Saline Valley Bikepacking

Camp on Saline Valley floor below the Inyo Mtns.

March 2021

And so March came about and I needed to keep up the momentum of getting out on a bikepacking trip at least once a month. I set my sights on a route I had been wanting to do for quite some time. A big loop from Eureka Dunes, over Steel Pass in Death Valley National Park and down through Saline Valley, over Hunter Mountain, around the Racetrack and down Lippicott Rd back into Saline Valley. Then up and over North Pass and so back to Eureka Dunes. Most of the research and planning had already been done. I only needed to set a date and go.

So I did. I decided to run my fat tires again like I had in Anza-Borrego. Plus would have been fine but I was fat n' happy! Day one I rode from Eureka Dunes up and over Steel Pass. Just below the summit a group of off roaders came by and stopped to make sure I was OK. That's always appreciated. They offered water and when I declined they offered cold beer. As tempting as that was I laughed and said I wish I had met them later in the day. I stopped later to search out the fabled "Marble Bath." I found it just where I suspected it to be. Laughing at the rubber duckies and various tub toys, I went around and picked up all the marbles outside of the tub and placed them back inside. I wonder how the heck they got out?? Eventually I pulled myself away and went back to my bike to eat lunch. From there it was a long sometimes semi-technical downhill all the way to the series of warm springs the Saline Valley is so famous for. First was the upper springs. Unimproved natural hot springs in a small desert oasis. I took a good look around then rode on to the middle or "Palm Springs." Saline Valley warm springs have always been well known for their "clothing optional" philosophy. Happily the National Park Service has not interfered as yet. I admit it took a little bit to adapt to seeing a bunch of folks runaround with nothing on but a sunburn, but I admired the uninhibited freedom they were enjoying. I was again offered a cold beer which I now happily accepted and hung around and chatted with some of the current residents for quite some time. By the time I saddled up it was late afternoon and I still wanted to make some miles. I rode down to the lower springs. It was truly a desert oasis. Mature palm trees, green lawns, shady tables and of course the tubs. I was advised by the folks at Palm Springs that the water coming from the showers comes from the source spring and is totally fine to drink. I, however was not yet in need of a refill and elected to bypass this opportunity planning to refill at 'crawdad spring.' I rode on taking photos of the bat pole, toward the foot of the Inyo Mountains which honestly are nearly as impressive as the Sierra from this eastern perspective. I made camp that evening on the valley floor near the junction of the Steel Pass rd and Saline Valley rd. No-see-ums made hanging around soaking in the evening light and magic a little problematic so after dinner I ended up retiring to the tent. About tents. You may or may not know that in my past I was quite active in mountaineering and alpine climbing. A blog I used to follow mentioned that he would always prefer a tent over a bivy whenever possible. I have found this to be true not only in mountaineering but in my present passion of bikepacking. It's so nice to be able to get fully out of the weather, out of the bugs, or out of sight. Few of my bikepacking trips have truly required a full tent and I used to open bivy more than not in the mountains, but I love having an actual tent now. Maybe my age is showing?

Leaving the Eureka Dunes area.

Dedeckera Canyon.

A couple miles from the top of Steel Pass.

There it is!

The fabled Marble Bath!

Dropping to Saline Valley from the south side of Steel Pass.

The Upper Springs. All natural here.

The wonderful oasis that is the Lower Warm Springs.

More Lower Springs.

The Bat Pole. Cool!

During the night the wind came up enough to collapse my tent necessitating getting out and positioning my bike as an anchor to tie my tent off to. Since I was using a 3 season tent with most of the tent body being bug netting, I was also pretty covered in sand. I remember bivy camping with the Boy Scouts near Fort Irwin in Southern California when I was probably 12. The wind overnight filled my sleeping bag (and ears) with sand but with the acceptance of youth it was just another night in the desert. This time was much same, and surprising even myself, I accepted it the same way. I simply shook my sleeping gear off into the tent, then shaking the tent out before packing it up. Wow! I'm almost as tough as I was when 12!! It was a fine morning with little to no wind while packing but I knew the forecast had called for strong NW winds today. Counting myself lucky I rode off. I opted to delete the planned route up over Hunter Mountain in favor of just starting out heading up North Pass. I planned on water refill at Willow Creek. The wind started as I rode on toward Willow Cr. It still wasn't bad as I rode into the active camp. I was met by the landowner, holdout miner, and though he might not admit it, philosopher in residence. I asked if I could refill my water and he was nicely accommodating. We started chatting. The more we talked the more fascinated I became. Vast experience and inquiring mind, we covered topics as diverse as world population to Lithium mining. He is not the kind of fellow to get his "facts" from Facebook memes. A supremely interesting guy regardless of whether you agreed with his positions or not. A full 2 hrs later I finally rode out of camp loaded up with 9 liters of water and a head buzzing with intriguing concepts. Unfortunately my extended stop came with the price of having the winds catch up with me while I had been dallying. I rode maybe a quarter mile before I was pushing uphill against near gale force winds, by definition. I stubbornly continued this for another 7 miles. Push 100 yards, stop and gasp, push 100 yards, stop and gasp, duck chubasco winds, repeat. I finally had enough and ducked into a small ravine next to the road. I hoped the embankment would provide a bit of wind protection. I squatted down to the height of my tent, and sure enough it was markedly better. I spent about 20 minutes scraping out a small platform for my tent and then proceeded making a camp. It turned out to be astonishingly comfortable!

Sandstorm camp

Looking back on the Inyo Mtns.

The small ravine I ducked into for wind protection.

Tent platform just to right of my pack.

Overnight the winds diminished almost completely. I packed up in the morning hoping I could get to my water cache near the top of the climb a couple miles short of the junction with the Death Valley road. Compared to the previous day the uphill was a joy and everything was rideable. That didn't mean I was going fast, it only meant I was going without the suffering of the day before. Going up Whippoorwill Canyon I briefly chatted with a couple separate groups heading to the springs. Everybody happy to hear the tubs were indeed open again. I stopped at the top of North Pass to take a look around then had a fast downhill to the old mining sites in Marble Canyon where I stopped again for some exploration. It looked like they had a nice place to live there. The house was pretty nice at some point in the past and there was even an old spa out back! From there I was expecting some more tough uphill. But to my surprised delight the riding was rather mellow in contrast to what was already behind me. I made it to my cache site with plenty of daylight left.

Lunch stop in Whippoorwill Canyon

North Pass

These shafts dropped out of sight.

Looked like a nice home at one time.

Spa!

It was cold overnight. After all I was back up at 7000 ft. I had sited my water cache to collect as much sun as possible during the day in hopes of not having a gallon jug brick when I got there. It was all fine the previous day when I got there but the overnight temps validated my thoughts on siting. There was a pretty good layer of ice on my bottles in the morning. I had brought some inside with me to keep them from freezing. The final 2-1/2 miles to the Death Valley road junction involved a little pushing but nothing bad. Then it was miles and miles of fast paved downhill with only a few short uphill interruptions all the way down into Eureka Valley. I had almost 40 miles to get back to my truck at the dunes. The big downhill gave me a good jump (as well as a good chill!) and then the washboardy road slowed me down again. Still, I was back by about 2pm. In no hurry, I parked my bike, dug into the back of my truck and cracked a-room-temperature-one. (Ok to be honest the beer was still relatively cool.) Another great adventure in the books.