Hiking trail for Big & Little Dodd Springs

[kayaker77]

Hi everybody!

I'm hoping to go to Death Valley in a week, and was interested in catching the northbound hiking trail that's on Saline Valley Road between Lippincott Road and Hunter Mountain Road. The trail is on my National Geographic map and it heads north to the Homestake Dry Camp.

1. Anyone know if the trailhead is hard to locate off of Saline Valley Road? Wasn't sure if there's a sign.

2. Is there any parking at the trailhead?

I want to hike to the Racetrack via this route. Thoughts?

Thank you!

[MojaveGeek]

The trail does not show on the usgs topos but if you want to find whether there is parking space where it hits the Grapevine rd I would suggest using a topo map site (I use caltopo) which allows you to also view the satellite images, and flip between them. This is an invaluable technique for checking out such. I do not think there is anything like a signed parking area and trailhead, but I've not been there for a decade or so and could be wrong. This has not been a maintained trail, but rather is an old miners' trail.

[kayaker77]

Thank you MojaveGeek, I will look into that!

[CanyonmanClark]

There is definitely no signage on this. I've always wondered about hiking it, but never got around to it. If you do go, enjoy it, and yeah Caltopo is AMAZING. One note of caution is to be conscious about potential marijuana grow sites over there. If you see any small cans of chemicals especially with non-English wording, any piping, or any "maintenance", leave immediately.

[JesPortland]

I found this link, from 2008, if it helps at all.

http://www.majorproduction.net/current/ ... igdodd.htm

[kayaker77]

Yikes - I didn't realize there were pot farms out there.

Thank you for the info folks, it's greatly appreciated, please feel free to share any more useful tips!

[wbdeford]

Looks like you could go up Grapevine Canyon:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.5798 ... o=t&n=0.05

[MojaveGeek]

That nice link from Jes to a TR went in on the trail and back out via Grapevine, then up the road to their vehicle. Not a bad choice as it seems it was getting late. I think the drug bust was a bit further north and likely shut things down in the area for at least a while.