Thanks, Captm. It's always amazing how our small tribe manage to find each other in the big spaces we explore. Enjoy your visit to GB. We only went as far as Little Finland, and didn't even visit Falling Man or other notable sites on this trip. We will return to explore the area again.
--------Last Chapter: Titus Canyon and Panamint Playa---------
Our last leg of the trip home we decided to return via DV. Truthfully the options north and west from Lost Wages are not many for the Tahoe bound traveler. The last time we went north via 95, every little town seemed to have a cop on the prowl hoping to nail someone with California plates.
We used the beltway to skirt LV and head north to Beatty, where we gassed up. We took 374 west until the turnoff for Titus came up. As per the plan, SR took over the driving. She's getting more familiar with driving the rig and we thought this would be good practice.
She's an excellent driver, but I have
control issues whereas the dog could care less
I did stop to air us down for a more cushy ride. The fun part was being able to rubberneck and really look at the amazing scenery.
It was a bit gnarly on a few tighter switchbacks, but otherwise I would drive this road in a passenger car.
The steep descent was a learning experience, which went something like this:
"First stop. Put it in neutral. Make sure you are already in 4W Hi."
"Okay."
"Now push 4W Lo"
"Are you in Low?"
"I can't see, it's too bright"
"Try putting it in gear."
"Shift to the low gear."
"Okay.
"
"Wow, that is low!"
All of this while we were perched at the tip over point on Red Pass. Fun stuff.
Ahead, there was a small convoy with a rental jeep, a couple of photogs in a small suv and one other vehicle.
We passed one group who stopped to check out the scenery. We arrived at Leadfield just in time for lunch.
The parking looked congested, so we parked up the road a bit. Immediately, the photogs parked right next to us. They turned out to be a father / son team who enjoy going out to do photography. Nice folks.
Guess this rig came here to die. Hope my Tundra can do so well.
It was our bench to sit on for lunch break.
After Leadfield, we entered Titus Canyon. Next time we will stop and hike up canyon from the jct of the road and the canyon. We continued on our way. I had quickly downloaded mapping of the road as we left Beatty and still had a 3G connection, so I was able to call out features. "There's a spring coming up on the right! Yup, there it is. Wow, even with petroglyphs."
The canyon tightens significantly towards the end, but the driving (this season) was easy-peazy. Still, it was spectacular.
Yes! We have another member of the WTW Key Club! Ski will understand this.
Once again, we were in DV! We were just north of Stovepipe Wells, so we went that way to revisit the dunes.
This time we approached from 190, but a bit late for sunlight.
Stovepipe crescent
My personal fave
Stovepipe pano
The light was gone and we continued up, up, up from below sea level to over 4,000', then down again to 1,600' in Panamint Valley. We had never been here in the camper, and I had only driven through years before. We had left Valley of Fire that morning and had traveled enough for one day.
We were looking for a bivvy < 2 miles off the road, per DV regs. We referred to the Digonnet Guide and went north on the Big Four Mine Rd.
The guide suggested the route was a "graded road", but the monsoons had made their mark here too. As I bounced us in and out of each cross wash I asked SR, "How many streams do you see on the map?".
She said, "Oh, only these three. No, wait! There's a whole bunch coming up!". Yup. But not really that bad. I just had not secured the inside of the camper, as I normally would for offroad. The Wave 3 was still hanging on it's screw mount and whatnot. We passed one fifth wheel at the two mile mark, but otherwise saw no one. We continued until we were just north of Lake Hill.
We found a
flat spot and parked for the night.
---------Playa Morning to come-----------------