Re: [RBW] Trip Report: Death Valley February 2024

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks for sharing. Someone help with posting photos.

On Sun, Mar 3, 2024 at 9:19 PM Diana H  wrote:

> Map:
> https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=9.6/-116.8781/36.7032=GJ70zopvv3HDAIv6yQW94aTs=09fa1491-18a7-4735-83a2-eb164d4ba0ba
>
> Total miles: ~165 miles
> Total Elevation Gain: ~14,400 ft
>
> *Intro: *
>
> The inspiration for this route came from the Bikepacking.com- Echo-Titus
> Canyon , but Titus
> Canyon is currently closed to all traffic (including bicycles), so we were
> looking for a way to extend our tip another day. We added Rhyolite Canyon
>  from the Dirty
> Freehub.
>
>
>
> *Bicycles*
>
> Diana’s Bike - 2022 Platypus (50 cm, 38x24 crank, 650Bx43mm GravelKing SK
> Knobby tires, Nitto Choco handlebar, and a 9-speed cassette)
>
> Ran’s Bike – 2023 Kona Sutra (stock parts except the tubeless 2.1 inch
> tires)
>
> Mikes Bike – 2022 Salsa Cutthroat (stock parts, 2.2 inch tubeless tires)
>
>
>
> *Day 1. Rhyolite Rumble*
> Total Miles: 46
> Average Speed 8.6mph
>
> We drove from Reno to Spicer Ranch. Spicer Ranch is an amazing campground
> and the owner runs it entirely on donations. Clean bathrooms, hot showers,
> picnic tables, what else could you ask for? Please donate if you stay here.
>
> Our plan today was to ride load-less and ease our way into the trip. We
> arrived at Spicer Ranch a little after 10am and were biking by 10:45am. The
> first few miles went by quickly and we passed by several old mines. There
> is endless gravel to ride out here and you could easily spend the day
> exploring mine to mine. The road is pretty tough in places, but this is how
> it will be the entire trip.
>
> The excitement of beginning our adventure (and being unloaded) had us
> riding fast. We had great views riding toward Grapevine Mountains on
> amazingly packed gravel. I would get a flat somewhere along here but
> patched it up and moved on.
>
> The views would continue but the road would deteriorate into more sand
> than gravel and had us pushing on a few occasions. Ran took a spill during
> a moment of lapsed attention when his tire hit the side of a wash. Luckily
> it was a slow fall and Ran would ride away with minor scratches. Later on
> in the day we hit some washboards and I was going too fast and I got a
> pinch flat. Patched that too, but the pinch flat happened right next to the
> valve and the patch didn’t hold. Replaced the whole tube just before
> Rhyolite. This whole time we saw nobody else on the trails.
>
> Rhyolite Ghost town is very interesting and they have a lot of eccentric
> statues/sculptures. Worth a visit here if you find yourself in the area.
> There were a lot of tourists here and it was little jarring after spending
> the whole day by ourselves.
>
> The night caught us and to try to get back to camp quicker, we abstained
> from the gravel and rode back on highway 95. This was very unpleasant as
> it’s a 2-lane highway with 70 mph speed limits. Most everybody passed us
> with as much room as they could spare, and we could always hop onto the
> gravel sides if we needed. Once back at Spicer Ranch, we set up camp, ate
> our dinners, and all fell into peaceful sleep.
>
>
> *Day 2: Spicer Ranch à Chloride City à Furnace Creek à Echo Canyon*
>
> Total Mileage: 66 Miles
> Max Speed: 34.5mph
> Average: 8.7mph
>
> This was a physically hard day!  We wanted more gravel riding today, so we
> decided to take Chloride City Road to meet up with Death Valley Road. The
> road to Chloride City is all uphill, riding on somewhat loose gravel, and
> many parts so sandy some pushing was needed again. The scenery did not
> disappoint though! Mike found a license plate from 1932! We harbored
> thoughts of going to see Chloride City Ghost Town, but upon seeing that
> Chloride City was another 2000 feet of elevation gain and having just
> climbed a very difficult 1500 feet, we opted to skip it.
>
> We thought we were going to be golden once we got to the turnoff to go
> down, but the decent from Chloride City road is difficult. Thank goodness
> it was downhill because otherwise we would have had to push our bicycles
> 50% more. It was extremely sandy and only the cars with the fattest of
> tires would be safe driving this path.
>
> Once we hit Daylight Pass Road it was jarring to *fly* down pavement to
> Hells Gate Viewpoint (my max speed was almost 35 mph and I’m sure I pumped
> the breaks). We snapped a few photos then turned left and went down Beatty
> Cutoff Road. Again, we would fly down this road (dropping 2500 feet!)
> hitting Highway 190.
>
> Riding on Highway 190 wasn’t the greatest with cars zooming past us, but
> we got lucky and hit some construction. The construction turned the road
> into one way traffic with timed/predictable traffic. We would ride taking
> up a whole lane knowing nobody would come up behind us for a good 10 or so
> minutes. Then when we heard the pack of cars coming 

[RBW] Trip Report: Death Valley February 2024

[Diana H]

Map: 
https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=9.6/-116.8781/36.7032=GJ70zopvv3HDAIv6yQW94aTs=09fa1491-18a7-4735-83a2-eb164d4ba0ba

Total miles: ~165 miles 
Total Elevation Gain: ~14,400 ft 

*Intro: *

The inspiration for this route came from the Bikepacking.com- Echo-Titus 
Canyon , but Titus 
Canyon is currently closed to all traffic (including bicycles), so we were 
looking for a way to extend our tip another day. We added Rhyolite Canyon 
 from the Dirty 
Freehub.

 

*Bicycles*

Diana’s Bike - 2022 Platypus (50 cm, 38x24 crank, 650Bx43mm GravelKing SK 
Knobby tires, Nitto Choco handlebar, and a 9-speed cassette)

Ran’s Bike – 2023 Kona Sutra (stock parts except the tubeless 2.1 inch 
tires)

Mikes Bike – 2022 Salsa Cutthroat (stock parts, 2.2 inch tubeless tires)

 

*Day 1. Rhyolite Rumble*
Total Miles: 46
Average Speed 8.6mph

We drove from Reno to Spicer Ranch. Spicer Ranch is an amazing campground 
and the owner runs it entirely on donations. Clean bathrooms, hot showers, 
picnic tables, what else could you ask for? Please donate if you stay here. 

Our plan today was to ride load-less and ease our way into the trip. We 
arrived at Spicer Ranch a little after 10am and were biking by 10:45am. The 
first few miles went by quickly and we passed by several old mines. There 
is endless gravel to ride out here and you could easily spend the day 
exploring mine to mine. The road is pretty tough in places, but this is how 
it will be the entire trip.

The excitement of beginning our adventure (and being unloaded) had us 
riding fast. We had great views riding toward Grapevine Mountains on 
amazingly packed gravel. I would get a flat somewhere along here but 
patched it up and moved on. 

The views would continue but the road would deteriorate into more sand than 
gravel and had us pushing on a few occasions. Ran took a spill during a 
moment of lapsed attention when his tire hit the side of a wash. Luckily it 
was a slow fall and Ran would ride away with minor scratches. Later on in 
the day we hit some washboards and I was going too fast and I got a pinch 
flat. Patched that too, but the pinch flat happened right next to the valve 
and the patch didn’t hold. Replaced the whole tube just before Rhyolite. 
This whole time we saw nobody else on the trails.

Rhyolite Ghost town is very interesting and they have a lot of eccentric 
statues/sculptures. Worth a visit here if you find yourself in the area. 
There were a lot of tourists here and it was little jarring after spending 
the whole day by ourselves. 

The night caught us and to try to get back to camp quicker, we abstained 
from the gravel and rode back on highway 95. This was very unpleasant as 
it’s a 2-lane highway with 70 mph speed limits. Most everybody passed us 
with as much room as they could spare, and we could always hop onto the 
gravel sides if we needed. Once back at Spicer Ranch, we set up camp, ate 
our dinners, and all fell into peaceful sleep.


*Day 2: Spicer Ranch à Chloride City à Furnace Creek à Echo Canyon*

Total Mileage: 66 Miles
Max Speed: 34.5mph
Average: 8.7mph

This was a physically hard day!  We wanted more gravel riding today, so we 
decided to take Chloride City Road to meet up with Death Valley Road. The 
road to Chloride City is all uphill, riding on somewhat loose gravel, and 
many parts so sandy some pushing was needed again. The scenery did not 
disappoint though! Mike found a license plate from 1932! We harbored 
thoughts of going to see Chloride City Ghost Town, but upon seeing that 
Chloride City was another 2000 feet of elevation gain and having just 
climbed a very difficult 1500 feet, we opted to skip it.

We thought we were going to be golden once we got to the turnoff to go 
down, but the decent from Chloride City road is difficult. Thank goodness 
it was downhill because otherwise we would have had to push our bicycles 
50% more. It was extremely sandy and only the cars with the fattest of 
tires would be safe driving this path.

Once we hit Daylight Pass Road it was jarring to *fly* down pavement to 
Hells Gate Viewpoint (my max speed was almost 35 mph and I’m sure I pumped 
the breaks). We snapped a few photos then turned left and went down Beatty 
Cutoff Road. Again, we would fly down this road (dropping 2500 feet!) 
hitting Highway 190.

Riding on Highway 190 wasn’t the greatest with cars zooming past us, but we 
got lucky and hit some construction. The construction turned the road into 
one way traffic with timed/predictable traffic. We would ride taking up a 
whole lane knowing nobody would come up behind us for a good 10 or so 
minutes. Then when we heard the pack of cars coming we would ride single 
file for a few minutes until they all passed and then take up the whole 
lane again.

We did this for a good portion of the way to Furnace Creek Visitor Center. 
We filled up all of our water (we each