April 8, 2011
Conclusion, etc.
The tour was 13 days plus a 2-day layover in Shoshone. I camped every night but one. I lost 3 pounds, from 184 to 181.
I had one flat tire caused by a wire embedded in the tire since before the tour. After getting another puncture in the same place I searched more carefully and found the elusive wire.
The weather was unusually cold at the beginning and end, and unusually hot during the middle.
There was no rain during the tour but it snowed for the last few minutes of the tour.
The route has basically no population, agriculture, or industry. Except for the last day I almost never saw fences, power lines, or houses.
Has anybody else done a 500+ mile tour in one county?
Cycling:
560 miles (896 km), averaging 43 miles (69 km) per day
37,900 feet (11,485 m) of climbing
55.3 miles (88.5 km) on gravel roads, 10% of the distance
Lowest elevation -279 feet (-84m) at Badwater
Highest elevation 7676 feet (2326 m) in the Inyo mountains
Hiking:
22 miles (35.2 km)
Highest elevation 9064 feet (2747 m) at Wildrose peak
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Other cyclists:
During previous visits I saw a few loaded touring cyclists in Death Valley, but during this tour I saw no other multi-day touring cyclists. In Death Valley I saw many cycling enthusiasts on road bikes. Many did the 5700 foot (1727 m) climb to Dante's View-great bragging rights for that!
When to go:
The tolerable season for touring Death Valley is roughly October 15 - November 30 and March 1 - April 15. December-February is often cold and cloudy, has short days, and snow is possible on the mountain roads. Summer is much too hot, especially when sleeping on rocks that baked in the sun all day. The shadeless mountain climbs are dangerous in 120F/49C heat. I think spring is better than fall because spring has longer days, snow-capped mountains, wildflowers, and pupfish. The main downside of Spring is that it's windier. At any time of year it might at some point be advisable to wait for unfavorable wind, sandstorm, heat, or cold to pass.
Useful information:
The mountains and canyons of Death Valley National Park have many popular backpacking routes, but the park's 2 general stores do not sell canister fuel or Coleman fuel. Canister and Coleman fuel are available in Lone Pine and Big Pine.
Scotty's Castle was damaged by a flood in 2015 and is no longer open to the public.
Furnace Creek has a decent grocery selection. Stovepipe Wells, Panamint Springs, and Shoshone have a limited grocery selection. All the stores have very high prices.
Furnace Creek has voice-only Verizon (CDMA) cellular service. Probably voice-only AT&T (GSM) service as well. I could not find Wi-Fi in Furnace Creek, presumably because the store has $5/hour Internet terminals.
Death Valley Junction has weak Verizon 3G service coming from Pahrump, but there is no service in Shoshone or Tecopa. Shoshone has Wi-Fi, but it's too slow for Internet phone calls.
The US 395 corridor has Verizon 3G service and Wi-Fi is available in Lone Pine, Independence, and Big Pine.
With no shoulder, many motor homes and a few trucks, highway 190 was the only road on the tour that occasionally had dangerous traffic. Overall traffic on highway 190 is light, but it concentrates into dangerous bursts when a line of cars follows a slow truck or motor home. US 395 has much more traffic but has a wide paved shoulder with a well-placed rumble strip.
The nearest major airport is Las Vegas, 120 miles (190 km) southeast of Furnace Creek and 86 miles (138 km) east of Shoshone. Roadrunner Shuttle and Limousine Service offers prearranged rides from the Las Vegas airport to Pahrump. They would probably go to Shoshone as well.
Wildflowers are a hit-or-miss thing in the desert. I'm not sure if this year was exceptional or not. The park web site suggests that 2011 was an average year for wildflowers, but the winter was exceptionally wet thanks to a strong La Niña in the Pacific Ocean.
The astute observer will notice that I did not camp at Stovepipe Wells. I think Stovepipe Wells is the worst place to camp in Death Valley. The "campground" is a shadeless gravel lot behind the gas station, mostly filled with motor homes.
Shoshone was the only place I camped on grass with shade trees. Every other camp site was on gravel, and most had no shade.
Tubular tent stakes can't penetrate gravel, making it hard to secure a tent in strong wind. I had total success with tri-spoke aluminum stakes like this.
They never bent or broke, and never failed to penetrate gravel when smashed with a 10 pound rock.
If your tour is planned long in advance and has a fixed schedule, it would be smart to go to www.recreation.gov to reserve a shady campsite at the Furnace Creek campground. The map below shows the location of trees. At some sites you can camp under the canopy of Tamarisk trees, with nearly all-day shade. Site 22 looks super shady. Sites 81-86 look like they are under the canopy. Assuming you're away most of the day, the most useful shade is during the afternoon and evening, from trees that are southwest and west of your site.
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Stuff I didn't use:
1. I carried long sleeve and short sleeve cycling jerseys, but wore a faded blue Railriders sun-protective shirt every day of the tour. The nylon Railriders shirt dries much more quickly than the polyester cycling jerseys. For a recumbent rider, the front pocket of the Railriders shirt is more useful than the rear pockets of the cycling jerseys. Definitely an opportunity to save weight on my next tour.
2. I've toured with a tiny AM/FM/weather radio for many years but use it less every year, especially with the advent of MP3 players. And now with a smart phone I get news and weather updates via the Internet. On this tour I didn't use the radio at all, so I won't carry it on my next tour. If I'm desperate for FM radio I can use the FM tuner built into my phone. It requires headphones as an antenna, has poor reception of weak signals, and doesn't receive AM or NOAA weather broadcasts.
3. I carried a water filter that was never used. On most tours I do occasionally camp in places where I have to filter water from a river. I plan to carry it on future tours, but should have left it at home for the river-less Death Valley tour.
Questions and comments:
I hope this journal will be a useful reference for other cyclists contemplating a tour in the Death Valley area. If you have questions or comments, please post a message.
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2 years ago