Trip To Death Valley and Eastern Sierra

MAY 22 - MAY 25, 1998 (hosted by piero scaruffi)

SITUATION

The cars listed here are all rental cars. For such a long trip we will need to rent cars. The names of drivers (people over 25) are UPPER CASE.

Right now the idea is that

piero rents a car, picks up Valerie (6:00pm), Heike (6:30pm), Marion (7pm), then goes to the airport to pick up Berna.
Wasfi rents a midsize for himself, Karim and Mustapha and leaves from Cupertino at ???? Eventually one girl can ride with Wasfi, so all cars have exactly 4 people.
Gabi (courtesy of Mustapha) rents a midsize car for herself, Renata and the two hungarians who live in Palo Alto. She leaves at 6pm from San Jose.
Christian and Bea drive to Redwood City, where they meet at 5pm with Ania and Christina to rent the car

Read the emails from the others for further details on everything.

Person	Car	Tent	Leaving	From	Country
ANIA	Ania's	3	5pm	Menlo Park	Poland
Bea	Ania's		noon	Berkeley	Hungary
Berna	piero's	2	7pm	SFO airport	Austria
CHRISTIAN	Ania's	2	noon	Berkeley	Holland
Christina	Ania's		5pm	Menlo Park	Germany
GABRIELA	Gabi's	5	6pm	San Jose	Hungary
Hanga	Gabi's		6pm	Palo Alto	Hungary
Heike	piero's		6:30pm	Portola Valley	Germany
KARIM	Wasfi's	get one!	6pm	Redwood City	Morocco
Marion	piero's		7pm	Redwood City	Austria
MUSTAPHA	Wasfi's		6pm	Milpitas	Morocco
PIERO	piero's	4	7pm	Redwood City	Italy
Renata	Gabi's		6pm	San Jose	Hungary
Soad	Gabi's		6pm	Cupertino	Hungary
Valerie	piero's		2pm	Atherton	Switzerland
WASFI	Wasfi's		6pm	Cupertino	Palestine
ZSOLT	Gabi's		6pm	Palo Alto	Hungary

Collection of emails on each person's situation:

From Berna: I'll arrive at the airport at 6.55 pm with UA2063. I'll be in Wenatchee till friday: Ann & Fred Deal (509) 663-7827.
From Mustapha.Ouaddi@kla-tencor.com Wed May 13 15:38:47 1998: I made a reservation on a midsize car from Budget Rent-A-Car. With insurance, the total will be $155.96 for four days rental. Please pass this information to the young Hungarian ladies for their approval.
From: "Anna Bujak" Wed, 13 May 1998 18:08:49 PDT: I will rent a midsize car.
From marion_pfanner@hotmail.com Mon May 18 15:01:56 1998: I would love to volunteer buying the food, but the question is: in which car should we transport all of the food and how should we keep it cool? So the best we can do is: every car organize their own food or they should decide what ever they want.
From Karim: Because we are only three now, we are going to switch to a mid size sedan instead of a 4WD unless you want to dump a beautiful girl or two on my two sadic ugly arab friends. If not we'll do just fine the three of us chasing you in the desert.
From Gabriela: We`ll talk with Musthapa in Thursday about Friday. I can read your direction from your web site. We can leave about 6oclock. Maybe I can arrange the food, It`s depens on the budget? Thursday morning i have a time.
From piero: I called the first campground, Red Rock Canyon. The ranger said it hardly ever fills up, because it's brand new and very few people know of it (and, let me add, who wants to camp in the Mojave desert anyway?). But it is "first come first serve", no reservations accepted. In the event it is full, he said that nearby there is a no man's land where we are welcome to camp. Yes, there are rattlesnakes in the Mojave desert. So be careful when you set up your tent, especially near rocks.

Program (can be changed)

This is a tentative plan, assuming that 120 east is still closed. Most of the trip is driving, with frequent stops. Very little hiking is required.

MAY 22/ Friday afternoon: Drive to Mojave Desert
MAY 22/ Friday night: Camp at Red Rock Canyon (where "Jurassic Park" and many other movies were filmed)
MAY 23/ Saturday: Death Valley Attractions
- Charcoal Kilns
- Salt Creek
- Golden Canyon
- Artist Drive
- Badwater
- hikers hike from Artist Drive to Zabriskie Point
- Zabriskie Point
- Dante's View
- time permitting: Mosaic Canyon & Grotto Canyon
- Shoshone?
MAY 23/ Saturday evening: Las Vegas (happenings in Vegas include Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere", EFX, Starlight Express)
MAY 24/ Sunday:
- drive northwest on 95, then 374 west
- Rhyolite ghost town (may be skipped if no time)
- Titus Canyon (may be skipped if no time)
- Ubehebe Crater
- Scotty's Castle
- drive 267 east, then 95 north, then 266 west
- Eureka Sand Dunes
- drive 168 west, 395 north
MAY 24/ Sunday night: camp near Bishop
MAY 25/ Monday: drive north on 395
- Bodie
- Owens Valley petroglyphs
- Hot Creek
- Mammoth Lakes
- Devil's Postpile
- Mono Lake (Daniel's advice: "Park in the overflow parking area and hike towards Mono Lake to your left. There is no trail but you can see lots of fun tufa formations and many birds. I think it is far better than the tourist trail which costs $2.)
MAY 25/ Monday evening: drive back through Lake Tahoe

See a description of Death Valley attractions.
See a description of Eastern Sierra attractions.

What To Bring

sleeping bag, mattress, pillow
blanket (if you get cold easily)
fork, knife, spoon
cup
flashlight
hiking boots or good walking shoes

If you are a member of AAA, I also recommend that you pick up the following maps:

California
Death Valley and Lake Mead
Guide to Eastern Sierra
Guide to Death Valley National Park

Costs

Park entrances: $20 per car for the entire weekend
Campgrounds: $30 for two cars for each of the two nights
Cabins/motels: $40 for 4 people for the night in Vegas
Gasoline: about $100 each car for the entire weekend
Rental cars: about $200 each car for the entire weekend (Piero has rented a midsize at $99.99 for 4 days (May 22- May 26), which plus insurance ($9 a day) and taxes (8%) will come up to about $150 - Redwood City office: 650 780-9980) (Ania has rented the same car) (Gabi's car costs $155.96 for four days rental)
Communal food: check with the other people in your car if they want to buy snacks, drinks, etc.
Meals at restaurants

Food

We will mainly eat at restaurants. It is not feasible to carry food for 3.5 days. But we will have camping equipment for those who want to cook their own breakfast/dinner.

Everybody should bring her/his own fork/knife/spoon/cup.

Everybody should bring her/his own food for breakfast.

Where we sleep

Mojave Desert

Route

Orientations to Death Valley:

The park is transected from east to west by California Highway 190. On the east in Nevada, Highway 95 parallels the park from north to south with connecting highways at Scotty's Junction (State Route 267), Beatty (State Route 374), and Lathrop Wells (State Route 373). South of the park, Interstate 15 passes through Baker on its way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. State Route 127 travels north from Baker to Shoshone (State Route 178) and Death Valley Junction (Highway 190). West of the park, State Route 178 passes through Ridgecrest and Trona on its way north to a junction with 190. Also to the west, Highway 395 parallels the park from north to south with connections to Highway 190 at Olancha and Lone Pine.

The first night we will head to the Mojave Desert through

Hwy 5 south
Crossover to 99 south (e.g., by taking 46 east)
In Bakersfield, take SR 58 southeast
In Mojave take SR 14 northeast
Along SR 14 (after about 40 kms) turn left into Red Rock Canyon State Park
The following day we will drive through Death Valley:

SR 14 north, SR 178 east, SR 190 east
95 southeast to Las Vegas
The second day we will drive to the Mt Whitney area:

drive northwest on 95, then 374 west - NPS description of the Titus Canyon route:
This popular road is ONE-WAY from east to west. To find the beginning of the drive, follow the highway toward Beatty, Nevada. Turn left 2.7 miles east of the park boundary. The road re-enters the park and winds through the Grapevine Mountains, then drops down through one of Death Valley's most spectacular canyons. Along the way watch for the ghost town of Leadfield and petroglyphs at Klare Spring. A self-guided booklet describing geology and trip highlights can be purchased at the visitor center. Although this road is often passable to 2-wheel-drive vehicles, conditions can vary, so check at a visitor center for current road conditions. No Camping Along Titus Canyon Road.
(Daniel adds: "The dirt road starts near Beatty of 374. It is one way so you have to go this way round. It is quite managable for a long way. Then it leads up into the mountains towards Thimble peak. There's a few rough spots there which are beyond rental cars. The really bad spots are in Titus Canyon where there are a few serious steps (high clearence) and futher down there is some deep loose gravel.")
(but we may have to skip Titus Canyon if we don't have enough time)
drive 267 east, then 95 north, then 266 west
drive 168 west, 395 north
The last day we will drive back home. The problem is that 120 is still closed, so we have to drive around Yosemite. Daniel recommends: "Hwy 4 is Ebets Pass. Small windy road, scenic. You end up far away from any freeways. Fastest way home would be Hwy.89 and Hwy.50, about 5 hours from US395 to Redwood City.")

drive north on US395 to Mono Lake
drive north on US395 to ST89
drive northwest on ST89 to US50
drive west on US50 to I-80 to Berkeley/San Francisco

Road	Direction	Distance	To	Time	Total Kms
580	E	80	5	1:15	80
5	S	160	46	2:15	240
46	E	25	99	0:20	265
99	S	20	58	0:15	285
58	E	95	14	1:00	380
14	N	30	Red Rock	0:30	410
14	N	40	178	0:30	450
178	E	130	190	1:30	580
190	E	80	Furnace	1:00	660
Furnace	S	15	Badwater	0:15	675
Badwater	N	30	Dante's	0:30	705
190/127/373	E/N	65	95	1:00	770
95	S	140	Las Vegas	1:30	910
95	N	240	267	2:30	1050
267	W	60	Ubehebe	1:00	1110
267	E	60	95	1:00	1170
95	N	30	266	0:20	1200
266	W	80	168	1:00	1280
168	W	60	395	0:45	1340
395	N	100	Mono Lake	1:00	1440
395	N	100	89	1:30	1540
89	N	70	50	1:00	1610
50	W	150	Sacramento	1:30	1760
80	W	130	880	1:30	1900
Freeway	W	Kms	Freeway	h:mm	Kms

How we communicate

We want to know what time you left: before you leave, call Christian's 800 number and tell him what time you left. This way we can estimate what time the various cars will arrive.
We want to know if you heard a message: every time you call Christian's 800 number, leave a message just to say that you did hear his current message. He cannot change a message until he is sure that everybody has listened to it.