Death Valley April 2014
- SteveG
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Death Valley April 2014
My in-laws, wife and two girls just got back from Death Valley... what a fantastic trip and a beautiful area. Both Friday and Saturday we hit the trails by about 9am and spent almost every minute of the day exploring and off-roading... lots of miles, TONS of dirt and rocks, too. Some slow, some fast... a really, really good time.
The Explorer went places it should NOT have been and while it was not nearly as graceful as my in-law's brand new Jeep Rubicon, it went 99% of the places and still managed to do it in style... and with four doors, I might add!
There are tons of photos to go through but here's a quickie I pulled from a quick skim of the memory card. As always, photos do not do the terrain justice.
More to come later....
The Explorer went places it should NOT have been and while it was not nearly as graceful as my in-law's brand new Jeep Rubicon, it went 99% of the places and still managed to do it in style... and with four doors, I might add!
There are tons of photos to go through but here's a quickie I pulled from a quick skim of the memory card. As always, photos do not do the terrain justice.
More to come later....
Re: Death Valley April 2014
People dont respect the Explorers until they see what they can do. Post on!
- yikes
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
More pictures Steve.
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
I'll get more up. Seriously, though, I don't even know where to start. There is so much to do in the area and we only scratched the surface. There's one trail in particular I wanted to do but the logistics just didn't work out. I'm thinking about planning a GFB trip for that trail and a few others some time next year... will keep you guys posted.
The cool thing is, everyone had a good time. The in-laws, the wife and the kids. There was something for everyone... scenery, ghost towns, mines, crawling, hauling ass, the lowest point on the western hemisphere... again, so, so much to do.
Lunch on the trail Saturday afternoon.... We ate all but one meal out of the back of the car (thanks in no small part to the new fridge-and Greg!)
The cool thing is, everyone had a good time. The in-laws, the wife and the kids. There was something for everyone... scenery, ghost towns, mines, crawling, hauling ass, the lowest point on the western hemisphere... again, so, so much to do.
Lunch on the trail Saturday afternoon.... We ate all but one meal out of the back of the car (thanks in no small part to the new fridge-and Greg!)
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
that would be so cool if you put a trip together Steve! I have always wanted to go to Death Valley but I just have not made it there. Let us know if you are thinking about a GFB trip.SteveG wrote:I'll get more up. Seriously, though, I don't even know where to start. There is so much to do in the area and we only scratched the surface. There's one trail in particular I wanted to do but the logistics just didn't work out. I'm thinking about planning a GFB trip for that trail and a few others some time next year... will keep you guys posted.
The cool thing is, everyone had a good time. The in-laws, the wife and the kids. There was something for everyone... scenery, ghost towns, mines, crawling, hauling ass, the lowest point on the western hemisphere... again, so, so much to do.
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- El Jefe
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
X2bajabuck wrote: that would be so cool if you put a trip together Steve! I have always wanted to go to Death Valley but I just have not made it there. Let us know if you are thinking about a GFB trip.
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
Will do. The funny thing is when we started heading home my wife (who is not into off-road) was the one asking where we were going next....bajabuck wrote:that would be so cool if you put a trip together Steve! I have always wanted to go to Death Valley but I just have not made it there. Let us know if you are thinking about a GFB trip.
For this trip, I took Thursday and Friday off. Thursday and Sunday were travel days, Friday and Saturday were play days. We could do a day and a half of off-road and just do less... just depends what the masses want to do. We could probably Make Friday a travel day, off-road all day Saturday, camp that evening, finish Sunday evening and head home but it would make for a long day for some of us... it took us just over 8 hours to get there and back but, admittedly, we were in no hurry and made many stops.
- ChaseTruck754
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
Sounds like a good time. Can't wait to see more pics.
Re: Death Valley April 2014
Love to see more pics.
We EB guys did a nice long trip there in 2008 - only whetted my appetite for more!
Todd Z.
We EB guys did a nice long trip there in 2008 - only whetted my appetite for more!
Todd Z.
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
Same here! Initially, I thought one trip would suffice and that I'd never need to go back. As we were leaving, though, I was thinking about the stuff I wanted to do and all the trails we didn't see... will definitely go back.toddz69 wrote:...only whetted my appetite for more!
Todd Z.
Time is short so I'll just post random photos and thoughts when I can.
"Eye of the Needle" Trail... We drove it for about 4 hours before turning around. The trip back went a lot faster as I was in the lead and was a little heavy footed trying to make up time (and just having a good time!). Most of the trail is pretty mellow. Lots of rocks, gravel and dirt. There is a rock section that is pretty tough (at least for a mostly stock four-door Explorer with 31" tires). It was a piece of cake for my in-laws' Rubicon Jeep.
I swear, the photos make the terrain look so tame. I'm not saying we were rock-crawling like the big boys, but it wasn't the highway it appears to be in the photos!
The Jeep... made everything look easy.
Evidently, I tagged a rock at some point. Actually, I tagged several but only one bit me! I gotta remember 31's are not as forgiving as the 33's that were on the Bronco!
More later!
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
If I spin this fast enough, I think we can get it running!
Re: Death Valley April 2014
Very cool!
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- El Jefe
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
Sweet pictures, where was that mine inside Death Valley? Seems like they left alot of equipment when they abandoned the mine.
- hobbyturnedobsession
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
That place is awesome. My parents and little brother were there last month. There is a lot to see out there. Did you go to Scotty's castle?
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
That mine was Inyo Mine. I think it was on the Eye of the Needle trail. It was definitely one of the coolest... yes, tons of equipment. We spent quite a while there looking around. There are TONS of mines in the area. Some totally open, some not. Next time I go I want to camp so we don't have to return to any one specific area each night. It was nice to have a shower and bed every night but the hotel limited us on trails as some of them would have put us an hour or two away from the hotel at the end of the day. I'm looking forward to going again.Rmc wrote:Sweet pictures, where was that mine inside Death Valley? Seems like they left alot of equipment when they abandoned the mine.
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
No Scotty's Castle, although we did drive by it twice. I read up on it a bit but it didn't sound appealing. We were more interested in being out on the trail.hobbyturnedobsession wrote:That place is awesome. My parents and little brother were there last month. There is a lot to see out there. Did you go to Scotty's castle?
- hobbyturnedobsession
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
Be careful Steve. When my family was out there they ran into a few squatters living in the mines. If you camp make sure you have a good visual.
- hobbyturnedobsession
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
My dad wasn't too impressed with the tour. He said the history is cool but it wasn't what he expected.No Scotty's Castle, although we did drive by it twice. I read up on it a bit but it didn't sound appealing. We were more interested in being out on the trail.
- SteveG
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
We were careful... entered barrel first... kidding. We didn't go into the mines. I would have gone but I didn't want to take the kids in and my wife or in-laws aren't into it. Maybe next time.hobbyturnedobsession wrote:Be careful Steve. When my family was out there they ran into a few squatters living in the mines. If you camp make sure you have a good visual.
There's a mine in the area that's big enough to take a small SUV into. I'd like to check it out next time.
- hobbyturnedobsession
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Re: Death Valley April 2014
My little brother has the book on death valley that gives coordinates to all the cool spots. If you want I'll get the name of it for you.