Death Valley, Eastern California and Nevada

Posted by Fin on 19 November 2009

Cycling through the Death Valley was the highlight of the trip for me so far. I hadn't prepared myself for the beauty of the desert and thrill of freewheeling downhill on a 6% gradient from an elevation of 5500 feet to 285 feet below sea level  (Badwater Basin - the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere).

I had no idea when planning the trip that it would be so mountainous. But it was stunning. It was a tough ride though, with heavily loaded bikes (50kg weight) and very few services and water sources, we had to carefully plan our daily distances to get through to Las Vegas. We were fortunate to hit this part of the trip in November when temperatures were cooler in the day but I still managed to burn riding all day in the intense sunlight. We cycled in a pleasant 20-25 C but at night it plummeted to -8 to -10 C. We were very glad to have borrowed some thicker sleeping bags for the desert chapter. It took us 5 days to get through the desert, with the help of a few kind tourists who stopped in their cars to donate fruit, cans of sardines, water and coke when we ran out of food. On the last day with 80 miles to Las Vegas we ran out of water with a 25 mile long uphill section. We couldn't stop without water and cycled on into the dark along the highway. Eventually we saw the lights of the Bellagio hotel in the distance at 730pm, and we camped rough behind the first gas station we found on the city limits. We had made it through the solitude of the Death Valley and were about to get a rude awakening in Vegas by midday the next day. 

17 comments. Tags: Fin, Alex, Death Valley. Location: Las Vegas, USA