The 2/3 of Death Valley's roads that are unpaved are still in sad shape following heavy rains back in August.
The Emigrant Canyon Road towards Wildrose and Agueberry Point? Closed.
The road through Panamint Valley? Not only closed, but a large section of the road was undermined and got carried away in the flood. They don't even know where it went.
The road up Wildrose Canyon towards Mahogany Flat and the trail head to Telescope Peak? Closed.
West Side Road leading to the other side of Badwater Basin? Closed.
The Cottonwood Canyon road from the Stovepipe Wells airport? Open to the mouth of the canyon, but washed out and closed after that.
The road to The Racetrack? Rutted with heavy washboard, with some decent-sized rocks in the road. Definitely not in any shape for low clearance vehicles, or any vehicle with anything less than all terrain tires (reinforced off road tires), and even then you could get one or two flats. Nearly everyone I saw up there in November was using the rental Jeeps you can get at Furnace Creek for about $200/day.
I'll upload a copy of the road condition report to my Death Valley album of photos from my most recent workshops:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+JeffreySullivan/albums/5856858371249732481
My larger albums of photos from past trips include these:
300+ Death Valley images 2005 – 2012: https://plus.google.com/photos/+JeffreySullivan/albums/5671946216767538513
Roughly 100 images from one brief visit:
#DeathValley #photographyworkshops #landscapephotography
+Death Valley Workshops +Landscape Photography
Evening at The Racetrack, November 19, 2013
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stark but lovely photo…THE Stumbling Block…;-) can always be Sidestepped…:-)
Fantastic sky and foreground! I could not go there beacuse the roads were closed because of floods 🙁
Race Track in Death Valley?
Adjusting to the road closures is definitely an adventure at the moment +Dominique Dubied. I'm considering putting off this month's trips to next year to have more of the park accessible.
sensacional
muy hermoso!
Are these the mysterious iron core rocks that slide on their own? Awesome!
HD!
Bravo!
+MayanResearcher No, I'm not aware of any such rocks in the world. These are the so-called "sailing stones" which have been studied for years by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, and were determined to move in high winds, sometimes possibly lodged in ice as well (which may have melted back from the shore and can move multiple rocks in unison).
The rocks apparently weigh up to 700 pounds, so it's an awe-inspiring sight to behold (even with the evidence pointing to the rocks being nothing special except for being on a sometimes-slick clay surface in an often-windy place).
Unfortunately, people who are determined to believe that these rocks must have "magical powers" have been stealing the rocks, and other careless visitors have been moving them around at random, so the site has been highly vandalized and it can be difficult to find a rock that actually moved to the site that it's currently resting in. There are also footprints form people who walk on the lake bed without waiting for it to fully dry. It's sad that people can have so little respect for such a unique place.
beautiful
Is that the same Cottonwood Canyon Road that I'm thinking of? That's the road I took to get to Bodie back in October. On 395, we turned right after Mono Lake onto highway 167, then turned left onto Cottonwood Canyon Road. The first mile or so was paved, then it was 10 miles of dirt.
Respect the Racetrack if you visit, it is an otherworldly place. Leave no trace.
Different road +Cory Smart. The one in Death Valley starts at the Stovepipe Wells airport.
That's too bad that folks have to mess up these amazing places! Perhaps there is a huge meteorite under the dry lake bed pulling them to it? Just a thought. Amazing that wind moves 700 lb. rocks. But, like you said, it's slippery clay that they rest on. Thank you for the information and fantastic photography!
روعة
Awesome.
I noticed many roads still closed myself. What do you think they are waiting for? For the winter to pass?
I think they have a limited staff for maintaining roads +Bob Bowman, and heavy rains back in August damaged so many roads it'll keep them busy for a while. They may have a temperature problem in some areas, since asphalt usually needs to be laid down in a certain ambient temperature range.
Ok, who put that rock here?