Death Valley Drive
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 7,878
Likes: 3,421
From: Foothills East of Sacramento
Death Valley Drive
Last Labor Day weekend, my bride and I headed out Thursday from El Dorado Hills CA, to the Marine Corp Mountain Warfare Training Center, on the east side of the Sierras near Bridgeport. We went via 50 and over the Emmigrant Trail to Silver Lake, Caples Lake, Hope Valley and 395S. Nice little base and you had armed Marines at the gate to guard the S! Inexpensive.
We headed early Friday morning to Bishop and stayed at a 40 acre B&B: Joseph House. Highly recommend it. We then went from sea level to 8K feet to the Bristlecone Pine Forest. These trees are the oldest living things on earth; around 4700 years old. The road from the forest turnoff to the highway south of Bishop, 168 to 395, turned out to be one of my all time favorite roads to drive in the S. Twists and turns, up and down, almost floating, and you can see far enough ahead to not worry about traffic. It even got down to one lane.
On to Death Valley Saturday. South of Bishop we came to site of a Japanese relocation camp called Manzanar. We stopped and toured around. I had never been to one before. Its right next to the freeway, 395. We stopped by Rhyolite Nv, a ghost town, and then on to 116 F Furnace Creek. Sunday it was 118 F. Just a beautiful place. There is a lot to do and see. Great spring fed pool. The first day we could not hear anyone speaking English. The next day one couple spoke it. The rest of the visitors were German, French, and Nordic. At sunset we headed to Dantes View and took in the entire valley. It was 25 degrees cooler up there and it is listed as one of the quietest places in California. The milky way was milky. We stayed Saturday and Sunday at the Furnace Creek Resort.
Drove up and down the valley, even put the top down for a bit to say we did it. My wife said she has never consumed so much water before. Made some short excursions but you did have to watch it. Was glad I had some desert survival training!
We left for home on Monday for the longest drive of the trip. We stopped in Bishop at a great old time restaurant: Jacks. It larger and the kind of place they say "Yahall" Lots of trophy fish on the wall. Great malts; the real deal.
Headed over the 108 the Sonora Pass. Just a beautiful drive. Top down, 76 degrees. Home around dinner time. 1100 miles total. Got it up around 110 on some straight roads. Only car in sight was us.
The S performed flawlessly. Temp never blipped above the normal indication. (One bar less than half) Had new Pilot Super Sports. Love em. Oil did not drop one iota. Its an 09 with 49K miles now. A/C was just fine. Best mpg was 34 and the worst was 26. Averaged 85 on desert straight roads. Did 70 on highways so as not to attract undue attention.
Here is the Route:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=E...t=h&mra=ls&z=8
Manzanar Cemetery
Manzanar
Bristlecone Pine Drive/Forest
Joshua Trees
Rhyolite Ghost Town
Getting Top Tier Gas
Overlook, Dantes View
We headed early Friday morning to Bishop and stayed at a 40 acre B&B: Joseph House. Highly recommend it. We then went from sea level to 8K feet to the Bristlecone Pine Forest. These trees are the oldest living things on earth; around 4700 years old. The road from the forest turnoff to the highway south of Bishop, 168 to 395, turned out to be one of my all time favorite roads to drive in the S. Twists and turns, up and down, almost floating, and you can see far enough ahead to not worry about traffic. It even got down to one lane.
On to Death Valley Saturday. South of Bishop we came to site of a Japanese relocation camp called Manzanar. We stopped and toured around. I had never been to one before. Its right next to the freeway, 395. We stopped by Rhyolite Nv, a ghost town, and then on to 116 F Furnace Creek. Sunday it was 118 F. Just a beautiful place. There is a lot to do and see. Great spring fed pool. The first day we could not hear anyone speaking English. The next day one couple spoke it. The rest of the visitors were German, French, and Nordic. At sunset we headed to Dantes View and took in the entire valley. It was 25 degrees cooler up there and it is listed as one of the quietest places in California. The milky way was milky. We stayed Saturday and Sunday at the Furnace Creek Resort.
Drove up and down the valley, even put the top down for a bit to say we did it. My wife said she has never consumed so much water before. Made some short excursions but you did have to watch it. Was glad I had some desert survival training!
We left for home on Monday for the longest drive of the trip. We stopped in Bishop at a great old time restaurant: Jacks. It larger and the kind of place they say "Yahall" Lots of trophy fish on the wall. Great malts; the real deal.
Headed over the 108 the Sonora Pass. Just a beautiful drive. Top down, 76 degrees. Home around dinner time. 1100 miles total. Got it up around 110 on some straight roads. Only car in sight was us.
The S performed flawlessly. Temp never blipped above the normal indication. (One bar less than half) Had new Pilot Super Sports. Love em. Oil did not drop one iota. Its an 09 with 49K miles now. A/C was just fine. Best mpg was 34 and the worst was 26. Averaged 85 on desert straight roads. Did 70 on highways so as not to attract undue attention.
Here is the Route:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=E...t=h&mra=ls&z=8
Manzanar Cemetery
Manzanar
Bristlecone Pine Drive/Forest
Joshua Trees
Rhyolite Ghost Town
Getting Top Tier Gas
Overlook, Dantes View
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,326
Likes: 30
From: Phoenix, AZ
Beautiful photos and it sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing.
How did you keep the S clean on such a potentially dusty trip?
I noticed no luggage rack this time. Nice packing to get it all in the trunk.
How did you keep the S clean on such a potentially dusty trip?
I noticed no luggage rack this time. Nice packing to get it all in the trunk.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 7,878
Likes: 3,421
From: Foothills East of Sacramento
It actually was not as dusty as I thought it would be. I did avoid a very dusty road at the Bristlecone forest to go further up, 12 miles each way, on a powder dirt road. I went pretty slow and avoided the rough stuff as much as I could. I have some Costco micro fiber towels I keep around for doing the windows and when damp, do a good job of keeping it clean.
We had room to spare in the trunk. We have the science of packing it down. It helps when we travel on the airline, everything, I mean everything only goes in one roll aboard. Even that has room in case we buy something. One of the things I did have a lot of was water and we burned through that fast. I also had a small shelter in the event we broke down and needed solar protection.
We had room to spare in the trunk. We have the science of packing it down. It helps when we travel on the airline, everything, I mean everything only goes in one roll aboard. Even that has room in case we buy something. One of the things I did have a lot of was water and we burned through that fast. I also had a small shelter in the event we broke down and needed solar protection.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 7,878
Likes: 3,421
From: Foothills East of Sacramento
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