Route Planning
Jan. 15th, 2003 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikAfter a chat with other folks on the ADVRider board, I've found a fun route to take to get to Death Valley. I'll avoid most all the slab (interstate highway) except for the first jump down to Hollister and about 10 miles of I-5.
I've included a picture of the route as generated by Mapsource, but be warned: it's pretty huge.
The short description is this:
Get to Hollister via the usual method (101). Head down Indian Valley Road, turning off to go past the Hernandez Resevoir on the backroad-way to Coalinga. From there, hop onto I-5 a few miles, getting back off of it at Utica Avenue. Follow Utica through the central valley, over Highway 65, and then down 155. This will lead to Highway 178 around Lake Isabella. Proceeding east puts me into Ridgecrest as the route circles south of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, and up into the rather nasty little town of Trona and up the Panamont valley. This gets me into the western-entry of Death valley, through the highest pass and downslope towards Stovepipe wells, looping around along the valley floor to my destination at Furnace Creek. The last few steps retrace the route I took home from my last Vegas trip, so once I hit Trona I'm in at-least-been-there-once familiar territory.
Trip Total: 467.8 miles. If taken at the posted speed limits, no bad traffic, and not counting breaks, that's 9h:44m of riding time.
The fellow who passed me this route has done it before and will be starting out on Friday from San Francisco proper. He's looking for riding buddies, and I asked to join since he has to pass my house anyway. Hopefully he'll email me back about it tomorrow. If not, I'll still do it solo, weather permitting. If the rains come and I still decide to go, I'll probably stick to the normal slabby route down I5 into Bakersfield, up through Mojave and on in the south entrance.
I've included a picture of the route as generated by Mapsource, but be warned: it's pretty huge.
The short description is this:
Get to Hollister via the usual method (101). Head down Indian Valley Road, turning off to go past the Hernandez Resevoir on the backroad-way to Coalinga. From there, hop onto I-5 a few miles, getting back off of it at Utica Avenue. Follow Utica through the central valley, over Highway 65, and then down 155. This will lead to Highway 178 around Lake Isabella. Proceeding east puts me into Ridgecrest as the route circles south of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, and up into the rather nasty little town of Trona and up the Panamont valley. This gets me into the western-entry of Death valley, through the highest pass and downslope towards Stovepipe wells, looping around along the valley floor to my destination at Furnace Creek. The last few steps retrace the route I took home from my last Vegas trip, so once I hit Trona I'm in at-least-been-there-once familiar territory.
Trip Total: 467.8 miles. If taken at the posted speed limits, no bad traffic, and not counting breaks, that's 9h:44m of riding time.
The fellow who passed me this route has done it before and will be starting out on Friday from San Francisco proper. He's looking for riding buddies, and I asked to join since he has to pass my house anyway. Hopefully he'll email me back about it tomorrow. If not, I'll still do it solo, weather permitting. If the rains come and I still decide to go, I'll probably stick to the normal slabby route down I5 into Bakersfield, up through Mojave and on in the south entrance.
