Death Valley by motorcycle
Destinations: Death Valley, California
September/October 2008
Story and photos by Joe Berk
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Joe Berk
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Lying at the eastern edge of California — 290 miles east of Los Angeles and 140 miles west of Las Vegas — Death Valley is a land of extremes. It is the hottest and driest place in the country, yet it is full of beautiful scenery with deserts, mountains, unique wildlife and 50 forms of vegetation that exist nowhere else on the planet. And it has a fascinating history, to boot.
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Death Valley picked up its ominous name during the California Gold Rush when one of the groups rushing to the California gold fields, knowing the winter mountain passes would be impassible but not wanting to wait until the snow melted, took a southerly route into what we now know as Death Valley. Only one person died on that journey, but the name stuck.
Its name notwithstanding, Death Valley is a wonderful destination and a great motorcycle ride — if you time it right. Death Valley gets hot starting in May, and summer temperatures are routinely above 120 F, making motorcycle tours in the summer months a bad idea: It once held the record as the hottest place on Earth when the temperature hit 134 F on July 10, 1913. Through fall, winter and spring, though, Death Valley is quite pleasant. March is a great time to visit, with comfortable temperatures and crisp, haze-free air.
The area is defined by a 156-mile-long valley running roughly north to south, bordered on the east and west by the Amargosa and Panamint Mountains, respectively. Death Valley is the lowest point in the United States, at 282 feet below sea level. A short 15 miles to the west, Telescope Peak rises to 11,049 feet, and the difference in elevation between these two points is greater than the depth of the Grand Canyon! The ride up to Telescope Peak is as great as the view.
Walter Scott (aka Death Valley Scotty) helped to make Death Valley famous. Scott, who traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for more than a decade, convinced (some would say conned) wealthy investors into supporting his gold-mining venture in Death Valley. The gold didn’t materialize, and all but one investor, Albert Johnson, pulled out. Johnson fell in love with Death Valley and fronted yet more money to build Scotty’s Castle, now a major tourist attraction.
Although Scotty didn’t pull any gold out of Death Valley, others sure did. Death Valley attracted miners for gold, silver, lead, copper and borax. In the old days, 20-mule teams pulled 36-ton wagons across 165 miles of desert to the railhead at Mojave. All of the other mining towns were but a blip on the Death Valley scene (they became the eight ghost towns in Death Valley), but borax is still mined in the region. Today, the borax goes out by rail.