Advice on Death Valley

[Adventure-Farmer]

I am looking for remote camping spot ideas in death valley. I have a very capable Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with off road trailer.

TRIP PLAN:
A buddy and I usually attend a 24 hour mountain bike race in Arizona in mid February. (the 24 hours in the old pueblo) Unfortunately, we had to cancel this year. The good news is that we are able to do a 3-4 night mioverland trip instead, and have decided to explore DV.

The new plan is..... leave Bakersfield early Thursday am and head to Death Valley!
That's about as far as we have planned except that Titus Canyon is on the must see list.

So, can anyone help out with good
Camp spots along the way?

Honestly, this trip just came up so I haven't done much research.

Thanks in advance,
Dominic

 

[Dapozer]

have you planned anymore on this trip? what are the actual dates as I might be in the area in Feb.

 

[Adventure-Farmer]

Dapper,
We are planning on leaving Bakersfield Friday the 15th at 6am and returning early Monday.
Planned route is:
Day 1:
Head out to barker ranch via goler canyon,
Then check out geologist cabin and find somewhere to camp in the area.

Day 2:
Continue east on warm springs road to Badwater road and hike sidewinder canyon.
Head north to furnace creek, and from there hopefully head to eureka dunes, depending on the time. We will camp in this area and check out the dunes the next day.

Day 3:
Head to the racetrack and camp in the area, probably at homestake dry camp.

Day 4:
Head home.

Let me know if you will be around!

 

[Ryan Matthes]

We are also going to be there in DV that weekend.

 

[Luinil Explorations]

If I remember correclly there is very limited backcountry camping in Death Valley. You can camp in the BLM lands that surround the park. We camped at Warm Springs Mine. It is between the geologists cabin and Badwater. There is also an old mine workings north of Eureka Dunes that you can camp at. I do not believe there is any camping at or near racetrack.

You have an aggressive schedule. Warm Springs road is slow going due to the rock surface. The road to racetrack is 20 miles of bad corrugations. Plan accordingly.

 

[v_man]

We just did a family run on a similar route as your proposed route. There are plenty of backcountry camping opportunities and spots in DV.

https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/backcamp.htm

"Death Valley National Park's backcountry has a variety of rugged mountain and desert terrain. More than 3 million acres of wilderness and almost 700 miles of backcountry dirt roads are open to camping under the following regulations."

Here's a video of our route if you're interested. PM me and I'd be happy to share camping sites we used...

 

[Road]

We just did a family run on a similar route as your proposed route. There are plenty of backcountry camping opportunities and spots in DV.

https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/backcamp.htm

"Death Valley National Park's backcountry has a variety of rugged mountain and desert terrain. More than 3 million acres of wilderness and almost 700 miles of backcountry dirt roads are open to camping under the following regulations."

Here's a video of our route if you're interested. PM me and I'd be happy to share camping sites we used...

Great job on the vid and editing, man, I really enjoyed that. Been a long time since I've been out through Death Valley. Hoping to hit it sometime this year again. Thanks for the cool vid.

 

[ArmyofMike]

@DOMINICZ1 If you don't have GPS software to map it, use Google maps and map out the route you are describing. There are some stretches of travel you are talking about that are on road/off road, such as Badwater to Eureka Dunes and some, most of it is slow going at @ 30mph (more if you want to, but the risk of tire laceration or puncture grows exponentially with speed.) Also, if you map the route, it will give you a better idea of timeframe from each location to next. For example, Badwater to Eureka Dunes on Gmaps shows 3hrs and 112 miles....I am apprehensive you can do that entire route in that time. I went from Ubehebe Crater to Eureka Dunes at AVG 30mph and it took almost 4-5hrs and was some rough corrugated road.

It sounds like a fun trip and lots to see. Remember, it's Death Valley, there is ALWAYS scenery, sights and stops that catch your attention along the way!

 

[Adventure-Farmer]

@DOMINICZ1 If you don't have GPS software to map it, use Google maps and map out the route you are describing. There are some stretches of travel you are talking about that are on road/off road, such as Badwater to Eureka Dunes and some, most of it is slow going at @ 30mph (more if you want to, but the risk of tire laceration or puncture grows exponentially with speed.) Also, if you map the route, it will give you a better idea of timeframe from each location to next. For example, Badwater to Eureka Dunes on Gmaps shows 3hrs and 112 miles....I am apprehensive you can do that entire route in that time. I went from Ubehebe Crater to Eureka Dunes at AVG 30mph and it took almost 4-5hrs and was some rough corrugated road.

It sounds like a fun trip and lots to see. Remember, it's Death Valley, there is ALWAYS scenery, sights and stops that catch your attention along the way!

You're right, I'm probably being a little ambitious with being able to make it to eureka dune this trip. I suppose we will be better off checking out mesquite dunes instead.

Thank you all for the advice so far!