Death Valley Ride - March 26-28, 2004

Submitted by
Steve Morris and A. Kimo Morris, Torrance, California
Photos by Josie Morris

The Death Valley ride has become a regular event for the riders of CA #3. Its relatively close proximity to the metropolitan Los Angeles area (approximately 280 miles) makes it an ideal weekend destination. Because of the potentially harsh desert conditions, we generally schedule this event in Spring. As with past trips, this year's ride (March 26-28, 2004) was a pleasant experience filled with breathtaking scenery and fun roads.

The ride began on Friday evening when most of us met in Mojave, CA, 90-miles north of Los Angeles. This part of the desert is well known for its prevailing high winds, and Friday was no exception. Being blasted by 55 mph crosswinds on the open highway was indeed a challenge, and we all arrived for dinner white knuckled each with our own tales to tell of being sand blasted or of trailing high-profile vehicles. Long-time member Chuck Meyer aptly summed it up as "a pucker level of 10"! Fortunately, all 12 bikes with 22 people arrived safely and we hit the sack anticipating an early start the following morning.

Saturday morning was beautiful, with clear blue skies and not a hint of wind. After a good breakfast and a gas stop, we left the motel as a group. However, ten miles outside of Mojave, Nadine Robbins’ trike started smoking (Nadine has won several Long Distance Female trophies at V-Daze in the past). Unfortunately this was the end of the ride for Nadine and her husband Ken, and we headed onward.

After 110 miles on the high desert we arrived in Trona in the edge of Searle’s Dry Lake where salt and borax are mined from the lakebed. After a brief stop for snacks and gas, we began our next leg into Death Valley. From Trona, we headed across the Panamint Valley, which opens up to beautiful panoramas. We decided to enter Death Valley from the Wildrose Junction, a challenging road that enters the valley from the west. While earlier seasonal rains had washed out the road in several spots, the surface was grated, making it passable. Through countless switchbacks and narrow zones, the road rises to 4,000-feet at the summit from a sea level start, and then descends just as spectacularly down into Death Valley. As we cleared the Panamint Range, we were treated to a breathtaking 4000-foot high view of Death Valley to the east. Soon we arrived at Stovepipe Wells where we were joined by Fred Vogt who drove in from Pahrump, NV. The saloon at Stovepipe Wells is well known for its appearance in the famous saloon scene in Star Wars where Luke Skywalker meets Chewbaca and Han Solo.

The temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees as we approached mid-day. From Stovepipe Wells, we headed off passed the Great Sand Dunes en route to Furnace Creek. We arrived just after noon to have lunch and gas up. Many of us took a leisurely stroll down to the Visitor Center where we watched a short informative movie on the valley. Slowly, we all mustered for the next leg of our journey to Artist’s Palette (see photo). The short one-way loop leading to Artist's Palette is dramatic, with lots of twists and dips and a beguiling array of colors painted by Mother Nature across the landscape.

From Artist's Palette, we continued passed Mushroom Rock and Golden Canyon towards Dante’s View. Though this lookout is almost directly above the rocky buttresses of Artist's Palette, we had to traverse 40 miles of roads to reach the summit over a mile above us. From Dante’s View, some 5,400 feet above sea level, we looked down over the entire valley. Ironically, from this high vantage point, directly below us was Badwater where the land is 282 feet below sea level. Directly across the valley we could see Telescope Peak (11,000 feet above sea level) crowning the Panamint Mountain Range, which was still covered in snow. A truly awesome sight!

After a healthy round of picture taking, we then descended back into the valley towards Salt Creek to observe the peculiar pupfish. These remarkable creatures endure temperature ranges that are intolerable to most aquatic life, with water temperatures approaching 120 degrees in summer and near-freezing temperatures in winter. Also, the water in which they live varies in saltiness, further adding to the austerity of their environment! As a group, these fish are remnants of a much larger and historically more diverse stock that persisted when the valley was a large lake as recently as 10,000 years ago.

As the day was waning, it was time to head to our final destination for the day, our motel in Beatty, NV. This quaint town is about 35 miles outside of Death Valley, and was an ideal cost-effective alternative to staying in the national park proper. The food at the Exchange Club and Casino was very satisfying with large portions. After almost 300 miles traveled that day, we all slept well.

Sunday morning was beautiful. After breakfast and gas, we were all on the road once again heading back down into the valley. We made one final stop in the valley at Badwater (see photo). Here we experience the hottest temperature of the trip, a comfortable 87 degrees. This landscape at Badwater is eerily white, as if covered by a thin layer of snow. Of course, the white flattened expanse was not snow, but rather a salt sheet marking the lowest point in the valley (and also the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere) where the land level dips into the water table. Salts leach out of the surrounding rocks resulting in a salt flat with lower lying areas filled with a watery solution many times saltier than the ocean. After our 30-minute stop at Badwater, we continued south out of the Valley to Shoshone to visit their small museum. The museum features a cultural and geological history of the region, including a 100,000-year-old mammoth partially excavated and many Native American artifacts.

From Shoshone, we continued south, crossing through some of the most desolate and sparsely settled areas in the whole country. Our ride officially ended in Baker, along Interstate 15 where we had lunch at the famous Bun Boy. We left in small groups heading back to our respective areas of Southern California.

Overall, the trip was a success. Except for the stiff crosswinds on Friday, we all had a wonderful weekend full of spectacular sights. It was an excellent opportunity for both long-time members and new members, as well as invited guests, to spend time together. We now look forward to V-Daze in Colorado!