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Del Bondio Adventure Travel/Death Valley Scoutin Tour The view off of Dante's View, as the s ign says, is at 5475 feet above sea level, while Bad Water, the area below, is the lowest point in the continenta l United States at 282 feet below sea level. View overlooking Badwater, where a picnic-style brea kfast was waiting for us. Nice to uch. We then headed out onto a really cool 27-mile -long unmaintained grave l road, where Christoph and I hammered along between 70 and 80 mph on the big GSs, creating an amazing tra il of dust for t he others to suck up (don't you love doing that). One detail that Christo ph and Tom Reece from Del Bondio Adventure Travel were excellent about was to make sure that the bikes were set up for the type of roads that we were going to be on that day. We adjusted our tire pressures multiple times th roughout the trip, making sure they were optimized for the terrain we would be traveling on. We lowered them into the low 20s for most of the off-highway sect ions and pumped them back up for the long highway stints . At dinner on the second evening, C hristoph was trying to convince me that Christoph Del Bondio works on one of the GSs that got chu cked down the road. trip where the heat was absolutely stifling, and it was only May! The kiln that is Death Valley has just bare ly been lit, wit h summertime temperatures reach ing well over 120 degrees. One thing that was really cool about our trip, literally, was that a lot of the roads that we explored. such as the road up to Wildrose Peak. past the old Charcoal Kilns, takes you up to over 9000 feet . One of the best views in t he park has to be from the top of Aguereberry Point, 6433 feet above sea level, which overlooks Badwater. the lowest point in the continental United States, at 282 feet below sea level. Talk about a dramatic view. To top it off, the temperatures were in the 70s at the higher elevations. These were all highlights of ou r first day, and most of the locations were accessed by fairly simple gravel roads that wouldn't overwhelm the offroad neophytes. Day two included a fantastic ride up to Red Pass and then down through Titus Canyon , wh ich was a fairlychallenging road with plenty of soft gravel, switchbacks, rocks and ruts . None of which would have been a big deal on a WR450 or an XR6S0. but on a bike that weighs nearly 600 40 JULY 21 , 2004 • C YCL E NEWS pounds, is a bit more interesting. Titus Ca nyon is a one-way road, which made things a bit more relaxing in the switchbacks. making the inside line an option without fear of getting plowed by a Jee p or something. The views through there were absolutely amazing. and t he road was 25 miles of pure nirvana. We spent two nights at the Furnace Creek Inn. which made the end of the riding day less of a letdown, for sure. This oasis in the middle of nowhere is a fantastic destination for anyone vent uring through t he park. Day three was the best day, in my opinion, because it was the most diverse day in terms of riding. Our group got up early and rode a nice stretch of asphalt up to Dante's 40t h Ann ive r sary the R 1200 GS could make it to the top of Dumont's tallest dunes. Having ridden there multiple times on a CR250 or VZ250 two-stroke motocross bike. I wasn't con vinced. The following day I was proved wrong, big time. and by myself no less. When we arrived at Dumont Dunes, he recommended that I air my tires down to 10 pounds of pressure and then hammer up the face in third gear. Christoph and I made an exploratory pass to determine which line to take on our asse nt of the king dune. The big GS pro mptly buried itself up to the axles when I let off t he throttle at the top of a knoll halfway up for a split second . That's when I learned why GSs have Boxer motors with the cylinders poking