OK, I've had a possible response from an out-of-town contingent, so I'm going to put a stake in the ground for the date: Saturday 3/7.
Long range forecast still looks like low 70's in Pahrump, which means 80-90 in Death Valley. With DV getting rain this weekend and temps staying cool, the blooms I saw yesterday on my recon ride should survive. Plus, as Mark OMoaC mentioned in another thread, this ride is a really good intro to Death Valley (or a get-reacquainted with Death Valley ;D).
I'm thinking of this route:
From Pahrump
- NV-372 to Shoshone
- CA-178 (Badwater Rd) over Jubilee Pass into Death Valley National Park (flowers will be along this road)
- Up Badwater Rd through Badwater
- Loop on Artists Drive and back onto Badwater Rd.
- Badwater Rd to CA-190 into Furnace Creek.
- CA-190 to the Beatty Cutoff and Daylight Pass Rd, over Daylight Pass, on NV-374 into Beatty.
At that point, most of the early-season wildflower areas (accessible via Connies ;D) have been hit. Anyone living/staying the Vegas area could head back down US-95.
However, there is more awesome scenery to be seen on the way back to Pahrump:
- Back to Furnace Creek
- East on CA-190 to Dante's View Rd.
- Up to Dante's view, for a really AWESOME view of Death Valley (3000+ feet above the valley).
- Back down to CA-190
- CA-190 to Death Valley Junction, then Stateline Rd. back to Pahrump
274 meandering miles, taking all day, basically. Google map here:
https://goo.gl/maps/udlMA
Long range forecast still looks like low 70's in Pahrump, which means 80-90 in Death Valley. With DV getting rain this weekend and temps staying cool, the blooms I saw yesterday on my recon ride should survive. Plus, as Mark OMoaC mentioned in another thread, this ride is a really good intro to Death Valley (or a get-reacquainted with Death Valley ;D).
I'm thinking of this route:
From Pahrump
- NV-372 to Shoshone
- CA-178 (Badwater Rd) over Jubilee Pass into Death Valley National Park (flowers will be along this road)
- Up Badwater Rd through Badwater
- Loop on Artists Drive and back onto Badwater Rd.
- Badwater Rd to CA-190 into Furnace Creek.
- CA-190 to the Beatty Cutoff and Daylight Pass Rd, over Daylight Pass, on NV-374 into Beatty.
At that point, most of the early-season wildflower areas (accessible via Connies ;D) have been hit. Anyone living/staying the Vegas area could head back down US-95.
However, there is more awesome scenery to be seen on the way back to Pahrump:
- Back to Furnace Creek
- East on CA-190 to Dante's View Rd.
- Up to Dante's view, for a really AWESOME view of Death Valley (3000+ feet above the valley).
- Back down to CA-190
- CA-190 to Death Valley Junction, then Stateline Rd. back to Pahrump
274 meandering miles, taking all day, basically. Google map here:
https://goo.gl/maps/udlMA