Camping near Bad Water Basin - Death Valley

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MoreGone

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Hello,

Doing a trip to Death Valley later in the month. Meeting up with friends from Salt Lake and coming from Phoenix myself.

The first stop on our trip is at Bad Water Basin, but will be meeting up late the night before. Looking for somewhere nearby, outside of the park that we can pull up and camp at.

I have some ideas, but not knowing where the toll gates are makes it a bit harder. Any pointers would be appreciated.
 

VCeXpedition

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There are no "gates" entering DV, you pay the entrance fee at either Stovepipe Wells ranger station or the main one at Furnace Creek. There is no camping as far as I know near Badwater, look at the park boundaries and camp outside there if possible, it's pretty sparse if I remember.
There are others here that have more knowledge about camping in/near the park but typically not down near Badwater.

Dan.
 
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MoreGone

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Thank you. First time visiting DVNP and kind of assumed it would have the ranger stations check points like other National Parks.

Looking like 20 Mule Team Rd or Hole in the Wall might be somewhere we can camp for the night.
Thanks
 

shoredreamer

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Good call on Hole in the Wall Trail. On this map, anything that is shaded grey means you can disperse camp. So...Hole in the Wall, Echo Canyon, Trail Canyon, or Hanuapah Canyon all are ok. No camping the first 2 miles up the trail. No camping on 20 Mule Team Rd. I’d personally head up Hole in the Wall. A5015A9B-12A3-4A9F-8795-A529351574E4.png
 

MoreGone

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Good call on Hole in the Wall Trail. On this map, anything that is shaded grey means you can disperse camp. So...Hole in the Wall, Echo Canyon, Trail Canyon, or Hanuapah Canyon all are ok. No camping the first 2 miles up the trail. No camping on 20 Mule Team Rd. I’d personally head up Hole in the Wall. View attachment 50841
Perfect, thank you.

I was wondering if there were any spots of 20 Mule Team that were more than a mile from the main roads and this map seems to confirm that no, there is not.

Where did the map come from? Looks like an App screenshot.

Thanks again
 

shoredreamer

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That’s the NPS backcountry map. I use the CA Parks app. I can’t find it in the App Store right now though. Let’s you download information (park) maps from State, County, Private and NPS parks. Doesn’t have National Forest though but I like it a lot. It’s pretty thorough. C053EDBF-4711-44C5-8A15-968B5457A8BF.png
 

v_man

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At the very top of that NP map screen shot you see 'eye of the needle' and Inyo Mine. Inyo mine is a great overnight spot, easy scenic trail getting there, mining leftovers/structures etc. Plus just out of the way enough to be uncrowded...
 
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