Sad State of Affairs at the Racetrack

ski3pin said:
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The Racetrack is a famous feature of Death Valley National Park. People want to see it. Local communities demand that it stay open to bring in the tourist dollars. The solution at the Racetrack will be to bring in more public with management. The road will be paved. There will be designated parking places and only that number will be allowed on the road at one time. No one can be on the Racetrack at night expect on those few nights a year when a ranger leads a night tour. A separate fee will be charged to walk out on the playa. The park concessionaire will operate a bus tour. An example of this style of management can be seen with Red Meadows Road in the Mammoth Lakes area in the eastern Sierra.

There is nothing we can do about our skyrocketing population except face the facts.
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This would be terrible but I can imagine it happening. Some wonderful evenings have been spent camped at Homestake.

Was vandalism the main reason for the shuttles to Reds Meadow?

What about a boulder border blocking the most accessible entries to the playa and a camera at the north and south entries along the road with one more camera high up somewhere to survey the entire playa. That would be three cameras, only two of which would need to be high quality to capture license plates in and out. Invasion of privacy? Maybe. But this is a National Park and rules change when one chooses to enter.
 
ETAV8R said:
Was vandalism the main reason for the shuttles to Reds Meadow?
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No, sheer number of people and vehicles on a narrow mountain road and impacts due to vehicles attempting to park everywhere. Management here is to still bring in the numbers but with less impact and more safety. Red Meadows touts itself as the first successful bus shuttle service. The fee now charged goes directly to YART to provide the service.
 
ski3pin said:
No, sheer number of people and vehicles on a narrow mountain road and impacts due to vehicles attempting to park everywhere. Management here is to still bring in the numbers but with less impact and more safety. Red Meadows touts itself as the first successful bus shuttle service. The fee now charged goes directly to YART to provide the service.
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Sad but I do remember seeing motorhomes/5th wheels in places that boggled the mind how they got them where they did.
Off topic but do they still allow camping and have those wonderful showers?

I think my suggestion with three cameras and a boulder blocking obstacle would be far cheaper than paving the road and having shuttles etc at the Racetrack.

Also what about having a ranger station/booth at the turnoff to Ubehebe Road. I know there is an iron ranger nearby too. Hey they could put a camera at that location to get vehicle info and that would reduce the infrastructure cost for having a camera on the north entrance to the Racetrack.
 
ETAV8R said:
This would be terrible but I can imagine it happening. Some wonderful evenings have been spent camped at Homestake.

<snip>
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To be clear, I have not stated what changes/solutions I would want to see or support. I stated what I believe we will see in the future in the Racetrack area.
 
Paving I think is unlikely. A permit system is certainly a possibility. I hope not. If I get a chance to go I go. Vandalizing lookouts is perplexing. Red Rock on the Plumas is a long drive in yet last time I attempted to visit the road was gated a few miles out. Ran into a ranger leading a group up there who confirmed it was because of vandalism. Black Rock, closer to 395 is a rental and in great shape.

I'd like to see if teaching Tread Lightly in schools would make a difference.
 
Today's 9/27 LA Times had an article in California section about a suspect in the DV event


Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West
 
ski3pin said:
Uneducated and thoughtless. They must just look at the pictures in the LA Times.
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Wandering Sagebrush said:
Yup, some seem to be written by the type of dolt who would do something like this.
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craig333 said:
Wow, some of the comments in the LA times are really disturbing :(
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I read the comments too. Sadly these comments of very similar to the attitudes I see on the political sites these days.
There seems to be an uptick in selfish, rude behavior, but maybe I'm just getting older. :oops:
 
I don't know the answer but we must get a handle on this. Recently on the Oregon Coast some idiots pushed over an out of bounds sand rock formation because their friend broke his ankle. Similar to the dumb ones who pushed over the goblin in Utah. I just shake my head. I know some of you have found my secret special place in Nevada that I shared with someone I trusted and he shared with someone he trusted. One posted a travel blog but gave no location and for that I am grateful. The locals drive their ORVs out there and practice their marksmanship but so far it isn't on the map like Racetrack or the Wave. I do post my cell phone shots on FB but I have limitations and I also am vague about the location if it is unknown and super special. We try to pick up trash, especially micro trash as like the rest of you we have limited space. There are far more caring folks out there but the stupid thoughtless ones who do the damage don't care.

I like ski3pins idea of involving the caring public. I have noticed at USFS and BLM campgrounds that have a host the vandalism isn't as visible. There is less garbage and the vault toilets aren't blown to bits. One of these days I would love to catch someone and ask them "why?" Just liked the fools who pass on blind curves or hills, they must think they are invincible or immune or "special snowflakes". I dunno.
 
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment of this thread. The only way to keep the special places special is to not show others where they are. It is there to discover for the ones who seek it out. I have many such places in my local area. I have been offered good money to guide people into my favorite camping and hunting areas. The answer is always the same: "no".

I have spent my life thus far finding, falling in love with, and now cherishing these places. I had to learn the hard way: just one time, I told one guy where I shot a very nice buck for our area. Next season I counted no less than seven people hunting the area, including the bastard I thought I could trust. Prior to that I had never in my life seen another soul hunting that area. Lesson learned. Just imagine if I had posted on social media...

Similarly, I recently ran into a very rare group of five guys hiking in a remote area that I frequent. I met them on my way in and stopped to talk. They would be camping for the night. I continued on a couple more miles before bedding down myself. On the way out next morning I came upon them in camp and was disgusted with the amount of trash strewn about. To be fair, it was all biodegradable material (egg shells, onion skins, etc.). However, it seriously detracted from the natural beauty. I started picking it all up and putting it with the rest of their trash while lecturing them. One became quite indignant until I, how shall I say, impressed upon him the importance of respecting the a canyon that I happen to love. I asked them all if I could dump all of my eggshells, etc. in their front yards. It is biodegradable, after all, right? They got the point.

While not condoning altercations of any kind, I do encourage all to speak up as needed when safe to do so. Protect what is special.
 
I was just out at the racetrack over thanksgiving, and saw all the tire marks without knowing this backstory - so sad. I also noticed that one of the wooden post bollards at the first parking area had been knocked over - I assume this is how they got out there. In all honesty, I think closing the road half a mile from the race track and making people walk just a little bit would do wonders to preserve it.
 
rando said:
I was just out at the racetrack over thanksgiving, and saw all the tire marks without knowing this backstory - so sad. I also noticed that one of the wooden post bollards at the first parking area had been knocked over - I assume this is how they got out there. In all honesty, I think closing the road half a mile from the race track and making people walk just a little bit would do wonders to preserve it.
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And it would keep you out in the event you became handicapped and could not walk.
 
ETAV8R said:
And it would keep you out in the event you became handicapped and could not walk.
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True, and I am OK with that. There are already special and unique places that I cannot get to and plenty that I can get to. To me it is more important that these places continue to exist at all than it is important that I personally can get to all of them.
 
Hi rando
That's kinda messed up, that one jerk driving around at the racetrack will bring about the closing of a really awesome place. I would not be ok with making it so only those who could walk there be able to visit. Why not find the vandal and prosecute them,heck let's just throw them in jail without a trial. Yeah I'm not ok with that either(the latter). I'm upset about the vandalism, just tired of following them with rules that inconvenience everyone but the ones responsible.

Sorry Rant off Russ
 
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