Death Valley: The Long Drive

My plan for Death Valley, after doing my trip planning (which will be detailed later), was pretty simple. On Tuesday we’d leave home at a very reasonable hour of about 9am and make the 290-mile drive to Ridgecrest, where we’d stay in a hotel for the night. The next day we’d get up earlier and make the 2-hour drive to Stovepipe Wells, where we’d gas up & pick up some cold drinks for the next day or two. We’d also check in at the ranger station and pay the park entrance fee.

After that we would head straight for Titus Canyon. Upon exiting the canyon and returning to pavement, we would head north and west to our first campsite at Homestake, hoping to arrive before sunset. Because of weather conditions and because we were traveling as a solo vehicle, the next morning we would then backtrack, which would also give us time to check out The Racetrack, Ubehebe Crater, etc. properly before making our way back to Stovepipe Wells again. We’d wrap up by driving to a campsite at Wildrose on Thursday night.

On Friday we’d again pass through Stovepipe Wells, and then Furnace Creek on our way to Badwater Basin. We’d head down the paved east side until we connected up with the southern terminus of West Side Road, which we’d take back north again, stopping at Shorty’s Grave along the way. From there we had enough time to make a pitstop at Furnace Creek, take in the views at Zabriskie Point, and then explore the dirt road out to the mouth of Echo Canyon. (We had a fun </sarcasm> little unexpected challenge there!) We concluded our time in DV by driving west again, back to our hotel in Ridgecrest where we’d clean up & spend the night.

On the last day of our trip – and of 2011 – we made the long drive home, stopping along the way in San Juan Bautista where we rendezvoused with my sister’s family and walked around town and the old mission.

The general plan and some of the details were in place before the trip, but others were flexible depending on travel times and other brutal realities along the way. For example, I was hoping we’d have enough time to stop along the way to Homestake to check out Ubehebe Crater and The Racetrack, but I didn’t know it was going to take two hours+ to pry the family out of our hotel room that first morning. Curse you, free breakfast!

I was also hoping to take the road south from Teakettle Junction to make a loop rather than backtracking along the washboard road, but was informed by the ranger at Stovepipe Wells that we’d have to use chains to get through the pass because of snow and ice there. Because I was traveling with the family, and again as a solo vehicle, it didn’t sound like a good idea… Oh yeah, did I mention that the one thing I forgot to bring were the snow chains?… Luckily I’d built the flexibility into my plan for us to backtrack instead, which would also give us time for visiting those sights we’d blasted past the day before. Not ideal, but workable.

Plans in place, we were all set. Let’s get this show on the road with…

DAY ONE

Our drive from San Jose to Ridgecrest was pretty straightforward. Unfortunately the best route took us down I-5 for a few hours, and it’s certainly not the most interesting drive.

We stopped for lunch in the romantically-named Lost Hills. At least it has its name going for it. We ate at the Denny’s there, which was actually the worst Denny’s I’ve been to, and that’s saying something! It’s not like you have high expectations for a Denny’s, but my breakfast was disappointing in pretty much every way imaginable. I have a very high tolerance for cheap middle-America greasy spoon coffee, but the coffee here was so bad I couldn’t drink it. I tried a second cup from a “fresh pot” but it was just as bad as the first cup. I don’t know if they use toxic tap water or what, but I can’t remember the last time a regular cup of coffee was so nasty that I couldn’t drink it.

Of course, as a comedian once said, complaining about the food at Denny’s is like leaving a whorehouse and saying “I didn’t feel loved…”

After lunch we headed east, glad to be off of I-5, through more central valley farmland. We turned south until my GPS gave us a pleasant surprise by routing us through the Kern Canyon, someplace I’d not been or heard of before. As we drove, an unexpected set of small mountains appeared through the thick haze before us, and the “Ooh!” and “Whoa!” sounds started as we approached them.

Inside the striking canyon, we soon pulled over a few times for snapshots, and finally stopped to walk down to the Kern River. It was really beautiful with the smooth boulder-strewn river, and the encroaching trees still showing off their fall colors. It was an enjoyable and needed break, and one of those unexpected pleasures of travel that never seem to happen quite as often as you wish they would.  I was grateful for a little magic to find its way into what I had expected to be a completely utilitarian drive.

Winding up our long trek, we arrived in Ridgecrest on schedule at 4pm, and checked into our hotel. If you’re staying in Ridgecrest, I can recommend the Hampton Inn & Suites. This new hotel is very nice, the staff is friendly and the rates were bargains. Watch your street maps though, the hotel is so new that it looks like a dirt lot on Google Earth and didn’t appear on most of my maps.

Our stay included hot breakfast which was far better than the usual hotel continental breakfast fare. It wasn’t haute cuisine by any means, but given our experience at two of the Ridgecrest restaurants on this trip,  I don’t think that going out for breakfast would have been a significant improvement.

Speaking of which, that night we ate at Casey’s Steaks and Barbeque. Normally I like a unique place with some personality, but preferably some good personality. This place had very questionable decor and oddly enough there was a small flat-screen TV and a DirectTV box at every table. I guess that’s good if you cannot live without a TV for 30 minutes but it also means you have to listen to whatever the neighbors put on for their kids while you eat. The food was OK, and while the prices a little high for what it was, it served its purpose.

DAY TWO

The next morning it took two hours to pry the family out of the hotel in the morning. I blame the aforementioned hot breakfast for the most part, but we also moved pretty slowly. And by “we” I of really mean the girls, who insisted on brushing their hair and other stuff that I normally consider optional on trips like this.

We drove out of town along the long desert roads heading north into the Searles Valley,  passing through Trona, which appears to be a mineral-refining company town for the most part. After that we made our way into the Panamint Valley, stopping at the historical markers for the Ballarat ghost town before eventually reaching the large Death Valley National Park welcome monument. We turned east on 190 and made the drive up into the Panamint Range that forms the western wall of Death Valley, then descending into Death Valley itself.

To be continued…

Death Valley Roadtrip Gallery #1