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I had some stuff free up on my calendar and so I headed out this past Friday to Death Valley. I'm going back in two weeks for the BDR fundraiser and thought I could do some recon on some of the tracks they have for us. I usually stay at Panamint Springs but they had the ADV noobs rally there and the last place I want to be is PSR with 270 people camping there at the same time! I ended up at Emigrant campground which is free and has bathrooms and water but campfires are not allowed. I didn't get a lot of photos but did get some video...

I went to bed early last night and woke up early, had my coffee, packed up and headed out. I went back the same way as the way I came in Friday but I found this road had been totally destroyed by some desert racers. I'm pretty sure the BLM makes them rehab the road afterwards so we'll see. I may call the BLM Barstow office Monday about it because it was quite treacherous for a big bike. Lots of deep whoops and silt holes. I was running a pretty good pace and saw some dirt bikers ride closer to take a look. It was a long flat section so they had no chance of catching me [emoji6] Then on the dirt that parallels the 395 I was running nearly the highway speed and got a few honks. Then I saw some Starbucks riders ride past, obviously wishing they'd ridden the dirt like me [emoji23] 109 miles in total to get to the Starbucks in Adelanto.

I probably saw over a hundred ADV bikes roll by on Friday night but on Saturday morning I waited at Stovepipe Wells until after 10:00 am for any to come that way. Two finally did and they said I could join them but they are doing Warm Springs/Mengel/Goler and if already done that in November. I decided to to ride solo. I rode Chloride Cliffs and then over to Beatty for an early lunch. I ran into these guys on some sweet bikes. They were super cool and it turns out we know a lot of the same people. This 1190R has the new Motoz Tractionator Adventure tires and he says he loves them. I like the lights on this 500 Dash on that 690 Rally Raid My route. I stopped it early before I went up to see the charcoal kilns but you get the idea

Met some really nice people at the campground. That's what's cool about solo adventure travel is that it gets you out of your bubble. For the first time ever, I decided to ride as much dirt as possible up to Death Valley and as a result saw a lot of new terrain. The pool at Stovepipe Wells I forgot to dry my tent out after the last time I used it and it was all mildewed. [emoji20] Some food porn of a really great dish I got to share with some folks in camp. I ate at Stovepipe the first night so I wasn't that hungry but it was sure good!

Nice ride and write-up! Loved the Starbucks highway riders comment...bet yah felt total badass! Cheers ~ Peter