Our first overland trip was to Death Valley. We had never been, but our neighbors at Surf 'n Turf invited us to join them and their family as they were going to spend close to a week in the largest National Park in the lower 48. There was no way all four of us and our gear were going to all fit into the FJ40 Land Cruiser comfortably, so we decided to take Kristina's 4Runner. We met up with our friends coming down from the north in Olancha on the 395, just south of Bishop and Mammoth. There were four vehicles in our group, our 4Runner and three 100-series Land Cruisers (2 LC's and 1 LX).
Day One:
Once we departed our meeting point in Olancha after making introductions and fueling up, we headed into the Park and started looking for a spot to set up camp since it was already late in the day. We came upon the Lee Flat area just inside Park lines and found a spot for all of us, at the base of Hunter Mtn. The only thing around were some rock hills, which our son and the other kids on the trip absolutely loved climbing and exploring.
We learned that night that we were definitely unprepared for camping in the wilderness. We spent the night on the ground in our borrowed Cabela's tent on air mattresses, and had a miserable first night. Our two year old daughter didn't sleep, and couldn't stay warm, and we learned just how an air mattress will suck the heat out of you and will absorb the cold from the ground, so we ended up freezing that night. Not the best start to the trip....
Day Two:
The next morning, our friends definitely could tell it was a rough night for us. They gave us a wool comforter to borrow, and explained its always good to insulate an air mattress on the cold ground. Note definitely taken. We packed up camp and were ready to go start touring the Park. Our plan had been to go to Hunter Mtn., but the pass was closed due to heavy snow, even though it was April. With overlanding, you must remain flexible due to things occurring out of your control, so our backup plan was to head up the famous "Racetrack." We bypassed Hunter Mtn. and ran along the Nelson Range until we came upon the road up the Lippincott Grade. We climbed the grade in low-range 4WD up the narrow single-lane switchback shelf road, stopping every once in a while for a breathtaking view back down the mountain. Everyone made it up safely, although one of the Land Cruisers bottomed out going up the grade, but the only damage was a slightly bent trailer hitch, which acted as trail armor. 
At the summit, lies the "Racetrack", a dry lake bed that features large rocks that appears to move on their own. There are multiple theories here, but the most likely is that once this dry lake bed does actually get rain, the mud becomes very thick and extremely slippery, and as it begins to dry back out, the strong winds will actually push the large rocks along the slick surface mud, and as the mud quickly dries, the wind-blown sliding rock tracks will dry in that manner, giving the appearance that the large rocks are moving on their own. It is a very bizarre phenomenon. After driving off-road for most of the morning, it was a great break to get out an hike out on the dry lake bed.
After a late lunch, we set out to continue to find our next camp. We headed out from the Racetrack on one of the worst washboard roads I have been on. Everyone I have talked to says this stretch of road is the worst they have ever driven as well, just no good line at all. Finally we reached Teakettle Junction, which the sign is decorated by probably more than 50 different teakettles left from previous travelers. Pretty clever. We headed east looking for a place to camp, and ended up settling for a spot near Hidden Valley and White Top Mtns. The area we chose was not protected from the winds, and the wind storm we endured that night made some of the strong offshore winds we had at the last couple Surf 'n Turf events seem like a gentle breeze. The good news was that somehow, the tent survived the night, but that bad news was that this was the second straight night with almost no sleep.
Day Three:
After two straight rough nights to start the trip, there definitely some unhappy campers. The bitterly cold and windy nights were not playing well with some on the trip and some of the ladies were ready to call it quits, so we decided it would be better to head for lower elevation with warmer temps and less wind. On the way down, we stopped to check out the Lost Burrow Mine. As we were checking out the abandoned mine, we got lightly snowed on, which the kids thought was pretty cool. We continued along the valley between Dry and Tin Mtns. to Ubehebe Crater. This volcanic crater was very surreal to see in the middle of Death Valley.
We ended up continuing down to Stovepipe Wells, and with the weather being drastically warmer (mid 80's), we ended up staying there for two nights.
Day Four:
We base camped this day, which was a nice break from packing up and moving along like a band of gypsies. Our day trip involved driving out to Furnace Creek, and then onto the Devil's Golf Course, which is this large salt pan that has such a rough surface that "only the devil could play golf" on it, and then to what I thought was the highlight of the trip, which was Titus Canyon. It is a one-way trail that is just spectacular as it winds through the Red Pass, down past an old ghost town, and then into the Canyon where you are driving through these sheer rock wall slot canyon on either side that are over one hundred feet up. It was absolutely beautiful (the kids obviously shared my enthusiasm, as they both fell asleep). On the way back to camp, we stopped and checked out the Mesquite Sand Dunes just before sundown.
All packed up again, we ended up meeting up with friends of our friends that were there in DV as well, and went on a fun and scenic hike through Mosaic Canyon. We parted with the big group, and continued on to Panamint Springs. After stopping for the most expensive milkshake we have ever gotten ($10 is highway robbery, but we paid it, and it was good), we found a place to camp in the Panamint Range Valley near Lake Hill for the last night. It was a great spot, with our camp facing the beautiful mountain range, and we were in the flight path of the fighter jets from the China Lake Naval Base. They came low over our camp a couple times, and it was awesome. For our last exploration trip, we took one of the Land Cruisers and went to check out an old abandoned mine up near the Panamint Dunes.
Day Six:
Everyone broke down camp one last time, and we headed out of the park. We found a few old cars that looked like they had been there for quite a while (if they would have been Land Cruisers, they never would have gotten stuck out there). As we were driving out, we also saw the Trona Pinnacles, where the original Planet of the Apes and some other movies have filmed scenes.
It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun, and learned a lot. They were a few really nice families, and treated us like family as well, so we were very fortunate, and it made for a very nice time. I definitely would like to go back to Death Valley, as there is so much to see and explore. We were there almost a week, and saw a lot, but I feel we just touched on what the Park has to offer.
It really makes me want to do more of these types of trips.
