The Attempt

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October 9th, 2009, less than 11 months from my first step as the first American to solo across Antarctica, the time has come to attempt the first man-haul double traverse of the Death Valley Wilderness Area – 430 miles, alone, without assistance, re-supplies, supplemental water or the aid of machine or animal.

Known as the lowest, driest, and hottest place on the continent, Death Valley is located on the border between California and Nevada, southeast of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This superlative desert boasts massive sand dunes, jagged mountains, saltpans, fluted canyons and 3 million acres of raw wilderness.The Valley itself is a long narrow basin located 282 feet below sea level and walled by towering mountains which act together to create the famously extreme temperatures. Home to the second hottest air temperature ever recorded - a blistering 134°F – and the most consecutive days with temperatures in excess of 120° F (52 days) - summer nights provide little relief as lows regularly remain around 95°F and have been known to be over 105°F.

The route begins at the southeastern corner of Death Valley, at the foot of Salt Spring Mills, from here it wanders northwest along the Valley floor. For 100 miles camping on the valley floor is not permitted. In response, the route hugs the base of the Panamints which I will haul into each night to camp. North of Grapevine, at approximately 145 miles, the route turns southwest into Racetrack Alley, at the bottom of which, it rises over the separating ridge into Saline Valley. Once through Saline it turns northeast into Eureka Valley to ward the Northern Boundary. Climbing out of Eureka the route then follows the rim of the DVNP. Here I hope to celebrate the first successful crossing of DV. Once at the ledge of Last Chance Pass, still at the Northern Boundary, and with a great deal of water weight lost, I drop into the pass with the aim of establishing a faster speed record back to the Southern Boundary. At the Southern boundary, the route then passes my initial entry point and leads back to Baker California and the end a 430-mile odyssey.

Note - certain stretches of the route run near 4X4 tracks, which could not be avoided. To avoid confusion, during these sections of the route, I shall engage my satellite locator to transmit location progress every 10 minutes, as verification that roads and track are never used.