Death Valley Snow: Emigrant Pass
After camping at the Wildrose campsite on Saturday night, Penelope and I hit the road around 8 A.M. We took Emigrant Pass into Death Valley. On our way in we passed a ranger on the snow-covered road. I waved, he nodded and that was that.
Later on we discovered that the road we were on was actually closed, he was headed in to lock the gate on the other side! I'm guessing he saw our vehicle and wasn't worried. The road was beautiful. There was about six inches of snow covering the pavement and the ground was white as far as the eye could see. It was really amazing.
We took a side trip to Skidoo mine. We made it about 5 of the 10 miles when we decided to turn around. We were driving through three foot deep snow drifts on a steep, narrow mountain road with sheer cliffs off to the side. We had chains, but didn't need them as we weren't slipping at all, but I decided it just wasn't worth the risk so we turned around at a great lookout point.
Emigrant Pass is covered with snow after a big snowstorm the night before.
Penelope stands next to our trusty Toyota FJ Cruiser on Emigrant Pass road.
Penelope and I stand next to our trusty Toyota FJ Cruiser on Emigrant Pass road.
The view from the Skidoo lookout is amazing.
Our FJ Cruiser waits patiently for more snow travel on Skidoo Road.
The road to Skidoo Mine is covered with roughly eight inches of snow and up to three foot drifts in places.
Penelope sits atop a rock at the Skidoo Mine lookout, five miles from the mine.
A wooden headframe is covered with snow near the beginning of Skidoo Mine road.
Our footprints lead away from our FJ Cruiser on an offshoot of the Skidoo Mine road.
A snow-covered headframe near Skidoo Mine road has been recently reinforced.
Emigrant Pass is covered in snow as seen from the Skidoo Mine road.
Our tracks lead off to Emigrant Pass road on the Skidoo Mine road.
The FJ Cruisers tracks cut through the snow into the sand on Skidoo Road
Bushes and plants are covered with thick snow above Emigrant Pass in Death Valley.