Pics from Death Valley

[alia176]

My buddy John and I visited Death Valley NP two weeks ago. He is a brilliant photographer so I thought you guys would like to see his pics. My pics are from my camera phone so there's not great but John does a killer job of post processing his pics. The pics of the Milky Way are simply stunning. He'd get up every morning at 4 am and setup his rig for those pics. I'll put up my link when I'm done uploading the videos.

I'm in the 4th Gen and John is in his '14 Trail Edition 5th Gen. Both rigs did very well, as in nothing fell off or broke. He has the ARB skid system which bumped against things more often than he cared for. His feelings are that they hung down lower than the vehicle but he still likes them. Anything is better than zero protection. He is running BFG AT KO "C" rated tires and I'm running Falken Wilpeak AT/3s "P" rated tires. Both are the same size 265/70/17s.

My suspension consist of Bilstein 6112s CO's set at 1.5" and Icon 2" in the rear. Both vehicles did great over the hours of washboards but his shocks did fade couple of times. John's rig has no lift. Our IR temp guns showed his shocks to be close to 200º, hence the fading. My 6112s were warm but you can grab them w/o burning your hands.

John sleeps inside his rig while I sleep on top.

My album with pics and vids: https://goo.gl/photos/9K3UCf1V6Nawb5P36

John's album: https://j2franklin.smugmug.com/Outside/Four-wheeling/2017-Death-Valley/i-nNxhgtW

Here're the places we visited:

Ibex Mountain
Warm springs canyon and cabins
Titus canyon
Cerro Gordo ghost town
Alancha town for fuel
Saline hot springs
Ubehebee crater and a perimeter hike
Darwin town and Darwin falls hike
Ractrack
Lippincott pass
Marble canyon, Cottonwood canyon

 

[Kashoggio]

My buddy John and I visited Death Valley NP two weeks ago. He is a brilliant photographer so I thought you guys would like to see his pics. My pics are from my camera phone so there's not great but John does a killer job of post processing his pics. The pics of the Milky Way are simply stunning. He'd get up every morning at 4 am and setup his rig for those pics. I'll put up my link when I'm done uploading the videos.

I'm in the 4th Gen and John is in his '14 Trail Edition 5th Gen. Both rigs did very well, as in nothing fell off or broke. He has the ARB skid system which bumped against things more often than he cared for. His feelings are that they hung down lower than the vehicle but he still likes them. Anything is better than zero protection. He is running BFG AT KO "C" rated tires and I'm running Falken Wilpeak AT/3s "P" rated tires. Both are the same size 265/70/17s.

My suspension consist of Bilstein 6112s CO's set at 1.5" and Icon 2" in the rear. Both vehicles did great over the hours of washboards but his shocks did fade couple of times. John's rig has no lift. Our IR temp guns showed his shocks to be close to 200º, hence the fading. My 6112s were warm but you can grab them w/o burning your hands.

John sleeps inside his rig while I sleep on top.

https://j2franklin.smugmug.com/Outside/Four-wheeling/2017-Death-Valley/i-nNxhgtW

nice pics , was out there a week ago but didn't see as much as you.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Great pics, especially those night sky shots!

Do you have any info about the crashed plane?

 

[alia176]

Great pics, especially those night sky shots!

Do you have any info about the crashed plane?

The plane crashed couple of days before we got there. No fatalities but one person did go to a hospital for non life threatening injuries. We heard stories second and third hand but it looked like one of the landing gear folded upon landing. The plane was upright until the wind flipped it over upside down!

 

[alia176]

nice pics , was out there a week ago but didn't see as much as you.

We had a week and lots of fuel to explore! That place is just too immense but we try to see new things on each trip. Of course, some places need to re-visited on each trip.

 

[Girtfer]

Awesome pics. I haven't had a chance to do much off-roading, but its an amazing place.

 

[Maadcaap]

Great photos... what mine is that in image #16 ? [MENTION=119796]alia176[/MENTION]

 

[Okie81]

Great shots, especially that fighter jet.

And that plane crash...wow! What's that snow-capped range in the background? I'm headed out there in two weeks and worried there's still some high-elevation snow where I"m going.

 

[alia176]

Great shots, especially that fighter jet.

And that plane crash...wow! What's that snow-capped range in the background? I'm headed out there in two weeks and worried there's still some high-elevation snow where I"m going.

I believe that's the Panamint range, with Telescopic peak that's snow covered.

 

[Dailyeg]

Those pics of the milky way and stars are definitely my favorite. He took those with your phone? That's crazy!

 

[alia176]

Those pics of the milky way and stars are definitely my favorite. He took those with your phone? That's crazy!

He took them with a fancy Cannon DSLR.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Bodie the Dog]

Chicken Strip

Great pics, especially those night sky shots!

Do you have any info about the crashed plane?

That runway is called "Chicken Strip." It's immediately adjacent to the hot springs, so sometimes people will fly in. I hear about a crash every couple years. Unfortunately, some skill is required to take off and land, due to the shortness of the runway, it's changing condition, donkeys, and the desert environment. Apparently the preferred time to take off and land is first thing in the morning, before the air heats up and you lose lift. Or something like that. So people who try to leave too late sometimes run out of runway.

 

[Bodie the Dog]

The Inyos

Great shots, especially that fighter jet.

And that plane crash...wow! What's that snow-capped range in the background? I'm headed out there in two weeks and worried there's still some high-elevation snow where I"m going.

Those are the Inyos. There's a wild loop you can take from Swansea to the summit, drives along up there a while, and then descend to Cerro Gordo. Unique things up there I'm not going to tell you about, but worth the visit.

Huge snow this year, that will stick around at altitude, especially on north slopes.

 

[Bodie the Dog]

Tea Kettle Junction

I used to host a site which had years of pictures of Tea Kettle Junction. Here's one that somebody sent me:

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Great photos... what mine is that in image #16 ? [MENTION=119796]alia176[/MENTION]

Yes, I would like to know that too. I don't recognize it.

 

[alia176]

Yes, I would like to know that too. I don't recognize it.

I'm still looking for more info but here's the Google earth location of the mine site 35°46'45.9"N 116°25'00.8"W

The mine is on the mountain not too far from Ibex Springs, which is here 35.772318, -116.410630 The springs didn't have an external water source but it sure was luscious. Sheetrock was on the interior walls, along with electrical wires and such.

Looked to be lots of Gypsum on the ground at the mine site but not sure what was mined there. One of the horizontal shaft takes you inside a fair amount and the wooden columns were stable and in good shape. A second shaft was gated shut so I'm assuming it's a vertical shaft.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Cool, thanks!

 

[justin526]

Super cool photos! Great shots of the F-16 and everything else around there. Looks like I have added another expedition to my expedition bucket list!

 

[Doc.SS]

[MENTION=160882]96Runr[/MENTION]




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ericantonio]

These are great pics. I love the area. I think this is one of the first places I want to go on my new SR5.

Do you have a link on where I can find some of these trails? Or roads that you took to get there? I know the roads, the paved roads, in and out of Death Valley. I'm familiar with BadWater and Furnace Creek. But I don't know (since I've never had one before) how to get to these remote places on your album.

Also, would love to get to the "magical moving rocks". Which I think you get there from Ubehebe crater.