Re: One of my top 5 excursions !
Posted by The Desert Dryad on May 24, 2002 at 18:05:16:
In Reply to: One of my top 5 excursions ! posted by Fran on May 24, 2002 at 16:07:57:
Hi Fran -
I drive a Toyota Tacoma 4x4, stock but for the BFG All Terrain tires, with a rear locker ...
no winch (yet :) ).
There are signs ALL OVER the place at the point
where the Cottonwood canyon road drops into the
wash, saying no vehicles allowed, (car with red slash) and no camping at the fairly ample parking spot at that 8 mile point. The ranger did not tell me this at all, and the NPS DV webpage of backroads still says the road is 17 miles long.
A young man at the Stovepipe Wells general store (who worked there) said it has been closed for 'a while now'.
Other than that - West side road still open, and
looking good, the Warm Springs route is rocky,
but easy with a bit of patience, and the Big Pine Road seems worse for washboard than I recall from a year ago.
Gee, September, huh? Sounds like marvelous timing ! I had also wanted to squeeze Hanaupah
canyon in my trip... to go in as far (on foot or
however) to the springs; I merely camped out where
it drops into the wash.