A Ride to the Valley of Death

[Tyler]

I arrived to find some of my FJR friends in the lobby already enjoying an adult beverage… I know that Beemerdons was a big fan of the Longstreet Casino and Inn and it was one of the main reasons I chose it for this trip… I do have to say, however, it is quite a unique facility… quirky for sure… and the staff is friendly and well-meaning and will bust their butts to get things done… but the communication between staff really sucks and I had a couple of panicked moments when no one seemed to know about our group dinner and the like… it all worked out but I did get a few new gray hairs in the process.

This was the first thing that greeted me when I walked in the lobby doors…

A few of the interesting sights around the hotel…

My friend, Kharon, made some new friends…

I unloaded, showered, and met the group for dinner in the steakhouse… they weren’t quite prepared for an onslaught of a group our size but, while service was slow, the young waitress did her very best to take care of everyone and always with a smile on her face… here is the infamous table where all kinds of drama unfolded unbeknownst to me!

 

[Tyler]

The next morning dawned cool with clear blue skies…

And the locals were at the doors waiting for leftover toast tidbits…

This was a free day and folks were welcome to do whatever their little hearts desired… this would turn out to be a really special trip for me personally as I got to share the weekend with my sister, Cynthia, and her fiance, Larry… Cynthia was one of my biggest champions when I was in the hospital after my accident and she always seemed to have the knack of coming to visit when I was going through the most difficult procedures or just having a rough time of it… she held my hand and would talk me through with promises of better times… and she was right. She wasn’t ever into motorcycles until she met Larry and he went out and got a Gold Wing so he could take her on the road in style. So to not only share the trip with her on her first trip to Death Valley but also to share it on 2-wheels was something incredibly special for me…

 

[Tyler]

We headed for our first stop, Dante’s View and of course had to stop for the obligatory tourist shot…

It was a beautiful morning and my heart was soaring high…

 

[Tyler]

At the top of Dantes View, the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was a lot cooler than down below but we took the time to enjoy the view and visit with other folks who had made their way there as well… Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace at 1,669 m (5,476 ft) height, on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death Valley, about 25 km (16 mi) south of Furnace Creek. Dante's View is part of the Black Mountains, a part of Amargosa Range, that was geological Mesozoic volcanoes. These mountains were created when the surface of the earth was being stretched, forming a horst or a pulling force, forming grabens. The crust ruptured because of this force, and as a result, lava erupted and ended up deposited on top of the preceding sedimentary rock.

A shot from a previous trip in 2008…

I scooted out ahead to get a couple of shots of folks as they came down…

Jeremy… I think he likes to tag along with me cause he knows he’ll be in some photos!

Cynthia & Larry…

Heading back to the main road…

Next stop was Zabriskie Point noted for its erosional landscape composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake which dried up 5 million years ago, long before Death Valley came into existence. Evidently, there is also a 1970 movie named Zabriskie Point with a soundtrack featuring Pink Floyd and Jerry Garcia… have to put that on my list to check out!

Death Valley experienced some heavy rainfall late last year which wreaked havoc with many parts of the park, washing out roads in areas such as Scotty’s Castle, which was also flooded with 3’ of mud and currently closed until they can get it all cleaned out… but with the havoc comes a silver lining… a rare wildflower bloom that only happens about every 10 years or so… seeds lay dormant in the desert just waiting for that precious precipitation to come along and encourage those seeds to blossom… we had heard from the park ranger that the big bloom was out near Jubilee Pass along Badwater Rd. so that was where we headed… but first a stop at Badwater Basin, an endorheic noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 United States, is only 84.6 miles (136 km) to the northwest.

Reflections of Badwater…

Glancing back as we walk out into the basin…

Next up… spectacular wildflowers!

 

[BkerChuck]

Anxiously awaiting the next installment....

Love the JSNS sticker on the rear fender. Although I only had the pleasure of meeting Don once I find myself thinking of him quite often when I'm on here.

Thanks for sharing all of this

 

[Tyler]

Anxiously awaiting the next installment....
Love the JSNS sticker on the rear fender. Although I only had the pleasure of meeting Don once I find myself thinking of him quite often when I'm on here.

Thanks for sharing all of this

Don was definitely heavy on my mind as he was supposed to be joining us on this trip... he did but in a different way.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Your PE was worth the wait!

Your sister's smile is awfully akin to yours.

Thanks

 

[rogdeb]

Thanks T, looking forward to the next installment!

--G

Yes ... Yes

 

[erixun]

Blew ALL my likes on this one ride report, awesome as usual. I wish I could have gotten work off to have ridden this with you guys.... Thanks for sharing

 

[03silverbullet]

Thank you for putting this together.

I just love your picture and narrative.

 

[BackRoadBob]

Thank you for all your time and effort in taking photos and posting up a great ride report, as usual. You brought us right along on this trip! I need to find some of the roads less traveled you took to get to Death Valley.

 

[Moedad]

Liking this report a bunch, Tyler! Looking forward to the wildflowers!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Out of **LIKES** but wish I'd have joined y'all on this trip.

Thanks for taking us along Tyler...I know how much time these RR's take to compose and we all look so forward to yours!

--G

 

[El Toro Joe]

Excellent, as usual. Thank you ma'am

 

[Tyler]

Thanks for coming along, gents... next time, hope to see more of your smiling faces along for the journey! :wub:

 

[Tyler]

We were told to head about 25 miles past Badwater to find the big bloom area… I was actually surprised at how little traffic there was out that way…

And we started to see the signs of the bloom…

But kept on going past tourists who thought they’d found the holy grail… all the way to the end of the road until we couldn’t go any longer and there it was… just waiting for us to show up…

Cynthia and Larry…

The elusive Desert Five Spot… have to look carefully to find them…

Jeremy stuck around long enough to get his photo taken and then he’d had enough of sitting still and zipped off into the wild blue yonder…

As we were standing there enjoying the amazing color all around us, my sister asked if she could ride with me on the back of the Spyder… so along the way I took a selfie of us on the road and, while I loved all the flower pictures, this is probably my favorite one of the bunch for a lot of different reasons… it was a short ride but very memorable!

 

[bigjohnsd]

Do you ever work?

 

[Tyler]

On the way back, we stopped off at the Ashford Mill Ruins which, in all my visits to DV, I’d never seen… one of the things about the desert is there is always something new to see even if you’ve been lots of times…

Love the colors of the mountains behind the burst of yellow…

More colors along the way back…

Towering mountains make one feel fairly small…

And with that, we headed back to the barn with memories that would stay with us for a long time…

Next up, the dinner that almost wasn’t, a movie museum visit, and off-roading in Lone Pine… stay tuned! B)

 

[Intech]

I haven't even looked at the pictures I took. Today is my first day back to work after the trip. Still haven't completely shaken the crud I picked up out there.

As usual great pictures Tyler. For my ride report I will just ditto!

 

[El Toro Joe]

For my ride report I will just ditto!

Lazy bastard...