US West Death Valley Western Tour October 22-25th 2020

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Budman

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I wanted to thank all ya all for an awesome adventure through Death Valley!

Some moments from our Overland Bound Family exploration across the valley

Looking forward to the next family gathering!

Budman
 

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moonpatrol

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Looks like a great trip! I saw you all pass by out there on Saline Valley Road on your way up Hunter Mountain.

Were any of you caught off gaurd by the 500' of super deep, soft powder on the way down? I thought it was just ruts in mud at first and plowed right in. Time for a new air filter after that one.

In the photos--what is that tight rock pass you went through? Steel pass? Thinking of following your track for this trip and just trying to figure out what the more challenging parts might be.
 

Pi_Baker

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Yup to both, in my case, @moonpatrol .

Had a close call or two in the silt, for sure, but we were saved by the magic that is radio communication! between calling slowdowns and stops, and warning of head-on traffic, it was the chattiest part of the trip.

And that's Steel Pass. I took my full-size RWD and only had a handful of trouble spots, all of which could have been fixed by having 4WD. As it was, I needed 2 tow-rope tugs, a couple good spotters, and one lovely gentleman to give me extremely action-oriented succinct direction.
 

rho

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Yup to both, in my case, @moonpatrol .

Had a close call or two in the silt, for sure, but we were saved by the magic that is radio communication! between calling slowdowns and stops, and warning of head-on traffic, it was the chattiest part of the trip.

And that's Steel Pass. I took my full-size RWD and only had a handful of trouble spots, all of which could have been fixed by having 4WD. As it was, I needed 2 tow-rope tugs, a couple good spotters, and one lovely gentleman to give me extremely action-oriented succinct direction.
yeah... that silt bed was bad. I was going pretty quick through it and I was playing catch up to the group so it wasn't toooooo bad, but it was like hitting mud. Just Deep and fluffy.

And yeah, radios are good!
 
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PapaDave

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I wanted to thank all ya all for an awesome adventure through Death Valley!

Some moments from our Overland Bound Family exploration across the valley

Looking forward to the next family gathering!

Budman
Looks like a great trip! I saw you all pass by out there on Saline Valley Road on your way up Hunter Mountain.

Were any of you caught off gaurd by the 500' of super deep, soft powder on the way down? I thought it was just ruts in mud at first and plowed right in. Time for a new air filter after that one.

In the photos--what is that tight rock pass you went through? Steel pass? Thinking of following your track for this trip and just trying to figure out what the more challenging parts might be.
It was a great trip! Lots of rigs and good people. You can grab the GPX file off the rally point. Regarding the route and difficulty, if you were to follow the track starting at Lone Pine, Swansea Grade Is a steep and rocky climb. Steel Pass is gorgeous and Dedeckera a Canyon has the series of 3 drops in the photos. Overall pretty fun 3 day route.