Death Valley National Park

[thomasbeaman]

I am taking two trips to Death Valley National Park in the the next

3 weeks and need a little info. I am staying at a campground near

Furnace Creek. I want to take a late afternoon trip to The Racetrack

and wat to know about how long of a drive I can expect. I have

directions on how to get there but I have no idea about driving

time. I was wondering if anyone here knows the drive time from

Furnace Creek to Scotty's Castle or Ubehebe Crater and the from

there to The Racetrack. I know morning would probably be great too

but since I do not know my way around, I do not want to try finding

it in the dark. So afternoon will have to do. Thanks for any help.

[frank uhlig]

Be careful in the mud this years. The west has had much rain in 2005 and you may not get there at all, you may be flash flooded to your and your car's demise ...

 

The NP rangers will tell you some details. Just look up their phone number before you go and keep an eye on the weather as / if you do go off asphalt. Good luck, and BE PREPARED, not casual about it.

[jpursley]

The road from Furnace Creek to Scotty's Castle / Ubehebe Crater is all paved and is an easy drive - maybe 45 minutes depending on traffic. From there to The Racetrack - no idea, but I've heard the dirt road is very washboard-ish right now, so you might want to budget extra time depending on your vehicle.

<br><br>

This site normally has detailed up-to-date info, but the maintainer is currently off for a few weeks:

<a href=http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~matmus/DeathV.html>http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~matmus/DeathV.html</a>

[arny raedts]

Hi Thomas,<br>

You really need a 4x4 to make this trip with some good sturdy tires. Check if you have a good spare too. <br>Check the rangerstation at Furnace Creek (just after the gasstation) and ask them for roadconditions. They are very helpfull! <br><br><b>But if the Racetrack is wet, stay off! Don't walk on it, your footprint will be visible forever. </b><br><br>

If you have a good map (AAA of Parkservice for free at the rangerstation) it is really easy to find, even in the dark. late afternoon is the best light to photograph the moving rocks.

But you have to find them first! Just do a google search for them! Or drive to the last parkinglot (to the south and just go up the playa to the east).

<br><br> Don't forget to bring an old teakettle to leave at Teakettle junction on your way to the racetrack!

<br><br>

Have fun and be carefull!<br><br>

Greetz,

<br>

Arny <br>

<A HREF="http://www.arny.nl">www.arny.nl</A></div><div></div>

[pppp]

Thomas: Allow at least 2 hours from Furnace creek to the Racetrack.(But I drive fairly

slow) About 50 -60 minutes to Ubehebe Crater where you will get on the road to the

Racetrack. Now, the road is not a 4 wheel drive road, but it is extremely - and I can't

emphasize that word enough_ ROUGH. Washboard all the way, 35 miles of it. While

not 4-wheel drive, you want to have REALLY tough tires if possible. It;s a wide

poorly graded track. My average speed is about 30 MPH. I have been there many

times, latest last October, and the road was not too damaged by all the rain. But they

have had more so CHECK WITH the rangers before you go. The best light is early

morning and late evening and I go and spend the night out there somewhere. If you

are going out there I'm sure you know all the cautions when traveling that part of the

country. It's a magical place. Climb up on the Grandstand and shoot east to get the

shadows of the mountains coming out onto the playa. Have fun and I hope you have

good clouds and light.

[yuri_wolf]

<I>Now, the road is not a 4 wheel drive road, but it is extremely - and I can't emphasize that word enough_ ROUGH</I><BR><BR>

 

I have to concur. It <B>is</B> passable even in a low-clearance compact car (I did that the last December), but you need to know what are you doing and go <B>real slow</B>. Busting a tire out there would be, to put it mildly, quite unpleasant. It took me 90 brain-scrambling minutes (washboard is an understatement - jackhammer, maybe) to cover 27 miles, so unless you are sure about the quality of your tires, be prepared to go way slower than 30 mph.<BR><BR>

 

Have fun - it's a great place.

[mdickerson]

Judging by the handy EXIF timestamps, it was 2 hours 15 minutes from Furnace Creek to the Racetrack last Wednesday morning. As everyone says, the road is very rough right now. After that we took 75 minutes to get back to Ubehebe Crater, had to go back to Scottys Castle for the bathroom and after that about 90 minutes each way to the Eureka sand dunes. If you try the Eureka sand dunes, watch out for serious washouts in the first 10 miles or so. The Eureka road is quite a bit smoother than the Racetrack road, so the first ditch can hit you pretty hard at 40-50 mph...<div></div>

[awahlster]

A small correction it was said above that the West has had a lot of rain this year. NOT Oregon and Washington both states are WAY below normal we are currently experiancing weather in the Mid 70's which should not be accuring until the end of May two months from now. Our snow pack is almost gone and the fire damger this spring is already very bad.

 

California and the SW has had a lot of rain.

[photojerry]

Michael

 

Were able to walk out on the racetrack or was it to wet?

 

Jerry

[mdickerson]

Jerry - The racetrack was bone dry, except for a couple of puddles of standing water down at the south end, such as where I took the picture. If you don't go out of your way to walk in mud puddles, you won't have to worry about leaving any marks.

[tien_pham]

Thomas,

 

1. You need to have 5 good tires. The regular spare tire may not be enuf. I got a flat tire there once, so I know.

 

2. Bring a good car jack. If you can get the 1.5-ton wheeled car jack, that's even better.

 

3. I have seen sedans, 4x wheels, minivans going to the racetrack. My car is a minivan (Toy Sienna), and I was able to get there.

 

4. The road to the Racetrack is extremely rough and bumpy. It took a person around 2-3 hours to get to the site despite the fact that it's only 26 miles from the entrance.

 

Best,

 

tien pham

tkpham5@juno.com