Death Valley Adventure - 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
A group of us, led by JoeFromSF, decide to ride to Chloride Cliffs and Titus Canyon today. I fill up with gas - just a little expensive at the Panamint Springs Shell station.
Waiting for the group to assemble, that's the Panamint Springs campground in the background.
Our group includes JoeFromSF and his buddies from NorCal, Darrell (kawtipper), Bill(Speed Racer) and Steve (Tuffgonger); as well as Steve (DirtDiver) , SuzukiPhil, and myself.
Soon we're heading east on Hwy 190. Some of the guys with smaller gas tanks need to top off in Stovepipe Wells.
Those in our group that didn't have park passes did the
honorable thing and visited the ranger station to obtain passes. While we were
waiting, a big red GS passes by and then turns around and comes back to say Hi;
it turns out to be Stonewall. He had been out near Beatty for a few days helping
with some sort of photo shoot, and was passing through on his way back to
Bishop.
Once everyone was gassed up and permits obtained, it was off to Chloride Cliffs. I stopped about 1/2 way up to take some pics...
Here's DirtDiver on his KTM
And there he goes...
Along comes SuzukiPhil...
In the pic above, you can notice
that Phil skirts to the outside of the hole and boulders on the inside of the
turn.
This is what happens if you take the inside line...
Darrel on his Kawasaki...
Steve motors through...
And here's Bill on his Honda TransAlp...
I look around to see where our fearless leader (JoeFromSF) is, and see this...
Yep, those happen to be VStrom wheels
pointing at the sky. That inside line was not kind to those that dared to take
it!
We continued on and soon were treated to some great views!
From a complete stop on an off-camber road, I managed to tip over on my GS. Thankfully, there was some help in picking it back up.
We explored a few of the trails, and stopped here and there to take in the views, grab a drink, and talk amongst ourselves...
After taking a snack break at the top, we soon head back down the hills and towards Rhyolite.
We re-grouped at the highway. I'm not sure why Bill appeared to be looking at Joe's crotch in this next pic, but that's me by the Nevada sign...
After getting back to the highway from Chloride Cliffs, it was on to Rhyolite.
Rhyolite is an old ghost town outside of Beatty, NV which now has a unique collection of eclectic artwork.
From Rhyolite, we headed on dirt towards Titus Canyon Road. This dirt road leads into the Grapevine Mountains, and becomes a narrow winding road as it approaches the summit of Red Pass.
Now it was my first time through Titus, and I was happily following Joe but he got into a loose section, lost traction, and slowed way down; so I took the lead. Well I was having so much fun, that I just kept going and going until I hit...
I had been riding at a pretty good pace, but after reaching Leadfield I waited and waited. I walked around, took some pics...
Along came a group of several BMW riders that I had passed riding down the canyon...
They had come out from Utah, and were exploring DV for their first time.
Finally, I see a familiar rider come into view - DirtDiver.
Then DirtDiver and I waited, and
waited............and waited.
Finally, DirtDiver took off back up the trail to find out what happened and then
SuzukiPhil came down the trail, followed by DirtDiver. Apparently, Bill had a
problem near the start of Titus (a faulty kickstand switch) and Joe had gone
back to help. They sent Phil on to find myself and DirtDiver to tell us to
continue on. So the three of us finished up the gravel at the bottom of Titus
and headed back to camp (well actually SuzukiPhil ended up taking an additional
sidetrip out of Stovepipe).
DirtDiver started the hamburger BBQ back at camp, and the NorCal crew eventually
fixed Bill's sidestand swtich, and continued through Titus and got back to camp
in time for burgers!
Here's DirtDiver (Steve) manning the grill...
Jeff (in the middle) and Aaron (not pictured) brought ADV beer glasses for all...Thanks!
Later Friday night, everyone's still having a great time!
Here I am with JoeFromSF and JustPaul.
Twas another good day of riding with good friends!
Thursday Friday
Saturday
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