Back in December I went on my first solo road trip. However, I'm no stranger to long road trips into highly remote areas. Thanks to my then-partner's interest in ghost towns, and now mine as well, we've driven thousands of miles into highly remote areas over the past years. Though, she also incredibly did most of the driving.

We were staying at our month-long base near Joshua Tree National Park. She worked remotely while I spent my days either relaxing or taking day trips. However, my big plan was to spend a week in Death Valley.

Originally, I was going to camp in Furnace Creek for most of my days there. However, literally the day before I was supposed to head out, a new stay-at-home order was issued in California. There was a lot of uncertainty at the time about what that meant exactly and whether or not camping would still be allowed.

The next day, hours before I was supposed to pick up my rental, my camping reservation was canceled. I only had a few hours to make a decision about whether to still salvage the trip or not. It also created a bit of tough ethical dilemma for me.

Ultimately, I convinced myself that the risk to both myself and others was low. Especially considering I'd likely not interact with anyone the entire time for more than a few minutes. Hopefully, you, the reader, won't look down on me too much. I've certainly lived with a little bit of guilt because of it.

So, with that, my partner dropped me off at the Yucca Valley Enterprise and I began my adventure into Death Valley. I lucked out and ended up with a 2020 Toyta Rav 4 with almost all of the upgrades. All-wheel drive would have been nice, but apart from almost getting stuck once, it was totally fine.

Originally, I was supposed to spend only a single night at Delight's Hot Springs Resort in Tecopa, CA, but I ended up extending my stay there for the entire week. I was mildly terrified of this decision though. Reviews were a bit all over the place. I was also a little wary that none of their accommodations had showers.

I splurged a bit and stayed in the "1970's Trailer". Though, one of the motivating factors for me was having a kitchen. Also, living in San Francisco, the \$97 a night rate felt surprisingly reasonable.

It was old. There was no shower. The fridge was tiny. Something was going on with the oven pilot light, resulting in me smelling gas for a day. There was an unpleasant sewage smell outside for my first night...

Seriously though, I absolutely loved this place! The oven issue was an easy fix and the repair guy (who originally bought and lived in the trailer) assured me it was the best oven he's ever had. The smell went away and it was never an issue while I was inside anyway. The shower situation was an anti-problem. And I had a large RTIC cooler I kept outside that could keep all my groceries cold for my entire stay.

Oh, and the trailer had this very old electric recliner! The kind where it goes up so far that you can get into it while standing. I'd slowly have it lower me into the depths of its cushions. Then naturally, the only way to get out of it was to have it slowly raise me up to standing position again. I probably enjoyed it more than I should have.

So about that shower anti-problem. With just a short walk, I had my choice of several private hot springs. Each room had a door with a lock, a shower, some cool mural painted on the walls, and your own personal hot spring pool. All of them were at least partially open-air, though I typically tried to get the one that had no roof at all. I can't begin to say how nice it was after a long day of exploring Death Valley.

I'd totally go back!

On Monday, my first full-day, as I drove down CA-190 East into Death Valley, I think I cried a bit. It felt so good to be so far away from pretty much everything while being in such an amazingly unique place. While not my first time visiting, it was great to be back.

I mainly focused on just driving around and re-visiting places I've been to in the past. There are plenty of guides on Death Valley already, so let's take a break with a few pictures.

Temperature-wise, December is an excellent time to visit Death Valley. Depending on where I was, it ranged from 60F-80F, cooling down to the 40's to 50's at night. The problem is that it starts getting dark at five.

So, to end my first day with a bang, I drove out to Badwater Basin and just stood out there waiting for it to get dark.

I was likely the only one around for many miles by that point. Just standing out there alone in pitch darkness and in complete silence.

So, by now, you probably are starting to wonder how I was stranded in Death Valley with a flat. You may even be annoyed you had to read this far to find out. Maybe you now are even happy to see the author who strung you along this far run into great miss-fortune. So with that, comes Tuesday...

Since learning about The Racetrack, I've really wanted to go visit it. The first time I went to Death Valley with my partner, we did rent a Jeep, but decided to focus on visiting hard to reach ghost towns instead. But the allure of there being a place deep in the desert where rocks move when no one is looking did not leave me.

Getting to The Racetrack involves driving on about 27 miles of rough dirt roads. While it is relatively flat-ish, it is plagued with very sharp rocks notorious for causing flats. It also can be extremely bumpy at times. You can go read online about people complaining how unpleasant it is to get out there if you're into that kind of thing.

While I did have a high-clearance car that likely could have made it out there, it would have been a tough day. I'd also be risking my rental car more than I felt comfortable with. So, instead, I rented a jeep from Farabee's Jeep Rentals.

This jeep was probably overkill to get to the racetrack. Sharp rocks? What sharp rocks?! Bumps? Meh. Steep inclines? Sure, why not?

However, just in case, Farabee's packed this tire fix kit can. Apparently, you just fill your wheels with the stuff in this can and you're good go for a hundred miles or so. Pretty nice knowing I'd likely be ok if I got a flat.

I blasted some music and casually made my way there. Now, because of all the loose rocks, there's a limit to how fast you can go, even with a Jeep like this. There just isn't enough traction. However, despite that, it was typically feeling comfortable going 20MPH. In spots with less sharp slippery rocks, going even faster was sometimes ok. This may not seem that fast, but most other cars would have to go 5-10MPH on average on this road to stay safe.

I already was expecting this thanks to a tip from the jeep rental guy, but it was still surprising to see Joshua Trees on my way there. For one, I didn't realize they even could be found outside of Joshua Tree National Park. But also, they just seem kind of out of place in Death Valley.

After admiring the peculiarity of the Joshua trees, I continued my casual drive to The Racetrack, seeing only a few sparse cars.

As I arrive there was only one other car out there. However, my intimidating Jeep must have scared them, because they promptly left soon after I arrived.

I had the entire playa all to myself! I spent a good hour out there, just wandering around. Once I got bored of that, I went back to the edge of the playa and had a very satisfying lunch. It really felt good being alone in such an incredible place!

Thanks to the Jeep, I actually was way ahead of schedule. However, it still gets dark early and it's a very long way back to Furnace Creek where I had to return the Jeep. So, I ended up exploring a few random backcountry roads for a while, but nothing too crazy or notable.

Eventually, I started making my way back home. As it gets later in the day, I'm presented with a spectacular sunset! This seemed like a prime opportunity to take a break and open up the (non-alcoholic) Lagunitas hop water I brought.

Fuck! I didn't have a bottle opener and it wasn't a twist-off. Moment ruined I guess? Seriously though, this is relevant to the story.

By now you are probably wondering how my bad-ass Jeep got a flat...

So, continuing on after the sunset of disappointment, I see a car pulled over on the side of the road. A low-clearance, two wheel drive car, with nothing notable going on about its tires. Except well, one of them was deflated. Next to it, a woman in her mid-twenties looking a bit lost.

She was a geologist who would be starting a job later in the year in Switzerland to study the rocks in that area of Death Valley. She had been backcountry camping alone out there for, I think, about a week.

Apparently, her future colleges assured her that driving a low-clearance 2WD car on a road known for causing people flats and misery would be totally fine.

This was a pretty dangerous spot to be in. Not many people were out in that area of the park that day and it was already close to getting dark. There is no cell service. It would be a 10 mile walk to the Grapevine Ranger Station. However, I've read online that it's not always staffed. Also, when I was there, I don't remember seeing a working public phone.

So, if you get to Grapevine Ranger Station and no one is there and no one is at the nearby ranger accommodations, it's another 50 miles to Furnance Creek. Furnace Creek is also one of the only areas in Death Valley with cell service.

I stopped and asked if everything was ok. You can probably guess that it wasn't. Unfortunately she didn't have a spare tire or tire fix kit and had no way to call for help.

Remember that tire fix kit in a can I talked about? At the time, they also said to feel free to give it away to anyone who needs it. So, I offer it and she gives it a try. I also had a satellite messenger, so she was able to ping her husband and potentially get someone to come out.

While I waited to see if the tire fix can worked, I finally got to enjoy that hop water. She showed me this rather impressive trick with (I think) a dollar bill to open it. My day was pretty much saved at that point.

So, according to the can, you simply fill your tire with the magic stuff. You're then supposed to immediately start driving after it is emptied and you're good to go for a hundred miles or so. Day saved right?

So, after filling the tire, she drives off and I agree to follow her to make sure everything is fine.

She got about 50 feet...

At this point it's getting pretty dark. She asks if I'd be willing to drive her to the ranger station. So, after she gets a few things, we head out.

I mostly just listened. She talked about her upcoming job and why she was out there. I learned a few random geology facts. I found out her cat had died recently.

Eventually, we arrive at the ranger station. Luckily, there was someone there, but he was on the phone with the door closed. We sort of just awkwardly waited for a while until giving up and knocking on the door.

The ranger was an interesting guy. He was probably somewhere in his 60 or 70s, and it sounded like he'd been a ranger for a long time.

We explain the situation and then he hemmed and hawed, kind of uncertain about what to do. He said in the past it'd be no issue to drive her back and help her, but that things are different now. He just wasn't really allowed to help apparently.

It surprised us both. I've always thought of rangers as these helpful people willing to go out of their way for others. Though, I want to be clear that it wasn't that he didn't want to -- he just couldn't.

I'll admit, it's good to know that if I need help in a national park, that the rangers may not be able to help me as much as I thought. It's making me feel a bit better about paying for the extra emergency services insurance from Garmin. Anyway...

She asked if she could use the phone to call a tow, but he explained that there would be no way anyone would come out tonight. Apparently it's a pretty big deal to get anyone out there and he insisted she'd likely be on the phone for hours to sort it out.

Things were looking even more bleak because of the just started stay at home order. She didn't even know about it until I found her, since she had been out backcountry camping the whole time. What this meant though, was all accommodations in Death Valley were closed. This included camping.

The ranger hemmed and hawed even more and said he could probably have her stay in one of the ranger accommodations nearby for the night. It wouldn't be much, but it'd apparently have a toilet and I think a bed frame.

However, he couldn't drive her back to her car. I don't think this is how either of us saw this playing out, so she didn't grab any of her camping gear and other necessities. The ranger encouraged me to be a good person and drive her back to her car to get her stuff.

To be honest, the whole thing was an adventure for me anyway. I also was pretty comfortable driving in the dark at this point. So, I agree, and off we go back to her car.

Surprisingly, on our way back to the car, we ran into another ranger. It was pretty late by this point and completely dark.

We both stop and the ranger rolls down her window. She seemed pretty suspicious of us. We explain the situation though and all was well. She seemed a bit annoyed at us though. If I had to bet, this probably wasn't the only time she'd dealt with people not being prepared and getting lost or stuck in Death Valley.

Anyway, we get back to her car, she grabs her stuff, and off we go again. We got a little bit lost finding the ranger accommodations, but we made it.

Both her and her husband were offering to compensate me somehow, but I refused. So, instead, she took down my address and promised me a postcard from Switzerland one day. I thought that was pretty cool. So, now I have something to look forward to.

She headed over to the room and I waited just a bit longer to make sure she got let in. I also had to re-arrange some stuff for my long trek in the dark home to Furnace Creek, then Tecopa.

The ranger we had originally met came out and thanked me before I left. He also made sure I was ok, had someplace to stay, and could get home.

It was an adventure, and quite possibly, the highlight of my trip for me.

It was the first time in almost a year since I'd really gotten to know anyone new. Let alone meet someone new in person. Since covid started back in March, I have only met with the same group of friends a few times in person. I also got burned out with online chats pretty quickly. As someone who really enjoys meeting new people, I think the whole covid situation may have hit me harder mentally than I realized.

I feel weird saying this, since I can't even imagine how freaked out I'd be in her shoes, but it was kind of nice. Just getting to know some new interesting person was disturbingly novel.

I don't know what happened after with her, but I hope everything went smoothly.

Thanks for the adventure!

The rest of my week in Death Valley was overall pretty smooth sailing. I drove a ton and did a little hiking here and there.

One highlight of my trip was a nine mile hike though the Badlands, Golden Canyon, and Gower Gulch. People typically experience these areas from Zabriskie Point. Instead of a very short, pleasant, and paved hike up to the overlook, I instead choose the nine mile hike with over a thousand feet of elevation gain. It was really spectacular though and I'd highly recommend it.

My final day I dedicated my day to traveling the entirety of Emigrant Canyon Road and Wildrose Road. Wildrose road is kind of neat, in that part of it was closed for many years and only recently re-opened a few years ago. It was certainly a bit suspect, but would have been fine even for a 2WD low-clearance car.

My ultimate goal was to visit the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns and use Wildrose road to exit the park. For most, this would be an extremely inefficient way of exiting the park, but I was staying a night in Randsburg, CA, so it wasn't too much of a detour for me.

I did have one surprise though. Journigan's Mill is on Emigrant Canyon Road, which I had surprisingly never heard of. So I ended up exploring that area a bit too. You can find pictures of it scattered earlier in this post.

In the end, it was a really spectacular trip! I hope to be back again soon!