Death Valley “Adventure Series” Trip March/April 2022

Spring 2022 is shaping up to be a very busy year in Death Valley, like many national parks in recent years, so we’re going to switch things up and lead a couple of “adventure” trips to spectacular landscapes outside of the crowded center of the Park. We’ve explored these areas since 2006, and we explored Death Valley National Park in particular detail from 2010-2015 for my “Photographing California South” guidebook. Based on the many unique and compelling locations we found, we have been leading multiple Death Valley photography workshops per year for about a decade, and we’ve taken small groups on itineraries like these in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

Our second “adventure” session is March 27- April 1, six days, five nights. Being later in the spring season, this timing is perfect for higher altitudes, where spring arrives later. Wildflowers are also far more reliable where occasional winter snow extends the time that the ground and plants get water.

We planned the timing of this trip to coincide with dark nights for Milky Way photography. We get more Milky Way time in April than early March. We’ll spend two nights camping in a campground (with campfire rings, tables, restroom), then one night in the center of the park (lodging or camping), then a couple more nights remote camping. Although our default plan is to spend two nights at each of the two camps, we have some flexibility in the schedule if we see interesting weather on the way somewhere else in this massive park, or if we simply feel we’re “done” with a particular area and we want to move on to something entirely new.

We’re going to keep each of our adventure groups small, but we have flexibility to add a second session for each itinerary if demand warrants. The first session in late February – early March involves an itinerary with less rough roads, and can be navigated by many vehicles with reasonable ground clearance (AWD or 4WD SUVs for example). We will be on some unpaved roads, so All Terrain rated tires would be a plus.

The later March-April itinerary is best for SUVs, Jeeps, pickup trucks, vehicles with decent clearance and preferably All Terrain tires. I’ve installed All Terrain tires on my Subaru Outback, and I may bring that (it’s my favorite vehicle that I’ve driven to the Racetrack, given tires with relatively low pressure and a softer suspension than our SUVs and pickup truck).

Jeep rentals are available for either session, and there are tempting side trips on either itinerary that would benefit from having Jeeps along (high clearance 4WD vehicles).

To enroll, or to see our other Death Valley workshop dates this year, click on the price on our Death Valley Workshops page.

Below are photos of the places we can explore on this itinerary: