Jerry Bransford's Geezer Jeep Site    |   home                                                    Death Valley Days, March 2000 Heading up Pleasant  Valley.  This canyon follows a nice stream up into an area rich in mining history.  Go far enough and you'll encounter an old mining town in surprisingly good condition.     Stu Olson and Robert Yates wait for me to air down on our first day.  The site of the big meteorite impact... lots of stuff to see in Death Valley. We arrived here after a long day which included towing an unprepared novice offroader many miles to the main road after he broke down.  Many believe this episode to be the start of the infamous Red Jeep Curse.  If you are going to offroad, especially in remote areas like Death Valley, go prepared! A great view from the top after a long climb up a series of switchbacks with many several-hundred foot dropoffs often inches from trail's edge.  While the drop offs didn't scare everyone, they sure got my attention!  At the 6,000' elevations we got to, snow was a cold surprise.  I'm betting you never thought there was enough water in Death Valley to keep canyons like this so green.    Here we are with two gps receivers, topographical maps, compasses, and five sharp minds, yet we still managed to get  lost. Heading up Surprise Canyon before the Greenies closed it off to all but hikers in 2002.  A series of waterfalls make for a gorgeous experience though they make the trail so difficult that only those with winches can make it all the way up. Lippencott Road was a major disappointment to us all.  We were lead to believe it would be a fun trail, worthy of the time we spent to find and drive it.  It turned out to be a road that a Kia probably could have navigated.  The Greenies have closed off most of Death Valley's better trails that Jeepers had been enjoying for many years.