Last Chance Range
Last Chance Range, Death Valley National Park
©2005 Ed Book
I want to go back to this place and spend much more than a day crossing this range. It's located in the far northern portion of Death Valley National Park and accessed by a very rough road.
Starting from Scottie's Castle the road courses up a long flat valley for over forty miles of the worst washboarded road I have experienced. Going slowly aggravated the bouncing and the only result was to travel at about thirty MPH and hold on tight. Some folks noticed that they could lessen the bouncing by driving way to the side with the wheels on one side up on the smooth road shoulder. Because the shoulder is higher than the washboarded road surface, the weight is shifted toward the wheels on the washboard and as the vehicle is leaning that way, the wheels are pushed to the side with weight on the sidewall... Tires don't last long that way and they deflate or the side wall disintegrates. Continuing likewise with a spare would get them a few miles farther and then they would have to beg a ride back to civilization to call for a tow... a thousand dollar++ tow.
I drove up that valley to "Crankcase Junction" where the road turns to cross the Last Chance Range to the Eureka Valley where I found the Eureka Dunes. I was lucky that this storm didn't drop rain because I had a stream to cross on my exit later that day.
After my foray to Eureka Valley, I returned to the Scottie's Castle area and then up another rough road to the Racetrack Valley and the famous sliding rocks of the Racetrack Playa. (I want to go spend at least four days there on my next trip)
When I left the Racetrack Valley the next evening, it started raining and then turned to snow - snow in Death Valley National Park.
When I got back to smooth pavement, it was dark and the full moon displayed between the clouds in the sky and I stopped to watch for about an hour. When I got back in the van to drive farther south toward Stovepipe Wells, I turned the key and knew immediately that the fuel pump wasn't working because I didn't hear it's familiar click when starting. I gave thanks that it held up through the past hundred plus miles of washboarded roads. I climbed into my bed in the back and slept till dawn when I hitchhiked to Stovepipe Wells to call my insurance company to ask about a tow. The tow truck took three hours to get there from Ridgemont, near China Lake, and another hour to the van. Then, four hours back to Ridgemont. The tow truck driver called ahead to give a heads up to a repair place that we were coming and they kept someone late to receive the van and then took the gas tank off to replace the fuel pump the next day when they were normally closed, so I wouldn't be delayed too long in my trip. I appreciate businesses like that who go the extra mile to give service.
I walked around town and got my split ends and beard trimmed and was on my way again. North toward home...
Peace