Death Valley Solo: Todd’s Ready To Roll

Zabriskie Point at sunrise in Death Valley NP
A fresh update from Todd Carmichael today as he is busy putting the finishing touches on his Death Valley Solo expedition. In today’s dispatch, he reveals that he has now sent his gear, including his food and “The Pig”, off to Las Vegas, where he will retrieve them next Wednesday before setting off to Baker, California. The small town will be the launching pad for Todd’s next adventure.

During the double traverse across the harsh Death Valley terrain, we’ll be getting daily updates from Todd at roughly high noon local time. Death Valley falls into the Pacific Time Zone, so expect the updates to come late afternoon for most of us. Carmichael expects he’ll be resting under a tarp, trying to avoid the hot sun, during those times, and he’s hoping that his equipment performs a bit better than it did in Antarctica for sure.

He also talks about the dangers that will threaten the expedition as well, citing heavy rains, heat exhaustion, and wildlife as the ones he’s looking out for. One doesn’t associate heavy rain with Death Valley very often, and that’s not the case here either. But if it does rain hard in the nearby mountains, it can cause flash floods in the Valley. Heat exhaustion is easy to understand, and he’ll be monitoring his health very closely, and as for the critters? Lets just say there are some snakes and bugs he’d rather avoid out there.

If all goes as planned, the expedition should officially get underway at the end of next week, and will last for an expected 48 days and cover 430 miles in the process.

Kraig Becker

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