Death Valley '09

A week in Death Valley

We had been planing this trip for more than a year and we still had not finished planning the second half of the trip. Didn't matter though because we just went with life on life's terms and took what we were given.

Unfortunately the trip started out with me getting a ticket in Ridgecrest just outside of Death Valley. I mistakenly turned onto a Naval Air Weapons Base and guess what? My license was expired. This meant that they had to call the cops and now I have to appear in Criminal Court 400 miles from SF even though my renewal was pending with the DMV. I have since renewed my license, but that is a whole other story.

First stop was Saline Valley

Before we got to the Saline Springs (where we were going to meet Evan and Lauren) we did a little exploring and found some cool Native American left overs

Later that day we met our new friends Evan and Lauren and Scout

They were wonderful travel companions.















I met Evan on the Expedition Portal web Forum. We did some loose phone planning and decided to meet at Saline Springs to camp for a night. Saline was cool but kind of crowded. We didn't take any pics to mention. There were a bunch of wild Buros there that would walk right up to you for a handout. The springs were nice but we had to wait until the later evening to get a tub to our selves. We also met up with another Expo Forum couple and shared out camp site.

After Saline we took the famous 4x4 Lippencott Rd. to the Race Track.

We did take some pictures of flowers

We camped at the Lippencott Mine camping area

Breakfast from a can? Yum, and it's organic

Checked out the mysterious moving rocks on the Race Track


Hiked up to Ubehebe Peak with the dogs. Winnie had to wear her booties because she is a frail city dog.



We followed Evan out to Ubehebe crater on the famous Race Track Valley Rd. known for it's washboard that can rattle the fillings out of your teeth. (it was in great shape)

The Crater

Evan, Lauren, and Scout went home and we continued on with our trip through DV. We missed hanging out with them.

We tripped through Scotty's Castle (the tour is a must do if you are there)

Random roadside flowers

We ended up driving through Titus Canyon

Checked out Badwater
We hiked over 25 miles during the week. Some of the hikes we did were Ubehebe Peak, Mosaic Canyon, Golden Canyon, Hole in the Wall, and some dunes. Winslow got to go on over 10 of those miles with us. It was a little challenging becuase dogs are not allowed on any trails and you can't leave them in the car for obvios reasons. The hikes we took without her we did in the early morning so she was okay in the car for a few hours before the sun came up.
Here is Katherine in Mosaic Canyon at the 25ft falls
Hole in the Wall (we ended up camping there our last night)

Artists Drive

Devils Golf Course

Dunes at Stovepipe Wells

Golden Canyon & Red Cathedral
Begging Coyote
Me and Winnie on our Hole in the Wall hike
Butte Valley

We drove out to Butte Vally in search of these old Geologist cabins that are maintained by park visitors. You can camp in them but it is first come availability. All three were full so we decided to try and go over Mengal pass and camp at the famous Barker Ranch. That is where Charles Manson was caught in a shoot out back in the 1960's. Unfortunately we did not make it over the pass. I got the Land Cruiser stuck on some rocks twice and decided to give it up after damaging my fender. Katherine said the dent gives my truck some off0road credibility. I'm going with it.
Here I am about to get stuck again.
We decided to go back to Hole in the Wall to do some back country camping for our last night. It was really peaceful and we did not see any other humans.
The next day on the way out of DV we stopped to help some nice ladies change a tire just outside of Panamint Springs. Actually I was the idiot that did not help them change it back in Stovepipe Wells and thought they might make it to Panamint on a leaking tire. They didn't make it, but at least I did change it for them.
Later that day we ended up in Mammoth Lakes up on hwy 395 and there was a ton of snow. We had just spent a week in the desert and felt totally out of place.


You can check out all the pics at this here link - Click here for the pics

Thanks for looking.

Crosscut / Sawmill Enduro 2009

Sawmill Enduro 2009
This is the second year that I volunteered my Amateur radio services along with several other Hams to provide the emergency communications for two races over the April 4+5 weekend.




The race is put on by the North Bay Motorcycle Club. It's actually two races. Saturday was the 50 mile Cross Cut Family Enduro.
The second one on Sunday was the 80 mile Sawmill Enduro. It's the first race of the season for these guys and there were about 300 riders in each race.
They hold the races at Cow Mountain in Northern California.


From what I hear Cow Mountain is a pretty rowdy place when open to the public and the two times I have been there I was impressed with both the beauty and the horrible stewardship by the users. There is litter everywhere.

We camped at the Red Mountain Campground and had it all to our selves since the whole area is closed to the public.


The campground would be really nice if it were properly taken care of by the locals who visit. It's really sad. But we cleaned it up a little and made it our home for a few days


Saturday was the Crosscut Family Enduro for everyone. Our checkpoint as always was hidden from the riders.
The riders come around the corner and stop to get their times recorded







The fun part about the Family race is all the kids on tiny bikes with their dads



There are also a bunch of female riders usually marked with a pink tail on their backs

My check point had the only injury report for the day with one person who crashed at the beginning of the race and hurt his knee and wrist.
He rode for about 30 miles with his wrist wrapped in Electrical tape. He finally stopped 12 miles short of the finish at my check point because he could not go on. I had to call in the medics to evaluate and transport him back to the medic tent way back at the starting line. I
felt bad for him because he had given it such a valiant try.

The next race on Sunday was for the more serious riders.
I had to wake up nice and early to get out to the check point.


Heading down to the secret check point


I just happened to be with Rob (in the blue) who I worked the check point with at last years race - Rob is a really cool dude who takes pride in running a tight and fair check point.


After the setup we waited for the riders to arrive



Riders heading out from our check point


The 80 mile race had a rest stop where you could get gas

Man, that is a lot of gas


There were a few injuries on Sunday, one was a broken collar bone and I think there was another minor injury that I can't remember.
The big drama for Sunday was that three or four un-registered riders appeared on the course and would not stop at any of the check points.
This was really dangerous because if they were to ride a trail that intersected with the course somebody could have got hurt bad. In the end at least three of them had been apprehended by the authorities and one of them even blew their motor and had to be towed out. It was pretty
lame but it did add some excitement.

When the race was over we headed back to break down the camp and head back to Clearlake and then home.


It was a great experience with the Ham radios and working with the other Amateur Radio operators. I learned a lot from the experienced Hams.
They have been doing this type of thing for years and are really good at it.

I also got to test out some of our camping gear for our Death Valley trip next week.
-m