METALCLOAK VIDEO: MetalCloak Overland: Death Valley

 

This video takes you on a thrilling three-day overland adventure through Death Valley, California, with the MetalCloak crew and their rugged off-road vehicles. The journey includes stops at the historic Cerro Gordo ghost town, Panamint Valley, Warm Springs, Steel Pass, Eureka Dunes, and Mesquite Springs Campground. Viewers experience challenging terrain, stunning desert landscapes, and moments of camaraderie around campfires and hot springs, all while learning about vehicle setup, off-road driving tips, and the unique history and natural beauty of the area.

Complete Transcript with Time Stamps

[0:00] So we're here in Lone Pine, California, and we are heading out with this guy right here into Death Valley for a three day adventure with the MetalCloak crew. We got the Grenadier, got Danny's Betty White JT, Scott's JK with the Hemi, my rig, the Bronco, them, Dell. We're gonna go have some fun. Let's do it.

[0:32] So we're all fueled up. We're gonna be heading up to Cerro Gordo, which is an old ghost town run by Brent. And, we're gonna go say hi to him, take him some water, and we're gonna head up into the hills some more. I think we're gonna be over the valley tonight sometime, so it should be a good trip. We got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight rigs. I won't say Jeeps because they're not all Jeeps. We got the Grenadier and the Bronco with us today.

[1:05] What are you doing, Scott? I'm airing down the tires. We're gonna be doing some off-road driving today, and I think we're going out to Cerro Gordo. Nice, what are you driving here? This is the new Ineos Grenadier. We got it all outfitted. We've got the RockSport Black Shocks on here. We've got the 2.5" MetalCloak Suspension System on here. We actually have some prototype skid plates underneath here too. Sweet. Front and back. Alright. Let's go play. Let's go play.

[1:43] So we're driving up to Cerro Gordo. And, it's definitely it's not a hard road, but it's steep and some narrow spots. You got Corey and Dell on the radio giving us kind of the history of Cerro Gordo and its original, in its original prime what it was doing and providing ore and stuff, building up with the city of San Francisco, all kinds of cool facts, but a very pretty day out here today.

[2:33] [Thirty miles. So if you want some real entertainment and a guy who makes some really good videos, Brent Underwood, the owner up here, he started out just making some little YouTube stuff. He is a very creative guy. He's very unique. We'll meet him this afternoon. His videos are amazing though, and really insightful.]

[3:10] Look at that view! We're going up.

[3:54] So here we are at the Cerro Gordo mine, and gonna take some water up, a little donation. Nice. There's the newly rebuilt American Hotel. We're gonna go walk around, hopefully meet Brent.

[5:15] Alright, so we just left the Cerro Gordo mines and the ghost town up there that Brent Underwood bought a bunch of years ago, and we are heading down the backside over towards Panamint Valley. They didn't do a lot of video up and around the mines because they prefer you to not video stuff around Cerro Gordo, probably because he's got a pretty successful YouTube channel based on that town. So check it out. Look up Ghost Town Living on YouTube. And, if you happen to make your way up here, you can come up. They've got a little store, a little museum. You can walk around the town. It's pretty neat. But don't come up in the middle of winter because it could be ugly. Now we're heading down the backside. Beautiful day. 

[7:58] Alright, so we just officially entered Death Valley Park. Came down from Cerro Gordo back up over this way. Up in those mountains up there, and we're in the national park. So no drone flying from here on, and we're gonna head over to Panamint Springs, Panamint Valley, where we'll probably camp for the night.

[8:31] So we're back down here in Panamint Springs. Just came up over the pass. We're fueling up, and we're gonna be camping over here for the night. It is so much warmer down here in the valley. I think we're still like a thousand feet or something. But what's the elevation in the valley here? We're about two, like eighteen hundred feet right here. That's what I thought, yeah. Cool. So we're gonna fuel up, do a little camping, hang out, enjoy fire, and have a good evening. Right, Jesse? That's right. Yah.

[9:36] Alright, so we got our morning coffee. It's about 6AM here at Panamint Springs and sun hasn't come up yet, but it's getting there. And, so we haven't discussed our plan yet today. I have a feeling we're gonna go out to Warm Springs down Saline Valley, which should be pretty cool. I've been there, but there's quite a few people in the group who have not. So anyways, we're gonna get some caffeine in us and then watch the sunrise, pack up, and head out on the trail.

[10:22] So, Danny, how'd you sleep? Like this. Oh, good. Slept great, dude. Nice. It was perfect. What was your favorite part yesterday? Yesterday? Just the Joshua trees, everything the ghost town. There's so many. Well you know actually, you know what's that place called? Mount Whitney. The Whitney Portal. The Whitney Portal. Wow, that got me. The Whitney Portal, yeah. Those sunrise pictures. If you haven't seen them, make sure you follow this guy @getoutthereandplay on Instagram or @metalcloakmike, and you'll see the Whitney Portal sunrise photos. Oh, yeah. Just really pretty out there. And it is one of the most picturesque areas of California in my opinion. So alright, let's go do this.

[11:52] What do we got over here, Corey? We've got Panamint Valley. So South from here, we got Panamint Springs, and then Balarat is actually down in the the salt flats. You can see way out there towards Ridgecrest and whatnot. We came down this road here. We're gonna continue on down into Saline Valley. Stopped up here on South Pass. Grab a little snack and take a look around.

[14:15] So we're descending down into Saline Valley. Just came over South Pass. See the valley down there. Bumpy road, just enough to keep you going slow, but everyone's doing great. The weather's great. We should be down here by Lippincott. Turn off for Lippincott Pass here in a few minutes. Take a little break. Then head out to the Warm Springs.

[14:44] So we just stopped down here at the entrance to Lippincott Pass. It's this road down here where Justin's at. He's doing a little turnaround down there. Lippincott goes all the way down, goes up there, and then crosses over that pass. Pretty cool. So we're gonna drop a few pounds. So we're about to hit some, like thirty miles of washboards.

[15:25] So we're rolling into Warm Springs here in Saline Valley. [I have a two hundred mile range.] It's been probably... [Yeah, we're about the same.] Four hours on the trail. Very bumpy road. Very, very, very bumpy road. I do not recommend coming out here unless you have good smooth suspension and your vehicle is in good shape. But almost there. Get to relax, make a little coffee because I need coffee. Take a nap, sit in the hot tubs.

[16:07] Alright, so we're here. We're setting up camp. Beautiful, beautiful place and rather warm. Mid seventies out here. So getting set up. You can see the upper springs up here in the middle. This little chair out here. Have a little zen moment. Donkeys. Like I said, I do not recommend coming out here. It's a spiritual place. You need a good car to get here. Middle of nowhere. No services. Lots of bumpy roads, lots of flat tires. So we're gonna go chill.

[17:18] So we're just out here at Warm Springs, hanging out with our friends, you know. And just playing a little cornhole and petting the donkeys.

[17:45] Alright, so we're all packed up. Night two of the Death Valley adventure was pretty amazing. And we're gonna be hitting the trail. We're gonna head up over Steel Pass and down the backside into, Death Valley proper. So, just getting everybody all situated, and go see what we can find.

[18:11] Let's ask Corey. So Corey, what are we doing today? We are actually going to head a little bit North. We're gonna head up over Steel Pass. So we're gonna go through the upper hot tubs, at marble bath area, over Steel and drop down into Eureka Dunes. Nice, where we camping tonight? Probably camp at Mesquite Springs. We're gonna keep an eye on our weather. We'll probably go all the way across up to Crankshaft Junction and then go straight back South down into Death Valley and Camp in Mesquite Springs. Perfect. Yeah. So there you have it. Gonna hit the trail. Go out and see what we can see.

[19:54] So we're up here towards the top of Steel Pass. Getting kinda high and cold, and we stopped to go find a little bath area, tub was the type. Corey explained it on the radio. We're gonna go see what we can find. So today on California's Gold, we head up into Death Valley National Park for a little bit of a bath time.

[20:25] So we're up here about fifty one hundred feet. The wind's kicking up. Some clouds off to the West out here, a little snow up in the mountains. Yep, fifty one hundred feet. Chilly. Get back in the Jeep, turn on the heater.

[21:07] So we stopped here for just a moment. The Grenadier, one of the tires is a little lower. And when you're out here in the desert, your tires, you wanna be lower pressure for a smoother ride and better traction, But as your tire compresses this way, it also bulges out this way, which makes it susceptible to a sidewall slice. You can see, like, some of these tires right now, this area right here, that area bulges out, and if you get a sharp rock come along, slice your sidewalls. We're gonna put a couple pounds in the rear of that baby.

[21:47] We got the brand new Nomad wheels here from, Raceline slash Allied. The Nomad wheels and the Patagonia AT Pro tires. These things have been amazing out here on the trail. So quiet, super grippy. I'm just loving this combo especially with the RockSport Black Shocks. This is smooth as, smooth as can be coming down the road.

[22:09] What kind of inflation device we got going on here? This is an inflation device called a Morphlate, and it does all four tires at the same time and equalizes them as you're doing it. So it's a really cool setup right here. Plugs right into your battery right there, and you're good to go.

[23:29] Such an amazing little canyon. Now we're coming down in towards Eureka Dunes coming off of Steel Pass. It's just so pretty. It's kinda like Titus to some degree, which is closed, but just amazing. Just wanna get out and take photos for days, but gotta keep on rolling for now.

[28:10] That was a fun little section. Thanks for the spotters. 

[28:24] So we just made it through that little technical waterfall section. It was really fun and just enough technical to need a spotter but. And this is Eureka Dunes. Hopping down on the West side of Eureka Dunes. We're gonna stop down here out of the wind and make a sandwich, have a little lunch because I'm hungry. Yeah.

[30:01] Down here at Crankshaft Crossing. That heads up to Gold Point. That goes to Death Valley. Gold Point's where we, camped on the last trip out here at Death Valley.

[31:33] We are up here at the Ubehebe Crater, and it's really windy. I tell you what it's pretty, pretty awesome way to cool the vehicle really fast, like nosed up to this. I guarantee you, there's no heat in any engine compartment now. I have been in a lot of high winds before, but that was one of the highest. Pretty cool. I'll put my seat belt on.

[32:21] So we saw the Ubehebe crater out there. There's some people down the bottom which probably, probably no wind down there. [Concerned about the wind at the campground, but probably a lot lower, so I don't know. Clouds are moving pretty fast.] We got some storms coming into the valley and... See there's a guy over there on the opposite rim. We're gonna be camping down the valley. Hopefully, it's not as windy as it is up here. It's probably blowing forty, fifty. [Yah, that's quite a little hike around. There is another crater up along the other side up there to the right. I've never been to the bottom, but we've hiked around the other edge.] So we're gonna go down and find a campsite and this will be our last evening. Sit around, hopefully a campfire if it's not too windy. But, let's go see what we can find.

[33:19] Alright, so we rolled into Mesquite Springs Campground here in the northern part of the valley. It's blowing really good. We got weather coming our way. Gonna do it. We're gonna camp out here. It's not as windy down here as it is up on the main highway, but it is gonna blow tonight. And hopefully it doesn't get too ugly, but we're in for it so.

[33:47] So, it poured around 4AM for a good hour or so. But, for now it has stopped. And if you look out here at the dirt, it doesn't even look that wet. That's the desert. It just soaks this stuff up, just like me.

[34:10] Day four and final day of the Death Valley adventure with seven of my MetalCloak companions. What a great week. Weather overall was pretty good. A little rain last night came down pretty hard about 4AM, but it didn't last too long. We woke up and, you know got some clouds. A little cool out, but not much to complain about. Pretty awesome trip. So we're just packing up, airing up, getting everything put away, and hit the road, head back to Sacramento. And looking forward to the next adventure. If you have questions, comments, leave them in the comment section below. Don't forget to like, subscribe, do all that stuff. Follow me on Instagram @metalcloakmike, and we'll see you guys out on the trail.

[35:12] Hey, Danny. What's going on? Hell if I know. Hail. He knows hail. Oh, hail no. It's hailing. It's popping in the window. Look at that. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Sure takes a beating.

[35:27] We stopped here in Stovepipe Wells to get some fuel, and local CHP is a JT owner. And so he always stops us and talks. We give him a calendar, some stickers, but he's a good dude. Well this is, here if you wanna take a photo, you can check out my rig. Oh, yeah. I'm recording, is that okay? Oh, yeah. @waltzingmatildajt. Waltzing Matilda JT. Give them a follow. Nice. I got it Green, value cab on it. Very cool. Right on. Oh yeah? Good to see you. Yeah, good to see you.

[36:14] Look up and say hey! Hey!

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