Plan the Off Road
Inexperience is an asset. Embrace it.
Wendy Kopp
Death Valley & Beyond
A 3000 sq miles of barren land in East California offers some of the exclusive landscapes from high peaks of mountains to infamous sand dunes, rocks that look like Artist’s Palette and a Panorama of Badlands all packed in one National Park.
The other side of Death Valley, which is lightly visited as it requires a 4×4 high ground clearance vehicle. It has absolutely no services & you are all by yourself. As scary as it sounds, it can become one of the most thrilling experience of your life.
The Inexperience in Off Road
“How hard can it be?” is what I thought having immense confidence in my driving skills. Death Valley Map says, “this route needs advanced driving skills”.
The concept of Race Track was fascinating & visiting it become a compulsion. The biggest question was WHEN?
Things to Visit
GRAND STAND
RACE TRACK PLAYA
Directions:
From Ubehebe Crater, it takes about 2 hours to reach Race track Playa.
The drive has lot of gravels and sharp rocks. The car was equipped with appropriate set of tires.
After taking a pause at Teakettle junction for quick pictures, we reached the Race Track Playa in the next hour.
We reached here by noon. There were about 6 cars but almost everyone left by the sundown leaving just two souls and few critters in this vast dry land.
Night Sky
It’s no secret that Death Valley has one of the darkest Skies.
The experience of watching stars magnifies here. I consider us even more lucky to be able to spend a night at Race Track.
Me & My Wife were the only two people here & it seemed like entire Race Track was reserved just for both of us.
the LIPPINCOTT
3 words
IT’S NOT EASY
The East Californian Ranges are daunting. In this massive scale of land you could only smell yourself.
Driving 2 miles here can take 30 hour. It requires skills. Carry ample fuel, spare tire, shovel. We were just lucky.
Calling it Quits
When I said that we were inexperienced in off roading, I meant it. We just carried 2 gallons of extra fuel. The entire route was about 167 miles as per Google Maps. We had a full tank which was suppose to give us 400 miles.
Starting from Ubehebe, the route is not so fuel efficient. After reaching Race Track Playa, we had about 3/5th tank left and 141 miles more to go. Lippincott is so notorious that we lost almost all the gasoline in only 30 miles of drive. We had about 80 miles of Gas Range left & 79 miles to reach Ubehebe Crater.
It’s time to quit. But the question was, where to go next & how to get out of here.
Without any cellphone coverage, we couldn’t really do anything the whole time. Can’t go back the Lippincott as it was a 2000ft climb. The SUV wouldn’t make it.
We found an alternate route to Big Pine via Waucoba Mountain but I wasn’t sure about the road conditions. Big Pine was 30 miles away & it looked to be our only option.
WE HAD TO TRY
The salt lake up in the picture is at 1600 ft elevation & Waucoba was at 7500ft. Damn the gain, the road was full of snow & again, the car was gasoline hungry. Cutting to chase, we made it to Big Pine with 14 miles left on the tank.
– KNOWING WHEN TO QUIT
Here’s the final movie.
Behind the scenes.
What did we Pack?
In 4 hours, we rented a 4×4 SUV, arrange everything & started for the drive.
Food
- For a two day off road drive, we had enough food for a 4 days
- Cooked Togo order from Restaurants (Two Meals)
- Indian snacks (Food Packets)
- Instant Noodles (One Meal)
- Coffee / Tea
- Fruits (Typically Banana)
- Bread / Butter / Smuckers / Peanut Butter
- Banana Chips (Plantain)
- Energy Bars
- Water / Energy Drinks
Clothing
Since we went in January, we had to carry warm clothes
- Columbia Omni Heat Jackets
- Patagonia Nano Puff Jackets.
- Regular 3 pair of clothes.
- Hand Warmers
Camera
- Nikon D850 & Lenses
- DJI Osmo Pocket 2
- Tripod
- Batteries / Charger & Cables
- Intervalometer
Cooking / Utensils
- Propane Burner & Propane
- Trash Bags
- Sauce Pan
- Saute spoon
- Dinnerware / Paper Plates
- Knife / Scissors / utility knife
Sleeping (We slept in Car)
- Twin mattress.
- Warm Blankets
- Pillows
Car & Safety Equipment
- 2 gallon of extra fuel. (You should carry at least 15 gallons)
- Spare Tire & Tire changing kit
- Rope / Hazard cones
- Walkie Talkies
- Jumper cable & Start Kit
The Don’ts for the first timers
- Never plan an off road trip last minute.
- Have more than 2 people with you.
- Watch a YouTube video of the entire route before you go.
Take the Detour 