The rare pacific hurricane, turned tropical storm, hit Death Valley National Park on August 20, 2023. It devastated roads throughout the park. Most of the remote roads remained closed to all motorized traffic, but open to bicycles and hikers. I had put the finishing touches on a route that would take me into the park, over Steel Pass, down past Warm Springs, up Lippincott Pass, passing The Racetrack, and finishing with the remote North Side of the park and spotting a large herd of pronghorn antelope. It was very remote and lonely. At one point I saw a work crewman and he was the first person I saw in two days.
I originally designed it to be about four to five days, but so many of the roads I traveled on were gone, and the ones that did exist were severely damaged. So I added an extra day to cope with the more difficult terrain. The worst of these roads was the road from Steel Pass to Warm Springs. The last seven miles were simply gone and replaced with a difficult gravel and boulder mess.
​
[Rare spotting of pronghorn antelope – about 30](https://preview.redd.it/cgyb3dcsxxbc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbca27afb6088c5da6dd7f0d1b6c103661fbf5ce)
​
[At The Racetrack](https://preview.redd.it/0d6yopb5yxbc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=42ed1d7e9bb0b677ca6a0fc7b329d528fb22f541)
​
[Dedeckera Canyon – near Steel Pass](https://preview.redd.it/b0vinbi10ybc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c24d32229e6a8d07c190bfa2e6c2b252a5e3347)
​
[Warm Springs](https://preview.redd.it/djmmxnof0ybc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=0869f858c04ea6088cb0945e34628c6f9dbe967c)
​
[I endured 7 miles of this – roads wiped clean from tropical storm](https://preview.redd.it/gbj2ve1s0ybc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=9980d5149c4f1131068b3f7a7dcc630932c91ac8)
​
I love riding fat bikes. Now that I’m back in Bend, OR I’m riding though snow again. Used the fatty to do a 15 mile ride to Trader Joe’s today… very different from last month.
[Dec. 2023 – 200 Miles Through Death Valley – Some of the worst roads ever!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sb51qA8eJE)
by qp00O1iI1i0Ookw8nba