Death Valley "Road Trip" and hikes (3 hiking days), possible last year.

Details

Google map showing our morning meeting location: https://goo.gl/2DZjux If for some reason you don't find the group Thursday evening, meet at this location at the entrance to Texas Spring campground, at 8:00 AM.

Window sign: https://goo.gl/8LvRYP

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This trip takes five days, which includes about two of driving and three of hiking. Day one is everyone getting there, days two-four are hiking, and day five is driving home. Our main gathering place has both hotel (book them soon!) and camping options.

You can see reviews/photos from winter 2009 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/calendar/11478922), 2010 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/14854782/), 2011 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/32069372/), 2012 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/photos/11369772/), 2013 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/photos/19327202/), and spring 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Area-Geology-Hiking/events/160191182/). Generally each day we have one or two hikes, but there is also plenty of driving each day to get to our destinations (Death Valley is a big place).

Here's the tentative plan:

Thursday, December 28: Drive to Death Valley. The drive from the Bay Area is 500-550 miles, and can take 8-12 hours, depending on your speed and number of stops you take. Carpools are recommended (people can coordinate these via the comments section). Folks can either camp (Texas Spring (http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/camping.htm)) or stay in a hotel (Furnace Creek Ranch (http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/furnace-creek-ranch-1223.html)), or in there are less expensive hotels in Beaty, Nevada (about an hour away). See below for more details.

Friday, Dec 29: Morning: Sand dunes, Devils Cornfield, Historic Stovepipe wells (hike into dunes, others sites are car accessible). Lunch on the road (bring food, or you can pick up food at Stovepipe Wells). Afternoon: Mosaic Canyon (http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/mosaic-canyon.htm) (easy hiking, but some "butt-scooting" along slippery rocks). I've done this every trip, and it's not to be missed.

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Saturday, Dec 30: A long drive to the north end of the park (a couple stops along the way, including Historic dune at Beatty Junction): Likely a hike around Ubehebe Crater. Lunch on the road. Afternoon: Unfortunately, Scottie's Castle is closed (https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/flood-2015.htm)., we'll likely hike up a canyon on the east side on the way back. We may have a contingent that goes to The Racetrack (http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/the-racetrack.htm) (a couple hours down a washboard road that not everyone will want to take their car down).

Sunday Dec 31: South end of the park: Details to be worked out, but may include: Artists Canyon, Ventifact Ridge, Badwater, likely a hike up Willow Canyon to see the waterfalls (or maybe a hike down the canyon from the top). Evening: Group dinner at Furnace Creek Ranch restaurant for those who desire.

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Monday, Jan 1: Drive home. Some cars may want to stop at the Trona Pinaccle Tufa towers, just off the main road.

Details:

At nights, most of us will be staying in the Furnace Creek area, which has both camping and motel rooms at the Furnace Creek Ranch (Furnace Creek Inn is just down the street for those who want more luxury). Each morning we'll carpool to our hikes--we'll aim for a moderate hiking pace, but leave no one behind--this is a hiking group, so I'll assume everyone understands that this is not just car-touring. I'll be posting some files (camping, park map, etc.) below for people to look at, or you can visit the Death Valley National Park web site (http://www.nps.gov/deva/). Others

Map: Here's a Google map showing the camping/hotel area, as well as some hikes we may make: http://tinyurl.com/deathvalleygeologyhike

Hikes: Hikes are always tentative: Road conditions, number of 4WD's available, etc. may change our plans. We may decide on longer hikes, or multiple shorter hikes, driving between them (there are many 1-2 hour hikes in the park). If we have cars with "high clearance," we can get down a few roads that are a bit too bumpy for most cars; but we'll probably not go down 4-wheel drive roads (unless everyone has 4WD, and even then we'll likely avoid the really rough ones). Bring containers to carry plenty of water (the park recommends 1/2 gallon per half-day).

Camping: Camp sites hold up to 8 people and 2 cars--some are "pull through" others are "walk-in, tent only". Texas Spring has water, sinks, and flush toilets, but no showers. Furnace Creek Ranch offers shower and pool access for $5/day. Camping is first-come, first served (non-reservable), so we'll ask the first person to arrive to reserve two or three campsites (depending on number of RSVPs). If, for some reason, we get there too late and can't get a reservation, Furnace Creek Campground (right across the street, but not as nice as Texas Spring) has 135 sites and won't sell out, so we won't be left without a site. Bring a sturdy tent: One year in a daytime windstorm several tents got blown around.

Katie and I will likely be trying out a Jucy camper van (https://www.jucyusa.com/) for this trip. The total cost of rental isn't cheap, but is does work out to a cost of less than the hotel, and the vans are fully equipped with a small kitchen and room for 3-4 people to sleep. They have locations in Oakland, LA, and Las Vegas. If you are going to do this, use the promo code DCCUOPS17 to save 10% (worked for us).

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Motel: If you want to stay in the Furnace Creek Ranch ($240-280/night) or the FC Inn (a pricier resort, also in the area), make your own reservations now (http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/furnace-creek-ranch-1223.html) Furnace Creek does sell out! If you want to share a room, leave a comment below stating your desires/preferences. Other alternative: Stovepipe Wells Village is a bit less expensive ($117-175/night), and only about 30 miles from Furnace Creek area. Another much less expensive motel option is to stay in Beatty, Nevada (about $60/night). Beatty is about 45 miles away (in 2009 a couple people stayed here), but the roads are mostly straight, but you do pass through a mountain pass. Google Maps estimates the drive at 1 hour 13 minutes, which I suspect is a bit longer than needed.

Food: We'll work out the details on food in early December, but plan on having at least your own lunches that you can take with you on hikes (we may coordinate breakfasts and dinners, for those who are interested-, but everyone is welcome to just bring their own). There is a restaurant at Furnace Creek for those inclined to dine in.

Weather: Can be chilly at nights; may have some rain but not likely too much. http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/weather.htm Weather averages 64F day, 37 night (record high is around 77F, record low around 20F). Be ready for a wide variety of weather, but not likely major rainstorms.

Cost: Each participant will be responsible for:

• Their own transportation cost, or helping with gas if they carpool

• Motel if you stay there (2 queen~$260/night).

• Death Valley NP entrance fee ($20/car)

• Their own food (some may be shared).

• $30 contribution from each person for to help me with Meetup fees and a general "thank you" to me (total, not per day). You must pay to RSVP, and this is non-refundable--so only sign up when you know you can go. This trip doesn't "fill up."

Katie's and my financial goal is to cover our costs with your Meetup registration fee, but we won't be making much money over that.

If you are bringing more than two people, just RSVP for two (paying $60 total) and in your RSVP mention how many others you are bringing.

Cell phone reception: Is getting better, although most coverage maps I've seen show a big dead spot in Death Valley. In spring 2014 most of us could make calls/text messages from Texas Spring/Furnace Creek, but there are no guarantees how good it will be. Hopefully it's improving every year. Your best bet when trying to reach people in Death Valley is text messaging, since the party you are trying to reach may not have cell reception at the same time you do.

If you expect to be reachable during this trip, you must be able to text on your phone. It will be very difficult to make phone calls to each other. Do not leave voicemail messages for others--if you get a voicemail, hang up and send a text message.

Notes:

I love Racetrack Playa, but it's an hour down washboard roads and I'm not sure if we will make that trip this year. If a smaller contingent wants to head there on or Saturday, that they can do that on their own. If there has been rain on the Playa recently, you will not be allowed to walk on it (footprints take years to disappear).

Please don't RSVP until you know you can make it. The trip won't fill up, so you don't have to worry about beating others to get a space.

If you want to fly, you can fly to Las Vegas for a little over $200 round trip, then rent a car for $45-55/day. Las Vegas to Furnace Creek is about 120 miles, so you can drive for two-three hours instead of 9-12.

I may add other notes here as I think of them.

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