If ever there is such a thing as
an extremely lopsided pass - this is it. And
the -260ft as a starting elvation on the "big
side" of the pass, obviously also has to be a
record. No surprise then, that the good points
of each approach are of also very different.
The west side has its incredible mountain
views and desert bottoms glistening in the
heat. The west side has bearable
tempereatures, at least in a relative sense,
and in the morning, according to the time of
year.
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1.START-END NORTH:jct with
Airport Rd, just south of Beatty
2.profile turns left in Beatty
3.intermediate high point, 3580ft
4.TOP: Daylight Pass, 4316ft
5.Hell's Gate
6.START-END SOUTH:jct Beatty Road -
Nv374
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Approaches
From North. If I had
to make the length of the description
proportional to its relative height, it would
have to be over already. In an attempt to make
it biiger, you could include I15 from Las Vegas.
It climbs an addtional 1700ft from Las Vegas in
Amargosa Valley. But it does it so gradually,
the profile would loose its focus. As an aside,
I15 only has 2 lanes, and contains rumble
stripped shoulder. Biking is legal but not
pleasant at best.
In Beatty things become pleasant.
A short climb up leads up pleasing, gentle
desert hills. A road cut at a small high point
throws the view open onto the quintessential
Nevada highway view, a road straight as an arrow
running head long into the the next range,
dressed to the waste in a wide skirt of
alluvium. There is no shoulder, no rumble
strips, no curves, no traffic to speak of, just
beautiful desert stretching out from range to
shining range. The summit in these desert hills
is quickly reached and has a sign with name and
elevation, and a nice view back into the
direction just traveled. And yes - the last few
miles contain gentle curves.
Beatty
From
South. (also described upwards). There
are two option for the lower part of the climb.
The point, where the two options meet is labeled
as Hell's Gate on state maps. There is no water
available here, just a bit of shade around two
roofed picnic tables. The road, joining in from
an easterly angle, is labeled as Beatty
Road on my map. The other one, Daylight Pass Rd,
joins from a westward angle. Daylight Pass Rd
has nice views of the gigantic alluvial fans on
the west side of Death Valley, especially
mesmorizing during a decent. But riding up
Beatty Road and heading for Corscrew Peak also
has its interesting points.The profile follows
Beatty Road.
The junction of the two roads,
Hell's Gate, marks a transition. The profile
enters a fairly steeply climbing, yet grassy
curvy valley. There is a tendency to
underestimate the elevation gain from the valley
floor to Hell's Gate. With 2700ft above the
-260ft low point, it is aproximately 2/3rds of
the total climb up. From here the April
temperatures also become more bearable. Traffic
on this road is very light, compared to the road
running through the famous valley.
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cLiCk on image , arrows
, or thumbnails to advance slideshow
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Dayride with this point as
highest summit
( <
Mormon Pass
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Secret Pass
> )
Daylight Pass x2: ~1mile
south of Beatty on I95 > I95 north >
Beatty > Nv374 west > Daylight Pass >
C190 south > Beatty Rd north > Daylight
Pass > Nv374 north > Beatty > back
south on I95 to starting point: 68,1miles with
6120ft of climbing in 6:31 hrs (garmin etrex32
r4:23.4.23)
Notes: first ride after the truck was towed
into Pahrump and spent 3 days in the repair
shop. Nice temperatures going down into Death
Valley, fairly hot climbing back out of it.