Directions into Stovepipe Wells, the middle of Death Valley:
- From the North: Los Gatos to Stovepipe Wells: 9:45 hrs via Hwy 88
- From the Bay Area, make your way to Hwy 395 in the North Eastern Sierras, then travel south thru Bishop (home of Mountain Light Gallery and Schat's bakery) and into Lone Pine. In Lone Pine, take Hwy 190 East to Stovepipe Wells. Hwys 50 & 80 take 10 and 11 hours respectively, and are open in the Winter. Hwys 108 & 120 take a little over 8 hours, and are closed in the Winter. Hwy 88 is right in the middle, and generally open all year round. As this drive makes for a very long day, the recommendation is to stay overnight in Bishop and drive into the park the next day. From Bishop, the drive is about 2:30 hrs.
- From the South: Los Gatos to Stovepipe Wells: 8 hrs via Hwy 58
- From the Bay Area, make your way to Hwy 395 in the South Eastern Sierras, then travel North to Olancha. In Olancha (home Crystal Geyser water and Gus' Beef Jerky), take the cutoff to Hwy 190 and into Stovepipe Wells. This itinerary is a bit more complicated due to the choices of cutting across the Sierras - taking either Hwy 178 past Lake Isabella, or Hwy 58 thru Mojave. The drive time of 8:30 hrs via Hwy 178 is misleading as the road is very slow, mountainous, and subject to random rock slide closures - you should plan to add another 2+ hrs to this itinerary due to mountain driving. The preferred route is Hwy 58 thru Mojave. In either case, you should consider an overnight stay in Red Rock Canyon State Park to rest (or if you must, Ridgecrest has a couple of hotels). From Red Rock, the drive is about 2:30 hrs. The drive is 3 hrs if you go thru Ridgecrest and up thru Panamint Valley, a much more scenic drive. Bonus points for adding another 30 minutes to the drive by taking the Wildrose cutoff.
- From the East: Las Vegas to Stovepipe Wells: 3 hrs via Hwy 95
- From Las Vegas, take Hwy 95 to Beatty, NV, then Hwy 374 to Hwy 190 and into Stovepipe Wells. This route is nice in that you can pull off the road a bit after Beaty and drive into Monarch Canyon for a rest and shake off the Las Vegas ick.