Today was the first day I would was riding alone all day long by myself. Because Paul and Roylene were starting to get into the wedding mode on Friday, I picked dirt roads that I thought would be fairly easy, and they were for the most part.
I started at 9:00 a.m. From Furnace Creek and headed south towards Badwater, which is the lowest elevation settlement in North America. But I turned off this highway and crossed over to the other side of the valley on the dirt road called West Side Road. During this stretch I was always below sea level.
When crossing the river, which happen to be running because of the rains this year, it all appears white and is only a few inches deep. It looks like snow and ice in the photos.
I continued on West Side Road, passing numerous roads that lead up to some canyons. Since I was by myself, I stuck to my game plan and didn’t venture up those roads, although I was very courious. The road was failry easy with only a few major ruts and mud flows from the recent rains. About 50 miles later I hopped out on highway 178, south of Badwater, and continued south to the the town of Shoshone to fill the tank back up.
After a small rest and jawing with a Harley rider there, I backed tracked to Furnace Creek Wash Road and turned on this gravel road to come up Green Water Valley. This was a fast gravel road with a few off beaten trails. I did take one of the off beaten trails to see where it lead, only to turn around once it started to get a little challenging. They seem to head into the mountains and meandee around.
Furnace Creek Road came to a paved road that took you up to Dante’s Peak that sported a view of the all of Death Valley. I stopped and had a late lunch there and then headed back to Furnace Creek.
Just before heading to the hotel,I venturedback down toward Badwater to do a small loop road called Artist Drive before heading home for the evening. You’llknow by the photos why it recieved it’sname.
At night we were to meet up with the other guests coming into town for the wedding at the bar at Furnace Creek Ranch 8:00p.m., so I claened up and got ready to enjoy the evening.
