Our Most Remote Bikepacking Route Yet // Cycling to Argentina 11
in this episode you join us for one of our most remote stretches yet into death valley where we say goodbye to the long winter and get our first taste of the desert heat the route we drew up takes us 339 miles from Tonopah to Las Vegas via nearly the entire length of Death Valley, the USA's largest National Park south of Alaska we load up with 30 liters of water, roll with the tumbleweeds and are forced to camp in our weirdest spot yet but first groceries we're just packing up seven days of food thats a lot of kit kats, to get us to Death Valley can you tell me what's changed about your bike? thank you Daniel looking good (spanish saying) what does that mean? means that everything fits if you know how to put it well wow lets go our first section would take us up and over some desert hills and towards the little town of Silver Peak we are now out of Tonopah um so beautiful here We've got a new plant alert cactus beautiful do you prefer the burritos or the pasta? the pasta why? but we need more water and sometimes we just don't have it poor little one our last stop before setting off for Death Valley was Silver Peak where some new friends are waiting for us. Peter and John run a channel called the RV Geeks and they've been supporting our journey since the beginning they've been living full time on the road for over 20 years with them was their friends Tom and Cait who are also on YouTube so they had lots of good advice for us. we ended up meeting right next to this weird ranch that had camels don't get too close to that one. ok and emus and goats and a scruffy little dog which was the last thing I was expecting to see in a tiny mining town in the middle of Nevada we said our goodbyes and set up camp for the night just out of town and prepared ourselves for what would be one of the most isolated stretches of the trip so far today is Sunday the 2nd of April and today marks the day that it's officially hot enough to wear shorts and t-shirts. in other news we are carrying around 30 liters of water right now on our bikes which is I think the most we've ever had because we've got a three and a bit day stretch to get to Death Valley um and we need to get over that huge mountain somehow so I've got a big bladder two liters four liters six liters seven liters, more water in my bottle Victoria's got the same, two, just a bunch of water bladder, bladder I've got another bladder on the front now is the time. now is the time. let's go
that is our first Joshua Tree and it looks like there's a lot more up there today was a very tough day, I'm tired it was a huge hill with 17 percent of elevation of incline yes and so sandy and we had to push a lot but I'm so thankful we're just here and we're gonna eat so much pasta and sleep like babies what else can you ask for? nothing in comparison to the day before today we felt like we were flying look at all these colors so beautiful in the last maybe two miles the landscape has changed so dramatically and I don't even know where to point the camera because it's all so unbelievably stunning welcome to Death Valley! Death Valley National Park we're here we've been looking for a camp spot I think more than one hour already but we cannot find anything yet, it's very cold today and very windy and we know that if we just camp anywhere it's gonna be terrible like the wind will take the tent immediately so we were preparing for 60 mile per hour winds raging all throughout the night and it seemed to be coming from all directions so really we would need to find a magical spot with 360 degree protection, which was unlikely but then I found something that's crazy man so Greg found this old water tank it's quite nice, there's still a lot of wind but it will be absolutely a help someone camped here before looks like but of course there's a problem it's rock solid. okay that's fine Greg always sees the best of everything so last night we ended up at this abandoned sulfur mine and let me show you the spot that we found well done! lets go well done! that was a good spot after our cozy night in the water tank we enjoyed a nice long descent into the main valley of Death Valley some well-deserved tarmac after a very long time on pretty rough dirt roads told Victoria to get the most cinematic shots she could get that must be very cinematic it's the most cinematic shot you're gonna see in your life sup quite sick huh? did you find those? yeah whoa what's up guys, we're at Mesquite Springs campground beautiful spot for the night, picnic table also we got a free beer. beautiful also it's around nine months with this tent now and all of a sudden four out of the six zips have broken so now the only way in is through Victoria's vertical zip arriving into Death Valley meant that from here on out things would be a lot less cold after all the trials and tribulations we'd officially survived our first winter of the trip and to celebrate we had an incredible 50 mile descent into Furnace Creek downhill with a tailwind oh man I don't want it to end arriving into Furnace Creek was quite literally like riding into a desert oasis we spent a whole day sitting around and enjoying our new found summer we are also very lucky to meet Jim and Hayden who kindly offered us a much-needed shower in their hotel room leaving behind Furnace Creek and heading down into Badwater Basin we're currently riding through Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park and this is where the world record hottest temperature on Earth was set today it is 34 degrees I am loving it um Victoria is very much not loving it but hopefully her body will adjust after a few days just a few days ago we were cycling in wind chills of minus five and to suddenly be in 35 is a very big difference turned out Victoria was suffering a lot more than I thought the truth is that I don't feel great I've been throwing up a lot I've been drinking a lot of water, I'm hydrated but it's bad so we decided to call it a day early and set up camp heat stroke is definitely not something you want to run the risk of so we decided just to play it safe, take it easy and while she was resting up I spent a nice afternoon fiddling around with the tent zips lets go ok I'm never touching this zip ever again today is a better day, sometimes the headwind is good because right now it's hot but the headwind is helping with some breeze the next day spirits were just about high enough to make it back to the pavement and then we spent a nice afternoon in this incredible shady spot behind a bathroom our next challenge would be the huge three and a half thousand foot climb out of the valley so we decided to tackle it the next morning when the temperature would be a lot more manageable we went up a little dirt road and set up camp for the night I need a nap we're just wrapping up around a three and a half thousand foot climb out of Death Valley and we are smoked oh my gosh, oh my gad finally this is the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life well done after far too many sugary drinks we filled up all of our water bottles for tomorrow's ride to Pahrump and then set up camp just out of town man you look like a vagabond that's exactly what I am but like a very dirty vagabond I've been in the desert for a long time, I'm burned all over and I need a shower, and I need a haircut that's a beautiful shot I would say we've been trying to get up early to avoid the heat of the day to Pahrump beautiful after everything we'd been through it felt really nice just to enjoy an easy day on the pavement to Pahrump the time has come to say goodbye to my beloved boots that I bought in Whitehorse in the Yukon they've served me very well but it's simply too hot and they're starting to fall apart a bit so roll the Montage what are we looking for? BLM land somewhere over those houses wow from here we just had one deceivingly tough and rocky mountain pass between us and Las Vegas so we are now headed towards Las Vegas which is just over those hills and we are very much looking forward to all you can eat sushi am I in the shot? yes what's up guys! noo don't look at the camera tonight we're making pasta who knew Las Vegas had such beautiful Pine forests so close it smells amazing and it's a lot cooler today, so yeah perfect riding so beautiful let's go! you got this Red Rock Canyon, red rock, I see it and after all that pushing now came the fun part absolutely amazing man it's gross but also cute they are, they have so many, man that's so many do you want to come with us? oh you wanna come with us caterpillar. yes we're in REI and we've just successfully returned our tent for a $700 refund it's time to celebrate I'm so full
2023-08-25 14:43
