Death Valley trip planning

FM Forum Rules
Rules: One new topic per day

FM Forums \| Landscape Photographer \| Join Upload & Sell	Search Used
1 2 end

Archive 2010 · Death Valley trip planning

Peter Sims
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · Death Valley trip planning

I've got a hankering to get out to Death Valley for a weekend trip some time this month. I would drive in late on Friday after work and drive out mid Sunday. I'd be camping both Friday and Saturday night. I've never really been before except to drive through it so a little advice would go a long ways. So, what are your must see spots? The two things I've got to hit are the salt flats and the sand dunes.

Thanks in advance.

Feb 08, 2010 at 06:17 PM

gordon l
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #2 · Death Valley trip planning

Zabriski Point is near both of those, Dante's View is great in the morning. I hit Zabriski pre-dawn and at sunrise and then went up to Dante's view right after for a great morning. Badwater at sunset is awesome. Stovepipe wells is a morning location IMO. Golden Canyon is a nice fill-in between some other things.

My favorite location is the racetrack, but it's a few hours drive from Badwater.

Feb 08, 2010 at 07:32 PM

Steve Sieren
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · Death Valley trip planning

Peter, Everything that Peter has mentioned is great but Badwater can also be done at sunrise and same with dantes view at sunset. The dunes might have to many footprints on them if there hasn't been any wind lately.

A few other spots are Natural Bridge, Artist Palette, Devil's Golf Course, Titus Canyon, Scotty's Castle, Ryolite, mosiac canyon, they are all the main attractions but there are plenty more less visited spots and even more that aren't visited much at all.

There is a couple lakes in the salt flats too that aren't there often and not mention the hexagons are full of water too.

SS

Feb 08, 2010 at 07:57 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · Death Valley trip planning

Serach the forum - there are several recent informative threads.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/831146/ among others.
Also http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39996

One note for the weekend warrior: DV is a huge place, it's easy to spend WAY too much time driving about, and too little time shooting.

Which direction are you coming from? There's some neat stuff to see en route.

If you haven't already done so, pick up a map of the park.
http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/upload/DEVAmap1a.pdf
Note the distances. I think the park speed limit is 35 or thereabouts. It takes a while to get around...

Morning report - road conditions, etc.
http://www.dvnha.org/morning_report/Morning.pdf
(Edit - Oops! Looks a little out of date. Hope the stall is temporary.)

Edited on Feb 09, 2010 at 06:38 AM · View previous versions

Feb 08, 2010 at 08:12 PM

gdanmitchell
Online
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · Death Valley trip planning

I'm working on a two (or three?) part report on photographing in DEVA. Start here with part 1: http://www.gdanmitchell.com/2010/01/20/photographing-death-valley-part-1

You'll also find a link there to the draft of part two.

Dan

Feb 08, 2010 at 08:20 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · Death Valley trip planning

gdanmitchell wrote:
I'm working on a two (or three?) part report on photographing in DEVA. Start here with part 1: http://www.gdanmitchell.com/2010/01/20/photographing-death-valley-part-1

You'll also find a link there to the draft of part two.

Dan

Nice work, Dan!

Feb 08, 2010 at 08:24 PM

Peter Sims
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · Death Valley trip planning

Tons of info, awesome!

Thanks all this will help get me started. Obviously with a short weekend I won't be able to do everything, but hopefully hit some highlights.

Feb 08, 2010 at 09:44 PM

Steve Sieren
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · Death Valley trip planning

You won't be able be able to everything in 3 weekends or a whole week but you'll have fun and get some great shots Peter.

Feb 09, 2010 at 01:26 AM

Justin Huffman
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #9 · Death Valley trip planning

try and get your hands on an IR body (or filter) for mid day shooting. DVNP comes to life in the Infrared spectrum

Feb 09, 2010 at 04:59 PM

ragebot
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #10 · Death Valley trip planning

Greg Campbell wrote:
SNIP

One note for the weekend warrior: DV is a huge place, it's easy to spend WAY too much time driving about, and too little time shooting.

SNIP

Good advice.

Everyone has a different shooting style; but for me DV cried out for panos.

http://www.pbase.com/tommy2guns/image/92578810/original

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:09 PM

SHVv
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #11 · Death Valley trip planning

My favorite location is the racetrack, but it's a few hours drive from Badwater.
**********
And the road is rough and hard on tires but well worth the drive.

Steve

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:22 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #12 · Death Valley trip planning

Justin Huffman wrote:
try and get your hands on an IR body (or filter) for mid day shooting. DVNP comes to life in the Infrared spectrum

Indeed!

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:34 PM

evosia
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #13 · Death Valley trip planning

I've been thinking about a trip to DV. Thanks for the great info.

Wondering how bad the road is driving out to Racetrack. I have a Honda Civic. Any worse than the road to Patriarch Grove in the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest in the White Mountains? And if I do get in trouble (like get 2 flat tires), would AAA come get me out?

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:36 PM

ragebot
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #14 · Death Valley trip planning

evosia wrote:
I've been thinking about a trip to DV. Thanks for the great info.

Wondering how bad the road is driving out to Racetrack. I have a Honda Civic. Any worse than the road to Patriarch Grove in the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest in the White Mountains? And if I do get in trouble (like get 2 flat tires), would AAA come get me out?

When I was at Furnace Creek someone there had AAA come out and get their car somewhere in the middle of the desert.

Problem is my AAA coverage has a towing limit; and you really are in the middle of no where in DV.

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:46 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · Death Valley trip planning

evosia wrote:
I've been thinking about a trip to DV. Thanks for the great info.

Wondering how bad the road is driving out to Racetrack. I have a Honda Civic. Any worse than the road to Patriarch Grove in the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest in the White Mountains?

Racetrack road has quite a bit more exposed bedrock, large gravel and rocks to watch out for - sharp, pointy, ouch! I've made the trip several times in a lowly Mazda 323 (actually pretty good off road!) as well as a long and low Accord wagon without suffering any vehicular grief. That said, the road get pretty torn up following a storm.

And if I do get in trouble (like get 2 flat tires), would AAA come get me out?

The buzzards will get you first! Best not count on cell service. There's a towing outfit at Furnace Creek - I don't know if they're AAA or not.
Barring bad weather, the road gets plenty of traffic. Bring water for several days. Let someone know where you're going. You'll be fine.

Feb 09, 2010 at 05:47 PM

evosia
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #16 · Death Valley trip planning

Ragebot: I have the AAA plus, which gives me free 100 miles tows. Saved my butt once when my car had a problem on the way to Joshua Tree. Totally worth the extra money over basic if you do lots of road trips to remote locations. Basic's only good if you're driving in the city. Premium gives you 1 free 300mile tow if my memory is correct. That would be a free ride all the way back to LA!

Greg: damn, sounds like I shouldn't do any racing on this road. Yeah it probably shouldn't be a problem. Just planning for worst-case scenarios.

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:01 PM

evosia
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #17 · Death Valley trip planning

Hmmm just read on a NPS page that AAA coverage may not apply to dirt roads. Will need to confirm with AAA

Just found a Jeep rental service in Furnance. http://www.deathvalleyjeeprentals.com/rates.html

A little pricey but probably cheaper than the risk of blowing out a tire + towing + hours of inconvenience. Especially with the recent storms, the roads are probably worse than normal.

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:15 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #18 · Death Valley trip planning

100 miles sounds good. I think the AAA truck will drive from anywhere, and the mile limit only kicks in once you're hooked up. That will get you to Beatty or back to Furnace Creek. Both places have a garage, and I think Beatty has a chain partz store too.

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:21 PM

Greg Campbell
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #19 · Death Valley trip planning

evosia wrote:
Hmmm just read on a NPS page that AAA coverage may not apply to dirt roads. Will need to confirm with AAA

Just found a Jeep rental service in Furnance. http://www.deathvalleyjeeprentals.com/rates.html

A little pricey but probably cheaper than the risk of blowing out a tire + towing + hours of inconvenience. Especially with the recent storms, the roads are probably worse than normal.

IMO, the jeep rental is actually pretty reasonable, considering they are letting Joe Sixpack drive over some potentially dangerous roads. Give someone a 4x4 and they'll start to think they're the next Carlos Sainz. Danger, Will Robinson. DANGER!!

AFAIK, the NPS does repair the roads fairly regularly. And if there has been a big rain, the Jeep won't get you much further than your Honda.

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:27 PM

Steve Sieren
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #20 · Death Valley trip planning

Evosia, with more rain on the way the Jeep sounds best. I was just in DV and the rain just makes potholes in many of the roads which would make the civic take too long to get there and plus it is lower than the average sedan. Some roads weren't even affected but some were. I would normally just check it out myself but that's a long road near the snow melt and sloped hillsides. The rangers usually try tell to you it's at it's worst, most of the time it's not as bad as they say but thick tire treads would help.

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:34 PM

evosia
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #21 · Death Valley trip planning

Thanks for the info Greg and Steve

I'll rent the jeep. After a brief stop at the Racetrack, I'll take it to the top of MT Whitney. Woohoo!

- Joe Sixpack

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:53 PM

Steve Sieren
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #22 · Death Valley trip planning

Way to get the milage out of it! Better try that from the backside of Whitney

You better take a picture too or else we won't believe you! Crazy Joe.

SS

Feb 09, 2010 at 06:59 PM

SHVv
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #23 · Death Valley trip planning

evosia wrote:
I've been thinking about a trip to DV. Thanks for the great info.

Wondering how bad the road is driving out to Racetrack. I have a Honda Civic. Any worse than the road to Patriarch Grove in the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest in the White Mountains? And if I do get in trouble (like get 2 flat tires), would AAA come get me out?

When I drove out there, I saw four other cars on the road and two were changing tires. The problem with having car trouble is you are unlikely to have cell service. However, when I was standing out on the Race Track, my cell phone rings and it's my girl friend call from 1,500 mile away. I then did a "find the service" walk about and that was the only place that had service..weird.

Steve

Feb 09, 2010 at 07:20 PM

Peter Sims
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #24 · Death Valley trip planning

Greg Campbell wrote:
Justin Huffman wrote:
try and get your hands on an IR body (or filter) for mid day shooting. DVNP comes to life in the Infrared spectrum

Indeed!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightchaser/1702781394/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_decell/4331276149/
etc.

Peter, I don't suppose you have an old, unloved film body laying about? You can buy some IR film and an opaque (72, 93) filter on Ebay for the cost of a tank of gas. Cheap fun!

I do (Canon FTQL with 28, 50, and 135 lenses) but the mirror is stuck up and it needs new seals and CLA before I start running film through it. Unfortunately that would come out to several tanks of gas.

Maybe next time. It's on my to do list and then I have an IR camera, huzzah!

Feb 09, 2010 at 07:50 PM

ragebot
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #25 · Death Valley trip planning

Just a quick comment about Beatty, it is in NV, not CA and the difference in the price of gas at Furnace Creek and Beatty is about $US1 or more per gallon. Beatty is about 3-4k feet elevation and there is a rest stop on the assent that offers a great view of DV. I also got some pix of burros just outside of Beatty, and it was worth a stop at Rhyolite (located about a mile from Beatty) which was the largest town in DV in the day. It is a ghost town now and is the location of several buildings in various states of ill repair as well as the glass bottle house which is built completely out of glass bottles. All paved roads and easy drives.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Feb 09, 2010 at 07:53 PM


FM Forums \| Landscape Photographer \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 end