The Dawsons on the Racetrack
The Racetrack Playa offers a view of a bizarre phenomenon of moving rocks. The theory is that when the lake bed gets wet the mud becomes slick and the wind moves the rocks. Walking out and viewing the rocks is wild. There are tracks across the lake bed and they seem to follow paths that make no sense. We walked a ways out on the Racetrack (don’t do this when the mud is wet) and took some time to take photos and view the rocks and tracks.
Rock in motion
Moving on it was time to head down the Lippencott Grade. This is supposed to be the first real challenging track of our trip. Lippencott takes us from the high valley of the Racetrack and drops to 2000 feet in about 4.5 miles to the Saline Valley. Though narrow in a few places due to washouts the track offered no real challenges. It was a pleasant alternative to the washboard of the road to come.
Our FJ Cruiser on the Lippencott Grade
Once off the Lippencott grade we turned north on the Saline Valley road. We now encountered the worst washboard yet. At any speed it felt like our teeth were going to get rattled out of our heads. Our destination was the Saline Valley Warm Springs and we finally reached an unmarked road that heads east towards the springs.
Saline Valley and Lippencott Grade roads
We arrived at the warm springs early in the afternoon. After checking out the pools and the palm trees we found a nice place to set camp only a short walk from the soaking pools.
The warm springs offer a unique experience in a national park. Over the year’s visitors to the springs have built a little oasis with concrete and rock pools, groves of palm trees a shower and more. When the BLM land where the springs are located was added to the park the pools were allowed to stay as they are. The park service has also continued to allow dispersed camping in the area of the springs.
Saline Valley Warm Springs
We spent the afternoon soaking in the pools and enjoyed a relaxed dinner.
Additional Death Valley Photos
Death Valley Day 5 Google KML File
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