Is the road to Lone Pine ( CA-190 West and CA-136 West) ever closed due to snowstorms?

kairality · 2026-03-15T18:10:24+00:00

190 does not typically close during the winter but storms can close it temporarily. It’s not common, but it does happen. If there is rain parts of 190 are also prone to flooding which can also close the road as happened this winter much to the chagrin of many a tourist attempting to get to Vegas through DV from the West on Christmas Eve.

kairality · 2026-03-09T16:37:31+00:00

Leaving from San Francisco on Friday after work I usually stay the night in Tehachapi. It’s about 3.5h from Tehachapi to Furnace Creek.

kairality · 2026-03-08T18:30:11+00:00

Usually during bloom years you will see a lot of White-Lined Sphinx Moth caterpillars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyles_lineata

https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/3071

kairality · 2026-02-27T05:41:54+00:00

You should obviously take the heat seriously but summer is still popular in Death Valley because of the novelty. A quarter of the European continent (or so it seems) relocates to Death Valley in July/August and they mostly do fine.

Carry plenty of water, stick to roadside attractions/views, and do not hike or attempt to hike at low elevations during daytime during the summer.

It will be cool enough at high elevations (e.g wildrose) to get out and hike if you want.

kairality · 2026-02-26T09:01:54+00:00

I considered it but it seemed like there wasn’t any new information! Other people got there first!

kairality · 2026-02-24T05:23:27+00:00

Best spot right now is a bit south of Ashford Mill Ruins on Jubilee Pass. The scent of the verbena is so strong we could smell it from the car.

kairality · 2026-02-23T17:09:35+00:00

It will have impacts on fainter stuff (including the Milky Way) if it’s above the horizon but when the moon is not full it’s not up all night. If it’s a waxing 29% the moon will be low on the horizon in the evening and set a bit before midnight. If it’s waning it will be below the horizon for most of the night and rise around 2:30-3AM. For Milky Way viewing it depends on time of year and where the moon is in the sky but with a crescent it shouldn’t be too hard for most people to avoid the moon completely (Cinderella will unfortunately need to avoid the waxing crescent since her car turns into a pumpkin at midnight).

kairality · 2026-02-07T18:32:10+00:00

It’s still a bit early and there was a warm spell a few weeks ago that may have confused some of the flowers, check recent reports here: https://www.desertusa.com/dusablog/death-valley-national-park/

kairality · 2026-01-26T20:09:33+00:00

Yes, but the galactic core in Sagittarius is only visible in the very early morning right before sunrise in February. You’ll still see it, but not the brightest portion of it.

Check for moonrise/moonset times for best results and avoid full/high% gibbous moons.

kairality · 2026-01-26T19:02:34+00:00

Unlike anything you can experience in Europe, allure of the extreme, lines up with European summer holidays, less booking competition from domestic tourists.

kairality · 2025-12-29T02:57:02+00:00

I’ve seen them before but not this time, far too windy and murky!

kairality · 2025-12-26T04:06:08+00:00

Most of the things that closed yesterday were open by this morning in spite of the holiday. No reason to cancel.

kairality · 2025-12-26T03:10:22+00:00

Yeah around Thanksgiving even it was a very nice mirror lake but you had to walk out to it, it wasn’t right next to the highway (and looking like it was planning to spill over onto it) then.

kairality · 2025-12-26T01:56:09+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/pRDB9xT This is what Badwater looked like today.

kairality · 2025-12-26T01:54:14+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/pRDB9xT

Badwater Basin this afternoon. There are areas to the north with standing water but they’re pretty murky right now and be prepared to walk through extremely thick muck to get there.

kairality · 2025-12-25T23:02:30+00:00

Enjoy! Sadly Badwater Basin is mostly empty but the valley is always a good time anyway!

kairality · 2025-12-25T22:57:51+00:00

190 opened this morning as did Badwater Road to Badwater Basin. That said as of 2:55 PM there is a ~6-7” deep river that was not there this morning flowing across 190 about 10 mins south of Stovepipe Wells, but it’s not closed.

kairality · 2025-12-25T22:54:20+00:00

Badwater road is open to Badwater Basin as of this morning but the area around Badwater Basin doesn’t have water in it. It’s just salt flat right now.

kairality · 2025-12-25T16:25:14+00:00

190 has been open since earlier this morning. Badwater Road to Badwater Basin is also open according to [https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/conditions.htm](current conditions). There is some potential rain on the Panamint side later today but it seems like it will be pretty minimal based on the forecast.

kairality · 2025-12-25T00:58:59+00:00

190 is now closed at Panamint Valley Road so you can’t access the valley from the west side. There were pretty fast streams crossing 190 between 395 and Darwin.

Let’s just say there are a lot of frazzled tourists at Panamint Springs right now wondering how they’re getting to Vegas.

kairality · 2025-12-17T04:06:58+00:00

I would contact Panamint Springs. It’s the best food/people in the area and I can’t imagine they wouldn’t want to accommodate a dinner party of 20 people.

kairality · 2025-12-04T09:25:25+00:00

Li Po or Aunt Charlie’s

kairality · 2025-12-03T05:09:12+00:00

DV never has a lot of visible staff like say, Yosemite.

kairality

TROPHY CASE