Death Valley the seen and the unseen riding with Saltwater and Cabrito

[Cabrito]

Since I can’t go to Baja with the other BARFers this year a DV trip seemed right. I think the whole thing was Saltwaters idea and my common law wife gave me a hall pass..

LunchBox (Aaron) let us borrow his super awesome trailer to haul our bikes out to DV. Thanks Aaron! I owe you big time. We were going to use Saltwater's truck to pull the trailer and our camping gear, but something happened so we took the small but trusty FJ

I’m going to post some of my pics, and some of Saltwater’s pics, but hopefully he has some of his own to add. (He sent me a lot of pics, but not all of them)

Spotwalla screen grab of the trip


The actual Spotwalla tracks if you’re interested are here, and you can download the GPX if you want.
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=f5c35653eed3282a4

We arrived in Gold Point Thanksgiving Evening and quickly opted for a cabin instead of tenting it since it was in the low 30’s when we go there, and there was patches of snow on the ground. Yes we’re wimps. Gold Point is kinda dumpy, but I like it that way. They have a cool Saloon, and plenty of great riding all around. Cool old ghost town with accommodating hosts. Just don’t let Herb talk your ear off because he will if you let him.

Gold Point, take a look around.








Some of Marks pics of the area around Gold Point




We took a quick night ride and quickly realized how fucking cold it was. Let’s just call it low 30’s – after our short night ride I was pumped for the next day.

More later.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Well, I'm in! :ride
Always pictured you in a '60s FJ40 when
you'd speak of your FJ ... Now I've see the pic
and know the truth I'm going
to have to revise my whole idea
of who Cabrito is! :laughing :thumbup

 

[HadesOmega]

Cool you guys went out to DV. I was thinking of going with you guys but after the Tahoe trip and Japan trip I decided to take it easy. I'd like to go explore that side of DV sometime but setup a basecamp, I did everything else, it nice to ride with buddies in the desert too because it gets lonely. There are seriously roads that just seem to go out into the desert forever.

 

[Cabrito]

Well, I'm in! :ride
Always pictured you in a '60s FJ40 when
you'd speak of your FJ ... Now I've see the pic
and know the truth I'm going
to have to revise my whole idea
of who Cabrito is! :laughing :thumbup

Hi John,
heh, Yeah I'm one of "those guys" who drive a phony FJ.. But I used to have a 60 series that was pretty bad ass.. Thanks for tagging along in the RR.

Cool you guys went out to DV. I was thinking of going with you guys but after the Tahoe trip and Japan trip I decided to take it easy. I'd like to go explore that side of DV sometime but setup a basecamp, I did everything else, it nice to ride with buddies in the desert too because it gets lonely. There are seriously roads that just seem to go out into the desert forever.

Merlin! You would have had a blast. We hit some fun back country stuff.

 

[Cabrito]

The 180 mile loop that takes us into the night.

We had our big 5.8g tanks and ended up using about 4 gallons on the day. I got 45mpg on the XR4. I think Saltwater got around 37.5mpg, but he was constantly doing wheelies so I'm not surprised he got less than me.

When we woke up it was around 18 degrees out so it took us a while to get going. Translated = we got a late start.

We started out of Gold Point and took Oriental Wash to DV Park. It hooks up with Lone Pine/Death Valley Road after 15 or 20 miles. Ride starts with a hop over a small pass that has a nice thin layer of snow on it. It’s on top of a soft layer of sandy stuff and is grippy and fast.




After the snowy hills it turns into a nice graded road that’s fast and easy, but we of course were following my GPS so we ended up riding up the dry riverbed for miles.




My first dump of the day while I was turning around to go back and find the correct road.

 

[Saltwater]

Just outside of Goldpoint, Nevada. Look at all the snow, which was pretty typical at this elevation.

 

[Cabrito]

Lone Pine / Death Valley Road to Eureka Dunes

Once we hit Lone Pine / DV road it was quick to Crankshaft Corner

Looking back towards where we came from – yep we got snowed on a little bit as you can see from the dangling clouds.



Crankshaft Corner




Then it was off to Eureka Dunes where we spent about an hour eating lunch and talking to a guy about the area.









Some more of Saltwater's cool shots.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Hi John,
heh, Yeah I'm one of "those guys" who drive a phony FJ.. But I used to have a 60 series that was pretty bad ass.. Thanks for tagging along in the RR.

My faith has been just been fully restored with your
Thanksgiving Death Valley ride report on a
kick-start XR400
with a
proper
desert
fuel tank! :thumbup:laughingarty

Crankshaft Corner

A brace of air-cooled Hondas, FTW! :ride :afm199

 

[Cabrito]

My faith has been just been fully restored with your
Thanksgiving Death Valley ride report on a
kick-start XR400
with a
proper
desert
fuel tank! :thumbup:laughingarty



A brace of air-cooled Hondas, FTW! :ride :afm199

Thanks John!
And my old Land Cruiser was pretty boss too! Right up until I got high-centered on my transfer case on Mengel Pass back in 09

 

[1962siia]

Michael that xr400 is looking sexy! The big tank is awesome. How did you survive without all the farkles of the klr? :laughing

Mark the 650 is looking super clean too! So jealous of this trip but glad you guys are putting up this report so I can dream of the future rides to DV!

 

[boney]

opcorn

 

[Cabrito]

Michael that xr400 is looking sexy! The big tank is awesome. How did you survive without all the farkles of the klr? :laughing

Mark the 650 is looking super clean too! So jealous of this trip but glad you guys are putting up this report so I can dream of the future rides to DV!

Thanks Daniel! The XR4 is pretty damn sexy in my book too! I made up for lack of KLR Farkle by riding with two GPS mounted to the bars! Let's ride DV soon!

 

[strictlyJDM]

This is awesome....

Been meaning to do a DV ride for so long on my XRL but I'll just live through you for now...

I have the same tank on my BRP

 

[tgrrdr]

opcorn

 

[Cabrito]

This is awesome....

Been meaning to do a DV ride for so long on my XRL but I'll just live through you for now...

I have the same tank on my BRP

Do it strictlyJDM! Your XRL will thank you for it by providing tons of great riding!

 

[Cabrito]

On to Steele Pass to get to Saline Valley -

After a way long break at the Eureka Dunes we head into the pass.

These are mostly if not all Saltwaters pictures here.


Looking back to Eureka



Heading into the hills to the waterfall steps.




The steps! - I biffed, Salty biffed, and rode my XR4 up a few steps. We both pushed and pulled my bike up one. I partially rode up one. It was not fun kicking my XR4 with the flooded carb from laying on it's side a few times. I got winded so Salty had to step in and get us moving.

We were sort of running out of daylight so we didn't hang around and take many pictures here. I sure wish I'd got the GoPro out though now that I look back.

For the record - I did ride up this steep step on my own before I fell over at the next little step in this pic.

 

[strictlyJDM]

what tires are you guys running? dunlops?

 

[Saltwater]

We were running the Maxxis Desert IT. Its a great all around tire.

The waterfalls were a fun and technical part of the trail. For the first one I picked the wrong line and when I got to the top the front tire got jammed up in the rocks and down went the bike. The second waterfall was easy and the third I stacked some rocks. At each waterfall there was a thick layer if loose rock so it was difficult to initiate a small wheelie to make the climb easier.

 

[SFMCjohn]

And my old Land Cruiser was pretty boss too! Right up until I got high-centered on my transfer case on Mengel Pass back in 09

There we go, that's the Michael and FJ I imagined ... :laughing
Cool Toyota (the late-model is cool, too), and cool vanity plate ...
Sounds like there may be a Mengel-recovery story also,
but I guess you 4x4 guys stick together ... :ride

enjoying the added pics this am ...
good job riding up (I always try to go down, ha) the
Steele Pass steps! arty

see you around
the campfire,
-- John A

 

[Cabrito]

There we go, that's the Michael and FJ I imagined ... :laughing
Cool Toyota (the late-model is cool, too), and cool vanity plate ...
Sounds like there may be a Mengel-recovery story also,
but I guess you 4x4 guys stick together ... :ride

enjoying the added pics this am ...
good job on the
Steele Pass steps! arty

see you around
the campfire,
-- John A

John,
I was solo on Mengel in the Land Cruiser and had to un-stick myself from the rocks. Had some nice candy-cane striping on my drive shaft from that rock garden. I wish I'd never given up that license plate.

Thanks for checking the added pictures. I did add several to the first few posts.

The steps on Steele Pass would have been more fun if we had more time left to spend there.