Southwest Adventure on an R18 – Day 5

What a day!

I left Las Vegas this morning. It was cold. Mostly in the low thirties. The road to Death Valley was more expansive vistas with mountains in the distance, a couple of mountain passes, then into California. I did have an hour of riding over a pass where I nearly turned back. In the valley floors, it was mostly dry, but cold. On the passes, it was wet. On one pass, the rain turned to sleet, then snow. I’ve never ridden on two wheels in this condition and was well outside of my comfort zone. It was slow going, and more than a bit high on the pucker factor. At one point, I pulled off to the shoulder to chat with a road crew (all cozy in their truck) to see how much more of the pass I had to go. I had not reached the summit yet and was unsure if I wanted to proceed. Fortunately, the summit was only a mile ahead and the weather would shift to rain shortly after. That is what happened and before long, I was back up to speed on only damp roads.

I stopped at the state line coming back into California to take a short break. This is a high basin in the Sierra Nevada range, but not so high to get snow. The wind was the biggest challenge for a bit. A steady 30-40 MPH wind came out of the southwest requiring constant attention to stay in my lane.

From here, I continued towards Death Valley. On the way, I decided to see if the southern entrance road was closed, as the maps all said. After Shoshone, I took Jubilee Pass towards Badwater. The rain had cased some washouts and the road had been marked as closed on Google and Apple Maps for a while. If they were impassable, it would just be a nice side jaunt.

Jubilee Pass was a success, but there were a number of areas where gravel had washed over the whole road. This required constant attention and kept me on my toes. I also discovered the treachery of gravel shoulders here. When pulling off to get the photos above, I left the pavement expecting the shoulder to be a hard packed gravel. Not so. A few feet from the tarmac, the gravel was more of a firm crust over deep, loose gravel. I quickly found myself fishtailing a bit and doing more surfing than riding. Fortunately, I kept just enough control to stay on two wheels and got the bike onto firmer ground near the road.

I stopped for another break at the southern end of Badwater Basin. The views here were the best I’ve had on the whole trip. What’s most remarkable here is the utter silence and near perfect stillness. I only saw a couple cars on the road during my entire ride through the valley. There were more at points of interest, but the road was nearly empty. And it was a great road, hugging the eastern edge of the valley with plenty of subtle ups and downs and long sweeping curves.

I’ve traveled a lot and love all sorts of nature. Growing up in California, I thought I had seen pretty much all of what the State had to offer. I realized today that I should have made the trip to Death Valley long ago. It was always a few hours too far, or over one too many mountain ranges. It might be the most enchanting part of the state in its own way.

After leaving Death Valley, I headed toward Baker, stopping along the way for a photo or two. The road was, again, mostly straight between mountain ranges. Here roads aim at the end of a range then turn round them a bit. Much like driving across Nevada on the way to Salt Lake City. There were hours of land that stands virtually empty.

In Baker, I stopped for fuel and a quick photo in front of the most interesting thermometer I’ve found. From here, I jumped on I-15 towards LA. Once the it got to dusk, the temperature dropped again to the mid-twenties. A few stops for coffee and warmth were needed. I am staying in San Bernardino tonight. Tomorrow, will be mainly some LA area riding for my last full day.