Adventures in Death Valley

[RC Bronco]

Went on a trip to the Colorado Springs area not too long ago (prior to December 2022). Explored Pike National Forest and San Isabel National Forest and hiked to ~12,200ft on Mt. Elbert before the afternoon flurries turned me around

Bronco did exceptionally well in all conditions - snow, ice, mud, water crossings... it was eating it up!

This trip has me wanting to purchase a plethora of new goodies, but it's good enough for now

Sponsored

 

[RC Bronco]

Back on 12/12/2022, I left for the Death Valley area to visit my brother, his fiancé, and her parents (as well as to do some exploring, of course ). We left northeastern KS on the morning of the 12th with about 4820 miles on the odometer and Raton, NM as the first destination for the trip

On the way to Raton, we stopped at Capulin Mountain, but were rushed as we arrived 10 minutes before they shut the gate - had just enough time to drive up, get out, jog down to the vent, and then sprint back up just before being ushered out - still a gorgeous place!

The next morning, our first destination was Taos, NM for a more scenic route, then it was onto Petrified Forest National Park. Unfortunately, we took a bit too long going through the northern section of PFNP, thus light was quickly fading as we neared the Crystal Forest, but it did not disappoint the eyes nor the soul! After some sight-seeing, we were headed towards Flagstaff, AZ

On our third day, we headed off to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. I had never been before and really didn't know what to expect... holy crap! what an immense and majestic place this is. I cannot wait to go back with more time to hike the canyon and explore the northern rim. Close encounters with wildlife are always fun too; here's closeup video of an elk chewing in its sleep - there were 8 of them, all basking in the sun

The fourth day was almost exclusively a driving day. We ended up in Needles, CA and met up with my brother who was going to drive into and through DV with us. We made several stops in DV, one of which was Zabriskie Point

For me, this is where I got to camp on my own, out on BLM land - being from Kansas, this is something that I wanted to take advantage of as much as possible, and boy was it worth it! I slept under Lone Pine Peak and woke up to a gorgeous view. Unfortunately, the path I wanted to take further up was blocked by boulders (the hike past them was still worth it, though!) - ended up finding out from some locals that the boulders were there because a vehicle had rolled off the path a couple weeks prior

(additional image - snowy mountains)

Now the adventure really begins! My brother's fiancé (Kim) happens to be local to this region and she was going to show us a few places she knew about. If you're familiar with the Owens Valley area and are into some of the (more extreme) hiking trails out there, then you may know who she is

While driving through DV NP, we saw a couple fighter jets fly overhead, and again, while we were stopped at this location, they did another fly-by, just behind us - one of us even managed to snag a few photos of it flying over the valley (look just above the roof box on the 4Runner)

(additional video - light crawling up an old trail)

Next up was a location some locals may be familiar with. It's not too hard to find, but I've been asked to not share details about the location to help protect it from vandalism. I think this photo is a self-explanatory reason for why

The next day, we started off on Dan's Benchmark which was pretty fun. It was smooth sailing most of the way up. Right before the Benchmark, the trail has a pretty steep slope you first go down before getting a nice view of nothing but the blue sky. Video clips from here turned out better for the 4Runner, but aren't playing nice with the websites upload server

On the next trail, we didn't get to make it even half way up Silver Canyon before the trail became completely covered in ice, but at least we got to see some bighorn sheep and do a handful of water crossings

(additional video - a water crossing)
(additional video - bighorn sheep & headbutting)

We then went to Convict Lake, Mammoth Lakes, and Mono Lake, each of which had their own beauty, but the view at Mono Lake definitely stole the show

Photo of Mono Lake is too large to upload here, please view it here

On the 18th, we took our first really rough road, Taboose (Pass) Road. What a brutally rocky and rough road, definitely was a thorough shakedown for any loose bolts or connections, but I wouldn't want to travel on this road regularly without some aftermarket suspension. The short hike we did was much more enjoyable. To finish the day off, we took some back roads to the Alabama Hills and hiked around Mobius Arch Loop - super neat place!

On the 19th, we were going back into Death Valley, more specifically, Saline Valley. If you've never been into Saline Valley, you really don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into. We ended up taking (lower) Saline Valley Road into DV, but came out on the (upper), more commonly used Saline Valley Road - enjoy the "smooth" terrain for these short few miles because you're going to miss it. We took Saline Valley Road up and down the Nelson (?) Range and were going to do Lippincott Pass to The Racetrack, but we decided against it for several reasons, the biggest of which was information from a Ranger saying Lippincott was blocked about a mile from The Racetrack - oh well, next time!

As we were dropping into Saline Valley, the views were out of this world... hard to believe such a place exists. Somewhere along Saline Valley Road, before we reached the basin, we were buzzed numerous times by fighter jets. First, two flew over us, but we didn't get a good view, then a few minutes later, two more are coming right at us and they're dropping low, I mean REALLY low. We immediately pulled over and opened our doors. The first jet just flew by, but the second one must have seen us stop and get out. He banked toward us and started to dive before pulling up into a corkscrew. He did a few other maneuvers immediately above us, giving us a really great show for about 2 minutes, before the afterburner kicked on and he disappeared somewhere in the direction we had been coming from. They continued to fly this area the rest of the day, but we didn't get another airshow

Maybe 5ish miles before that airshow, Saline Valley Road went from being recently "groomed" to a complete mess. We were seeing the aftermath of the two thousand-year flash floods that hit the area not too long ago. For the next 50ish miles, the damage was seemingly everywhere you looked: boulders scattered across the road, sections collapsed and in some areas, just gone, washes from flowing water, an endless number of "potholes" (better called ditches and trenches... they put potholes to shame), and some of the worst washboard out there (no pace was going to make it less jarring; seriously, there was no way to escape it)

We made it to the basin and were greeted with a view of a salt lake, which we drove part of the way to before it got too wet to safely continue in-vehicle, so we hiked the rest of the way there - wild seeing so much water in a desert!

(additional image - view looking back from Saline Valley salt lake)

Our destination in Saline Valley was the lower Warm Springs area. If you aren't familiar with it, it's best described as a desert oasis. Words cannot describe how unusual this place is and pictures do not capture the beauty of it. Much praise to Lizard Lee for keeping the place as inviting and hospitable as it is for the middle of a desert - also, in the unlikely event you're reading this, I hope your buddy got his Jeep out of there without another breakdown

If you ever have a chance to make it out to the lower Saline Valley Warm Springs, do it, you will not regret it

To finish this trip out, we went through Zion National Park, another mesmerizing piece of the planet, before returning home through the winter storm that most of the US experienced. The roads were not as bad as I expected them to be

 

[RC Bronco]

To wrap up my 4326.7 mile (@ 17.5 MPG, running only 91 octane) adventure out to Death Valley and back (almost exactly 100 hours of vehicle runtime), I'm really impressed with how this (almost entirely) stock Bronco did. It handled everything we did, outpaced a lifted 4Runner, got us to some awesome spots, and only has a few new rattles.

As far as those rattles are concerned:
- tailgate (I think Taboose Road knocked something loose inside the tailgate)
- driver window squeaking (once again, I think Taboose Road caused this, but I haven't noticed it in a few days)
- rattling from passenger side, sounds like the rear of the front passenger seat, or something under the rear passenger seat; only occurs on rough roads
- rattling under the front driver-side of the Bronco; nothing is obviously loose and it rides normal, but it's obnoxious to hear on rougher patches of pavement and offroad
- occasional squeak in the middle gasket between the front two roof panels; not constant, but would be annoying if it gets any worse
- small gap in driver-side cargo area gasket (above the taillight) allowed dust into the rear of the Bronco

The ONLY issue I experienced with my Bronco on this trip was with the keyfob. Several times throughout the trip, the Bronco refused to detect the key (and I hadn't brought the spare...). The first time this happened, I ended up having to put the key in the spot in the center console for it to be detected, but once I took it out, the warning message came back. Since that happened, it failed to recognize the key several more times, but once inside the Bronco, manually unlocking via the keyfob seemed to tell the Bronco the key was in the cabin. I haven't had any issues with this since, but it was concerning when I was 1700+ miles from home

All that being said, I'm eager to upgrade the shocks and tires plus add on-board air to this rig, as money allows. More clearance wasn't necessary for anything we did, but it would have made things easier and just look better too, but I can't complain with this rig as it sits now!

 

[Felix808]

Wow. Awesome trip & great photos!

 

[Tarheel_Wes]

Back on 12/12/2022, I left for the Death Valley area to visit my brother, his fiancé, and her parents (as well as to do some exploring, of course ). We left northeastern KS on the morning of the 12th with about 4820 miles on the odometer and Raton, NM as the first destination for the trip

On the way to Raton, we stopped at Capulin Mountain, but were rushed as we arrived 10 minutes before they shut the gate - had just enough time to drive up, get out, jog down to the vent, and then sprint back up just before being ushered out - still a gorgeous place!

The next morning, our first destination was Taos, NM for a more scenic route, then it was onto Petrified Forest National Park. Unfortunately, we took a bit too long going through the northern section of PFNP, thus light was quickly fading as we neared the Crystal Forest, but it did not disappoint the eyes nor the soul! After some sight-seeing, we were headed towards Flagstaff, AZ

On our third day, we headed off to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. I had never been before and really didn't know what to expect... holy crap! what an immense and majestic place this is. I cannot wait to go back with more time to hike the canyon and explore the northern rim. Close encounters with wildlife are always fun too; here's closeup video of an elk chewing in its sleep - there were 8 of them, all basking in the sun

The fourth day was almost exclusively a driving day. We ended up in Needles, CA and met up with my brother who was going to drive into and through DV with us. We made several stops in DV, one of which was Zabriskie Point

For me, this is where I got to camp on my own, out on BLM land - being from Kansas, this is something that I wanted to take advantage of as much as possible, and boy was it worth it! I slept under Lone Pine Peak and woke up to a gorgeous view. Unfortunately, the path I wanted to take further up was blocked by boulders (the hike past them was still worth it, though!) - ended up finding out from some locals that the boulders were there because a vehicle had rolled off the path a couple weeks prior

(additional image - snowy mountains)

Now the adventure really begins! My brother's fiancé (Kim) happens to be local to this region and she was going to show us a few places she knew about. If you're familiar with the Owens Valley area and are into some of the (more extreme) hiking trails out there, then you may know who she is

While driving through DV NP, we saw a couple fighter jets fly overhead, and again, while we were stopped at this location, they did another fly-by, just behind us - one of us even managed to snag a few photos of it flying over the valley (look just above the roof box on the 4Runner)

(additional video - light crawling up an old trail)

Next up was a location some locals may be familiar with. It's not too hard to find, but I've been asked to not share details about the location to help protect it from vandalism. I think this photo is a self-explanatory reason for why

The next day, we started off on Dan's Benchmark which was pretty fun. It was smooth sailing most of the way up. Right before the Benchmark, the trail has a pretty steep slope you first go down before getting a nice view of nothing but the blue sky. Video clips from here turned out better for the 4Runner, but aren't playing nice with the websites upload server

On the next trail, we didn't get to make it even half way up Silver Canyon before the trail became completely covered in ice, but at least we got to see some bighorn sheep and do a handful of water crossings

(additional video - a water crossing)
(additional video - bighorn sheep & headbutting)

We then went to Convict Lake, Mammoth Lakes, and Mono Lake, each of which had their own beauty, but the view at Mono Lake definitely stole the show

Photo of Mono Lake is too large to upload here, please view it here

On the 18th, we took our first really rough road, Taboose (Pass) Road. What a brutally rocky and rough road, definitely was a thorough shakedown for any loose bolts or connections, but I wouldn't want to travel on this road regularly without some aftermarket suspension. The short hike we did was much more enjoyable. To finish the day off, we took some back roads to the Alabama Hills and hiked around Mobius Arch Loop - super neat place!

On the 19th, we were going back into Death Valley, more specifically, Saline Valley. If you've never been into Saline Valley, you really don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into. We ended up taking (lower) Saline Valley Road into DV, but came out on the (upper), more commonly used Saline Valley Road - enjoy the "smooth" terrain for these short few miles because you're going to miss it. We took Saline Valley Road up and down the Nelson (?) Range and were going to do Lippincott Pass to The Racetrack, but we decided against it for several reasons, the biggest of which was information from a Ranger saying Lippincott was blocked about a mile from The Racetrack - oh well, next time!

As we were dropping into Saline Valley, the views were out of this world... hard to believe such a place exists. Somewhere along Saline Valley Road, before we reached the basin, we were buzzed numerous times by fighter jets. First, two flew over us, but we didn't get a good view, then a few minutes later, two more are coming right at us and they're dropping low, I mean REALLY low. We immediately pulled over and opened our doors. The first jet just flew by, but the second one must have seen us stop and get out. He banked toward us and started to dive before pulling up into a corkscrew. He did a few other maneuvers immediately above us, giving us a really great show for about 2 minutes, before the afterburner kicked on and he disappeared somewhere in the direction we had been coming from. They continued to fly this area the rest of the day, but we didn't get another airshow

Maybe 5ish miles before that airshow, Saline Valley Road went from being recently "groomed" to a complete mess. We were seeing the aftermath of the two thousand-year flash floods that hit the area not too long ago. For the next 50ish miles, the damage was seemingly everywhere you looked: boulders scattered across the road, sections collapsed and in some areas, just gone, washes from flowing water, an endless number of "potholes" (better called ditches and trenches... they put potholes to shame), and some of the worst washboard out there (no pace was going to make it less jarring; seriously, there was no way to escape it)

We made it to the basin and were greeted with a view of a salt lake, which we drove part of the way to before it got too wet to safely continue in-vehicle, so we hiked the rest of the way there - wild seeing so much water in a desert!

(additional image - view looking back from Saline Valley salt lake)

Our destination in Saline Valley was the lower Warm Springs area. If you aren't familiar with it, it's best described as a desert oasis. Words cannot describe how unusual this place is and pictures do not capture the beauty of it. Much praise to Lizard Lee for keeping the place as inviting and hospitable as it is for the middle of a desert - also, in the unlikely event you're reading this, I hope your buddy got his Jeep out of there without another breakdown

If you ever have a chance to make it out to the lower Saline Valley Warm Springs, do it, you will not regret it

To finish this trip out, we went through Zion National Park, another mesmerizing piece of the planet, before returning home through the winter storm that most of the US experienced. The roads were not as bad as I expected them to be

Great photos and write up! I used to live in Vegas and did a lot of that stuff in my FJ. Would love to do it in my Bronco some day. I've fished convict lake. Owens Valley and the White Mountains are beautiful. I could tell you about some little hot springs in between Independence and Bishop.

Incidentally, I have a black diamond as well...what "raptor" light kit did you go with?

 

[John Bronco_ I am here]

...... I'm really impressed with how this (almost entirely) stock Bronco did.....

....

All that being said, I'm eager to upgrade the shocks and tires plus add on-board air to this rig, as money allows.....

Any vehicle in this class is extremely capable when compared to almost any other vehicle on the market. Especially if one sticks to roads. Everyone seems to modify when most do not actually need to. My advice when you start down the road of modifying is to make the mods to get a specific result, not just to get a look. There is always a trade off and when you pay for the negative it goes down smoother when you value the positive you obtained.

 

[HOSSMAN]

What an incredible journey! Awesome pix and vids! So jealous! Those Big Horns were pretty cool! I hope when we ever get ours we can do some cool excursions to the mountains and other beautiful scenery type places. I love the hill country of Texas but not much here but dust right now, sand and mud when (if) it ever rains.

 

[broadicustomworks]

Excellent write-up, great photos and vids, easily makes people want to read on to see what comes next.
We need more of these types of posts and fun on the Forum.
Very nice, and glad to hear you and your ride handled it all well.

 

[Murfman]

Back on 12/12/2022, I left for the Death Valley area to visit my brother, his fiancé, and her parents (as well as to do some exploring, of course ). We left northeastern KS on the morning of the 12th with about 4820 miles on the odometer and Raton, NM as the first destination for the trip

On the way to Raton, we stopped at Capulin Mountain, but were rushed as we arrived 10 minutes before they shut the gate - had just enough time to drive up, get out, jog down to the vent, and then sprint back up just before being ushered out - still a gorgeous place!

The next morning, our first destination was Taos, NM for a more scenic route, then it was onto Petrified Forest National Park. Unfortunately, we took a bit too long going through the northern section of PFNP, thus light was quickly fading as we neared the Crystal Forest, but it did not disappoint the eyes nor the soul! After some sight-seeing, we were headed towards Flagstaff, AZ

On our third day, we headed off to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. I had never been before and really didn't know what to expect... holy crap! what an immense and majestic place this is. I cannot wait to go back with more time to hike the canyon and explore the northern rim. Close encounters with wildlife are always fun too; here's closeup video of an elk chewing in its sleep - there were 8 of them, all basking in the sun

The fourth day was almost exclusively a driving day. We ended up in Needles, CA and met up with my brother who was going to drive into and through DV with us. We made several stops in DV, one of which was Zabriskie Point

For me, this is where I got to camp on my own, out on BLM land - being from Kansas, this is something that I wanted to take advantage of as much as possible, and boy was it worth it! I slept under Lone Pine Peak and woke up to a gorgeous view. Unfortunately, the path I wanted to take further up was blocked by boulders (the hike past them was still worth it, though!) - ended up finding out from some locals that the boulders were there because a vehicle had rolled off the path a couple weeks prior

(additional image - snowy mountains)

Now the adventure really begins! My brother's fiancé (Kim) happens to be local to this region and she was going to show us a few places she knew about. If you're familiar with the Owens Valley area and are into some of the (more extreme) hiking trails out there, then you may know who she is

While driving through DV NP, we saw a couple fighter jets fly overhead, and again, while we were stopped at this location, they did another fly-by, just behind us - one of us even managed to snag a few photos of it flying over the valley (look just above the roof box on the 4Runner)

(additional video - light crawling up an old trail)

Next up was a location some locals may be familiar with. It's not too hard to find, but I've been asked to not share details about the location to help protect it from vandalism. I think this photo is a self-explanatory reason for why

The next day, we started off on Dan's Benchmark which was pretty fun. It was smooth sailing most of the way up. Right before the Benchmark, the trail has a pretty steep slope you first go down before getting a nice view of nothing but the blue sky. Video clips from here turned out better for the 4Runner, but aren't playing nice with the websites upload server

On the next trail, we didn't get to make it even half way up Silver Canyon before the trail became completely covered in ice, but at least we got to see some bighorn sheep and do a handful of water crossings

(additional video - a water crossing)
(additional video - bighorn sheep & headbutting)

We then went to Convict Lake, Mammoth Lakes, and Mono Lake, each of which had their own beauty, but the view at Mono Lake definitely stole the show

Photo of Mono Lake is too large to upload here, please view it here

On the 18th, we took our first really rough road, Taboose (Pass) Road. What a brutally rocky and rough road, definitely was a thorough shakedown for any loose bolts or connections, but I wouldn't want to travel on this road regularly without some aftermarket suspension. The short hike we did was much more enjoyable. To finish the day off, we took some back roads to the Alabama Hills and hiked around Mobius Arch Loop - super neat place!

On the 19th, we were going back into Death Valley, more specifically, Saline Valley. If you've never been into Saline Valley, you really don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into. We ended up taking (lower) Saline Valley Road into DV, but came out on the (upper), more commonly used Saline Valley Road - enjoy the "smooth" terrain for these short few miles because you're going to miss it. We took Saline Valley Road up and down the Nelson (?) Range and were going to do Lippincott Pass to The Racetrack, but we decided against it for several reasons, the biggest of which was information from a Ranger saying Lippincott was blocked about a mile from The Racetrack - oh well, next time!

As we were dropping into Saline Valley, the views were out of this world... hard to believe such a place exists. Somewhere along Saline Valley Road, before we reached the basin, we were buzzed numerous times by fighter jets. First, two flew over us, but we didn't get a good view, then a few minutes later, two more are coming right at us and they're dropping low, I mean REALLY low. We immediately pulled over and opened our doors. The first jet just flew by, but the second one must have seen us stop and get out. He banked toward us and started to dive before pulling up into a corkscrew. He did a few other maneuvers immediately above us, giving us a really great show for about 2 minutes, before the afterburner kicked on and he disappeared somewhere in the direction we had been coming from. They continued to fly this area the rest of the day, but we didn't get another airshow

Maybe 5ish miles before that airshow, Saline Valley Road went from being recently "groomed" to a complete mess. We were seeing the aftermath of the two thousand-year flash floods that hit the area not too long ago. For the next 50ish miles, the damage was seemingly everywhere you looked: boulders scattered across the road, sections collapsed and in some areas, just gone, washes from flowing water, an endless number of "potholes" (better called ditches and trenches... they put potholes to shame), and some of the worst washboard out there (no pace was going to make it less jarring; seriously, there was no way to escape it)

We made it to the basin and were greeted with a view of a salt lake, which we drove part of the way to before it got too wet to safely continue in-vehicle, so we hiked the rest of the way there - wild seeing so much water in a desert!

(additional image - view looking back from Saline Valley salt lake)

Our destination in Saline Valley was the lower Warm Springs area. If you aren't familiar with it, it's best described as a desert oasis. Words cannot describe how unusual this place is and pictures do not capture the beauty of it. Much praise to Lizard Lee for keeping the place as inviting and hospitable as it is for the middle of a desert - also, in the unlikely event you're reading this, I hope your buddy got his Jeep out of there without another breakdown

If you ever have a chance to make it out to the lower Saline Valley Warm Springs, do it, you will not regret it

To finish this trip out, we went through Zion National Park, another mesmerizing piece of the planet, before returning home through the winter storm that most of the US experienced. The roads were not as bad as I expected them to be

Want to see fighter jets in Star Wars Canyon? It’s Death Valley — so be prepared - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Lots of Video of the low level flying. Our version of the Mach Loop in Scottland.

 

[RC Bronco]

Great photos and write up! I used to live in Vegas and did a lot of that stuff in my FJ. Would love to do it in my Bronco some day. I've fished convict lake. Owens Valley and the White Mountains are beautiful. I could tell you about some little hot springs in between Independence and Bishop.

Incidentally, I have a black diamond as well...what "raptor" light kit did you go with?

Thank you! I bet you have a lot of wonderful memories with that FJ, and I suspect you'll be back at some point - I know I will!

I'd love to hear about them for my next trip out there! Feel free to DM me if you want to keep that info out of the public eye

I went with Mabett's kit for the Black Diamond. I think it was about $50 when I purchased it - if you want a link, I'd be happy to dig it up for ya!

 

[RC Bronco]

Any vehicle in this class is extremely capable when compared to almost any other vehicle on the market. Especially if one sticks to roads. Everyone seems to modify when most do not actually need to. My advice when you start down the road of modifying is to make the mods to get a specific result, not just to get a look. There is always a trade off and when you pay for the negative it goes down smoother when you value the positive you obtained.

I'm trying to get as much use out of it in this stock configuration as I can before I throw even more cash at it. Since I don't have much experience doing these sorts of things, I wanted to learn what the rig could do as is - I knew it would be capable, so perhaps my lack of experience is why it was impressive to me; also thank you for your advice!!

 

[aziazio]

Amazing!

 

[RC Bronco]

I had no idea they could get THIS bad. My brother said it was worse than he remembered it being, but I don't see how it could have been any better without some machinery out there

I'm currently eyeing some 33"-35" BFG KO2's for my tire upgrade - not sure if I want to purchase before or after wearing down these General Grabbers some more

The marker lights were an impulse buy shortly after I got the "built" email from Ford. That and I wanted something to make mine a tad different than all the others (there's quite a few in the area around me)

 

[RC Bronco]

What an incredible journey! Awesome pix and vids! So jealous! Those Big Horns were pretty cool! I hope when we ever get ours we can do some cool excursions to the mountains and other beautiful scenery type places. I love the hill country of Texas but not much here but dust right now, sand and mud when (if) it ever rains.

Thank you so much! I hope yours comes sooner than expected I'm sure it'll take you wherever your heart desires! Mine has been more than I expected it to be - well worth the wait

If you've got any recommended spots or sights to see in the hill country of Texas, I'd love to hear them! I'm always looking for new opportunities to check out the beauty of this planet. If you're willing to share and want to keep them private, feel free to DM me

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