You will also find any updates or corrections to our existing Virtual
Tour Guides here. As we revisit some of the areas covered in our
Guides, we will post any changes we find to the trails, road conditions,
etc. here.
November 2011 - Our latest
release, which is the January 2011 version of our Death Valley Guide, is
now available on CD.
October 2011 - The beta test
version our new travel planning blog on the Anza-Borrego Desert
region is available and on-line at
www.backroadswest.com/anza.
Feel free to check it out.
June 2011 - We now have a blog
for sharing more of our travels with you. The name of our blog is
the BackRoadsWest: Trip
Blog.
March 2011 - If you are
currently using our December 2005 version of the Death Valley Virtual
Tour Guide, we have instructions on how to install it directly on your
computer. Read more...
February 2011 - Our Virtual
Tour Guide of the Mojave National Preserve is finally finished!
Click here for more information about it
and how to purchase one.
February 2009 - Our new web
page that offers free KML map data detailing our trips is now on-line.
Currently, we have less than a handful of map data files available,
but we will be adding more in the coming months. Read more on our
Map Data web page.
January 2009 - Look for our ad
in The Sun Runner magazine's February issue. This magazine
highlights many activities and places to explore in the deserts of
Southern California. Check out their
website on where to pickup an issue or be included in their
distribution list.
November 2008 - Our Death
Valley guide is now available at the following stores and museums: Death
Valley Visitor's Center in Furnace Creek [see
picture], China Ranch Date Farm and the
Mojave River Valley Museum in Barstow. See our
Links page
for more information on these sites.
July 2008 - Our Internet
hosting service has switched our website over to another server which
took our website down for a few weeks. It is now back up.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
June 2008 - Our Death Valley
guide is now for sale at the Lone Pine Eastern Sierra Interagency
Visitors' Center. The center is located just south of the town of
Lone Pine at the intersection of US 395 and SR 136. For more
contact information, please see
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/contact/.
2012 - We noticed that we
erroneously have a link to a missing chapter on the townsite of Ryan.
We were once scheduled to attend a tour of Ryan but the tour fell
through. We added a chapter in anticipation of visiting this site
and, although we removed the chapter, we forgot to remove the links.
Ryan was the mining town of the borax mines located near the junction of
S.R. 190 and the road to Dantes View. The property was privately
owned by the mines that have been in operation nearby. Since the
mines stopped working, the property around Ryan has been handed over to
the N.P.S. and there has been discussions of making Ryan a new park
attraction. At the time of this writing, there is no news on when
this will occur.
2011 - The January 2011 release
of our Death Valley Guide is now available both on-line (www.backroadswest.com/dv)
and on CD.
2008 - The area around the
Keene Wonder Mine, which is featured in several chapters of our guide,
has been temporarily closed by the National Park Service. The dirt
access road is simply closed from the pavement of Daylight Pass Cutoff.
Read
this page about the details or see the main NPS
website for Death
Valley in case the detailed page does not open.
2007 - New Entrance Fee -
The guide currently reports the entrance fee to Death Valley as $10 per
vehicle. As of 2007, the fee is now $20 per vehicle for 7 days.
Please check the Fees & Reservations page on the
http://www.nps.gov/deva website
for the latest information including other fees.
2008 - Mosaic Canyon Boulder Jam
- As you begin to enter the 2nd narrows, a large boulder has fallen
to the bottom of the canyon making it difficult to continue up-canyon to
see the additional cascades and dry waterfall. Smaller people
can find a path under the boulder on the left side. There is also
a fairly difficult route around and over the boulder on the right side.
Since this is such a popular hike in the park, in due time a safer and
easier route will be carved around the fallen boulder.
News about the
Mojave National Preserve Guide
October 2011 - Our Mojave National
Preserve guide is now available in Barstow at the
Mojave River Valley Museum.
February 2011 - Our Virtual
Tour Guide of the Mojave National Preserve is finally finished!
Click here for more information about it
and how to purchase one.
