November 20-25, 2025
By Danny Kato
Participants: Danny and Myla Kato, Brad Burk, Bobbie Okamoto-Subject, George and Pam Tinker, Steve Smith
All except Steve arrived at the Stovepipe Wells Campground around 2:30pm. All were in front of the rainstorm that hit Santa Barbara. Since it had been raining for 8-10 days already, the ground was fairly wet, and muddy in parts.
Everyone got set up when the showers started. Not too much, but enough to be a nuisance. Several of us went across the street to have drinks and dinner at the Stovepipe Wells Hotel restaurant and bar.
The next morning (Friday) it was still drizzling, so it was a slow morning. We decided to stay on paved roads, and do some touristy things, so we went to the Furnace Creek Ranger Station, then drove to Badwater to see the lake that was there after the rains.
Steve arrived in camp around this time. Afterwards, we went to Zabriskie Point, and decided to try the Echo Canyon trail to see if it was driveable. It was, so we went to the Inyo Mine.
The road was in such good condition that most 2WD vehicles could have made it there. We stopped on the way back at the natural arch, and took a ton of pictures.
Very beautiful with the sunset coming through the arch. We drove home in the dark through lots of big mud puddles in the road. That night we had a big fire in camp.
Saturday morning was dry-ish, so we decided to go to Chloride Cliffs, where we had beautiful views of Death Valley, and most of us went up a steep-ish hill at the very end that only Dick did last year.
Then to Beatty via dirt roads that go down and across the Amargosa Valley (saw 3 burros).
One of the benefits of all of the rain is that there was absolutely no dust. Great for all followers. After lunch at a BBQ spot in Beatty, we took the old narrow-gauge railroad grade to the ghost town of Rhyolite, where we explored. As it was going to get dark soon, we drove home, and had another big fire.
Sunday morning, Bobbie and the Tinkers headed home, and Steve decided to do touristy things. He ended up doing a a little wheeling by himself: a portion of the Hole-in-the-Wall trail
(very bumpy, he said), and Inyo Mine (I think). Brad, Myla and I returned to Rhyolite, and took dirt roads (some pretty steep) over the hills to the north, and into the Nevada Triangle portion of Death Valley. We went over a lot of alluvial plains, and eventually went up Phinney Canyon, where the landscape changed from desert-y type of brush to pine trees and SNOW on the road!
At first there were just little pockets here and there, but as we ascended, there got to be more and more, until we were driving in full snow. Woot! We were hoping to get to the end, but when the snow got to be more than 6” deep, we decided to stop, as we were at a point where we could still turn around.
There was only a little bit of slipping and sliding. Then back across the desert to Hwy 95 (saw 3 more burros), Beatty for gas, then back to STW for another big fire.
Monday morning, Steve and Brad went home, and Danny and Myla stayed in the park and did some more touristy things. We left on Tuesday morning. And thus concluded another great trip to DV.
