Ill have to pick your brain on Northern Nevada. Will be pushing through there on my way to Moab in a couple of months and would love to be able to stop somewhere to do a little wheeling/camp.

You can always hit me up in a pinch for company on a trip considering we are both in the Bay Area. If I can make it I will go. Always looking to meet new people and go out of the beaten path.

Awesome report and photos, super jealous of your trip.

I am hoping to get a trip out there on President's Weekend!

What did you think of Saline Valley? I'm assuming you went that way to get to the abandoned hot springs resort. I've been to DV the past two years and have my trip planned for late March this year, and driving through Saline Valley is something I will never do again. This last year I took my Duramax, having just sold the 4Runner, and driving through Saline Valley was 3 straight hours of the worst washboard I have ever experienced. And it's not just sections, it's throughout the entire valley floor. Even going 10-15mph I seriously thought my truck was going to rattle apart. However the portions of the trail at the southern and northern ends where you're ascending/descending were fun and scenic (we went S to N).

Here's my real question though. My Sierra does not have any mods besides a leveling kit and 33" Duratracs, and being this is my first diesel I wasn't sure how low I could air down. Seeing as the tires are 60psi+ for everyday driving I aired them down to 45psi to be safe, and while that made a difference, it was still brutal. I kept wondering to myself how much smoother it would have been in my 4Runner with the aftermarket coilovers and shocks and that I could comfortably air down much lower. So my question to you is, with a modified rig, was it unpleasant but tolerable, or were you in the same boat as me (did it once, had the experience, but never again)?

Thanks man, funny your rig was a bit of inspiration when I joined this site a couple of years back. Great to see you're still on here. I have a pretty active Slack 4x4 chat group composed of mostly 5th gen 4runner owners in the Bay. DM me your email address if you want to be added!

Planning a trip out to Moab first week of April if you're interested. Mountain bike in the morning, wheel in the afternoon and dispersed camping at night. cc: @MTN4RNR @weeeee

I didn't actually hit Saline Valley on this trip but definitely did the last one. The washboard roads were certainly brutal but I found driving at higher speeds made them much more tolerable. I was also aired down to 22 psi though!

Thanks for the offer! I’ll probably be prepping for Baja right those couple weeks though

Nice, I was out there the week before you. You covered a couple places on my hit list for next trip. Cool to get a preview, great pics!

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I'm doing some reading up for my 2nd trip to DV that's coming up real soon. I know this post is a year old, but wanted to say thanks for mentioning you went outside of the park to camp and make a fire. A lot of the reports I'm reading show people starting fires wherever they want, bringing guns in the park and open carrying while drinking, not necessarily taking care of the trails, and it's pretty disappointing. I know drones are outlawed at all the parks now too, but obviously you used yours knowing the alternative was maybe falling over a cliff to your death. That seems like a pretty reasonable exception to me.


The more we follow the rules and lead by example, the better it will be for us (and more importantly, the parks) in the long run. If people look at the off road community as a bunch of drunken rednecks that don't follow the rules, it's only going to become more difficult for us to do what we enjoy. I was really saddened to see the photos of Joshua trees in JTNP knocked over so a couple of *******s could drive through and car camp last week. One of the first things I noticed was that the truck in the photos where the tracks ended was a Tacoma. I was kind of hoping that the TacomaWorld folks would track them down.


Anyway, that's the end of my rambling. Leave no trace, folks!

It's a shame what's going on in JTNP I was just there a couple of weeks ago before all hell started breaking loose. Really breaks my heart and I agree with all of the things you outlined above. People need to respect our lands better and really view it as a privilege rather than a right to enjoy these things.

One point of clarification though, Chicken Rock is actually located on BLM land so it was legal for me to use my drone there. A portion of the trail does in fact enter the park though but at that point I was outside its boundaries.

I didn't realize that - even more of a reason to say thanks for your approach.

There's a chance I end up going solo too, but I hope not. If I do, I'll probably adjust my routes a little. I also use the InReach just in case. It's not perfect, but is definitely a great backup. My wife definitely appreciates it.

Any issues with the Rotopax leaking since you have them flat? Do you take them off and release air from time to time. I have had issues with mine.

Yes, in general Rotopax are garbage. Ive since switched to Sceptre Cans which work flawlessly