Nicolas on his KTM...
Nico-
We headed east up and over Sonora Pass towards the east side of the Sierras, the Pass was fun, but getting to our first set of hotsprings outside of Bridgeport was awesome- hotspring waterfall...
Dropping down towards Mono Lake...
We jumped off the 395 and took the old abandoned route...
From there we headed to the Mobil at the base of Tioga pass for dinner, then camped above it, it got down into the 20's that night and we had all packed light and were expecting hot temps in Death Valley. I woke up early and started a fire...
We drove south to Bishop, filled up with gas and took 6 north to Silver Canyon road to access the White Mountains- it was a good start...
Got a little tricky as we warmed up to handling our big pigs off road...
Up high we hit a plateau and rode the beautiful mountains among the snow...
Then we started exploring and looking for some more challenging riding...
We were a bit lost, and looking to leave the mountains on the east side. It turned out to be long lava rock strewn paths and dead ends...
We finally hit a fun dirt road through cool spires of granite...
Then Nico found a perfect ditch to park his bike in...
The sun was going down and so were we, towards route 168 we hoped...
We got back to Bishop, it had been a long day of wrestling the bikes. Nico and Lew opted for a hotel while I set up camp at Brown's campground. Coffee the next a.m....
In late July of this year a big storm hit Death Valley and wiped out many of the roads, the local county put up road closed signs all over to keep the tourist from wandering in and getting stranded, the signs are still up and many of the roads are still like river beds- but for us on the bikes, this made for good riding and rarely running into others...
A cool old mining site along the way...
Nico stops to adjust his suspension...
We drove into the heart of the Saline Valley to get to the natural hot springs, the riding was fun and fast, and the sights spectacular and random...
The hot springs are amazing, well maintained by volunteers, and have no sulfur smell, and the surrounding view is epic...
Camping near the springs...
The next morning we headed out over the south pass...
And east towards Panamint Resort for food and gas (and water at $4.00 a gallon)
From there we headed south to try to cross through the mountains on Goler wash. More closed roads...
And some wild Burros...
And the Ghost town of Ballarat, except the store was open and the guy was selling ice cold beer!
There is a semi dry salt lake there...
We got to Goler Wash road and headed in, the first rock step was tricky but we all got up it first try...
Then at the next rocky section we got off the bikes and walked for a bit to see what was ahead...
After some deliberation we decided that the risk of injuring our heavy loaded down bikes or ourselves wasn't worth it and retreated...
We stopped so Lew could tighten the bolts on his fairing and a stink bug came wandering through...
We drove up Surprise Canyon road to look for a good camping spot for the evening, and we were psyched to find a cool spot with concrete slabs, wood for fire and a fun jump...
The next day we headed out and up towards Beatty Nevada to get gas before riding Titus Canyon, on a seriously closed road...
And at the other end...
While in Beatty I asked a local how far away Big Dune was, he said ten minutes... so we took off in search of some sand dune adventures...
And when you do park the bike, it's good to find something for your kickstand to rest upon or your pig will roll over and play dead really fast, all I could find was a beer bottle, but it worked...
It was getting late so we headed towards the "Racetrack" to look for a place to sleep. The riding was 30 miles of washboards unless you hugged the edge or fishtailed around on the rocks in the center...
Tea Kettle Junction along the way...
We made it to an old mine as it turned dark, I'm not saying we camped there, I'm just saying tents were set up...
The next day we got to the Racetrack- a dry lake bed where there are rocks that get pushed around in storms and leave tracks...
And back out past the Ubehebe Crater...
We turned onto Death Valley road to head back toward Big Pine, the road was closed of course (which just means it will be fun)...
Crankshaft Crossing, probably about 10 old crankshafts strewn about...
Joshua Trees...
A sulfur smelling mine along the way ...
And finally out toward Big Pine with a view of the Sierras...
We rolled into Big Pine on Halloween, but I think these costumes were legit...
We decided to blast to Reno for the night before heading over the pass and home the next day, we definitely got a few groggy stares as we walked through the casino in our smelly gear...
And Back to SF...
A great trip.
