[First off, an apology. There's dirt on my camera lens. Unfortunately it doesn't show up on the LCD display, so I didn't notice it on the trip and it ended up in every photo. But I think the scenery will speak for itself anyway.]
I had the rare opportunity to do a one way drive (long story) from Phoenix to Portland. In the interest of making the drive as enjoyable as possible I decided to route my trip through Death Valley, and at the last minute I decided to make it a 4 day trip (instead of 3) and bring my bike. Good decision.
First some non bike content: the view from famous Zabriskie Point:
Temperatures were nice -- 70s on the valley floor, 50s and 60s in the mountains during the day -- but the wind was not. I arrived in the valley with several different possible rides in mind, and that was a good idea: with winds blowing steadily in the 20-25 mph range on Sunday, I quickly ruled out several of them. Any rides that meant spending significant time on the valley floor or at higher elevations could be mighty unpleasant. In particular, I'd briefly debated doing a road loop through Titus Canyon, but the winds put the kibosh on that idea real fast. Echo Canyon in the Funeral Mountains seemed like just the ticket. Lots of climbing -- 3500 feet in about 9 miles -- at a relentlessly steady grade, but at least the canyon would shelter me from some of the wind.
And I was pleasantly surprised to find the wind to my back on much of the initial climb up the alluvial fan (a gravelly feature of almost every ride in Death Valley). Ordinarily I don't like tailwinds on climbs due to the pocket of hot air that often builds up around you. But I don't mind a 20mph tailwind one damn bit. The surface is gravel, mostly hardpacked and rideable with only short stretches that are really loose. No technical interest to the riding, but that's OK. I'm here for the scenery, not the surface. And fine scenery it is. Looking back towards the Panamint range and 11,000 foot Telescope Peak:
Nice cactus:
The canyon proper is maybe half the length half of Titus Canyon, but WOW! Those who have actually visited both can say whether Titus is even more beautiful, but Echo was plenty impressive for my tastes. Several miles of this:
A little ways in is a natural arch.
The angle of the canyon allows for great views back to the Panamints.
Another tiny natural arch:
Marble cliff:
Eventually the terrain opens up but the uphill grind continues at the same pace. For those with only a half day to spend on this trip I wouldn't necessarily recommend continuing beyond the canyon proper because that's the best of the scenery. With a full day or overnight to spend, however, I would love to have continued past the Amargosa turnoff, exploring the more technical terrain ahead:
but I knew I'd better ride back out if I was going to get back in the saddle before sundown for some bike camping.
Thanks to decent winter rains, it looks like Death Valley will have an excellent wildflower bloom this year, but I'm here several weeks before the peak. Not much blooming other than desert sunflower at the lowest elevations along my drive to the start point of my evening ride. Not that I'm complaining:
Sunday night finds me bike camping on the road up to Chloride Cliff, also in the Funeral Range. I have just enough time to ride in about 3 miles and make camp under this beautiful sunset:
And moonrise:
Sunset's before 7pm, so I'm in bed early. The plan was to get up just before sunrise and climb the remaining thousand feet or so to Chloride Cliff. At least that was the plan, anyway. The getting up early part worked great, and I was on the bike at a quarter to six. But it turns out I haven't read the topo map very carefully. It's true that I only have about a thousand feet of net climbing. But I quickly find out that the road rolls up and down a lot. I've got at least twice as much climbing to do as I expected, and I arrive at the top well after sunrise. Oh well. At least the view from the edge (again, towards the Panamints) is nice. Nice ephedra bush in the foreground:
A view to the west across the central part of the valley. Stovepipe Wells and the dunes are in the center of the photo below. The snowy Sierras are just barely visible a couple of ranges behind the Panamints:
What comes up must come down, so it's a nice ride (with, still, a fair amount of climbing) back out:
If the friendly ranger at Furnace Creek hadn't recommended it, I would never have known to make the short side trip to the mouth of Monarch Canyon. Thanks!
I've learned a couple of things on this trip.
- As you'd expect from a place called Death Valley, there is no easy riding here. Even though it's a national park and bikes are limited to existing 4x4 roads, you pick your poison. You can have deep sand and gravel on the valley floors, excruciating climbs into the mountains, or extremely long lonely rides in the more remote valleys.
- It's totally worth it.
So much more to see. I need to see the upper reaches of Echo Canyon. Not want. Need. I also need to experience the extreme remoteness of Eureka Valley, hike the tallest dunes in California and ride through technical Dedeckera Canyon. And I need to ride Warm Springs and Goler Canyons to the infamous Manson family hideout. Despite the initial 8 miles of loose gravel, I will need to ride to Marble and Cottonwood Canyons. And the short but challenging ride to quiet Lemoigne Canyon. And I wouldn't mind riding Titus Canyon either.
I shall return.
Bonus non-biking shots from the drive home -- Death Valley Dunes:
Joshua trees and high Sierras:
Ansel Adams country. Mt. Whitney is towards the right of the photo, just to the right of the needle-like spires:
Snowy tufas at Mono Lake:
Thanks for reading.
Original discussion thread and comments at http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=389343.
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