Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007: Death Valley National Park bikepacking / Day 9: no bicycling! Instead, a drive to The Racetrack and Goldbelt Spring with Phil and Renée from Emigrant Campground 24
Phil and Renée, fellow campers at Emigrant Campground, invite me over for coffee, and then offer me bacon and eggs, which I can't refuse! Then, they invite me on a day drive with them through the western side of Death Valley (e.g. The Racetrack, Goldbelt Spring).
My right knee is telling me that a break from bicycling might be good, and I enjoyed Phil and Reneé's company at the campground yesterday. I'm still considering a solo hike across the fan from Emigrant Campground to over to Lemoigne Canyon, but Phil and Renée's invitation sounds more interesting.
It's also an opportunity to see some areas of Death Valley National Park that I had hoped to see by bicycle, but which I won't reach on this trip. We end up driving a long 160-mile day.
Our first stop is Ubehebe Crater, in northern Death Valley
On the way from Ubehebe Crater to The Racetrack is a particularly colourful area
No Death Valley backroad trip is complete without a photo of the tea kettles at Teakettle Junction
We drive 1/2 mile up a short steep road that we pass a couple of miles after Teakettle Junction
There seems to be no mine up here on this hill
Down at the collapsed building at the old Ubehebe Mine site
Another important photo for any Death Valley travelogue
Phil walks out toward The Grandstand
Phil stands on "the beach" at The Grandstand, in the middle of The Racetrack playa
I sit down on The Racetrack playa, like I might do at any other beach
After our visit to The Racetrack, we head over to the old Lost Burro Mine site
The Lost Burro Mine's cabin
Inside the Lost Burro Mine's cabin
The "cold storage house" at Lost Burro Mine
We drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt Spring
We arrive at Goldbelt Spring and its thicket of head-high wild roses (the dark green patch in the middle of the photo)
Close-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt Spring
Phil walks over to Goldbelt Spring's old truck
A closer view of Goldbelt Spring's truck
The dashboard inside the old truck at Goldbelt Spring
We start the climb up Goldbelt Grade to get over Hunter Mountain by dark
We find ourselves at the top of the Goldbelt Grade at a time of day when photographers come out
It's starting to get dark as we drive over Hunter Mountain
Finally, we start our long descent into Death Valley on Hunter Mountain Road, through the pine trees