This is the story of Greenshit 2013, my 27th Greenshit expedition since 1983, and the 13th to Death Valley. Greenshit trips are (usually) week-long jeep camping and hiking trips into the backcountry of the desert southwest, off paved roads into isolated areas, at times of the year when we rarely see other people. (That is, late spring and summer when the temperatures over 100° are common.) Other Greenshit trips have been to Utah’s Canyonlands (some of which were 2 weeks or longer) and the Mojave Preserve.

While we usualy start out with a vague itinerary, we try to be goal-free and enjoy whatever parts of the desert we happen to visit. Unexpected things often happen that dramatically change any pre-set plans. We provision to be self-sufficient for the entire time, so that we could choose never to resupply, as that would require venturing into dreaded civilization. But in practice, especially in Death Valley, it’s hard to go anywhere that long without hitting a paved road, and we often take that opportunity to find a store where we can at least restock the ice in our beer cooler.

This year’s trip was a first: Death Valley in August! All past trips there have been in the spring or fall. Even with plenty of water and supplies, the heat down in the valley, up to 130°F, can be dangerous, so only the high elevations make sense to visit in summer. We were forced to go in summer because of Greg’s school schedule, so we tried to stay high (elevation-wise) as much as possible. This plan was partially foiled by events, but that didn’t affect our enjoyment of the trip.

The Greenshit crew varies from 2-6 people in 1-3 jeeps. In the last 13 years, the core crew has been me and my brother Joey, usually accompanied by others from a select set of people we have vetted as suitable shitters. Since 2008 my son Danny has been a regular, and Joey’s son Greg started last year. For the first time on a Death Valley Greenshit, we had 6 people: Bobby also came, for his 6th trip, and newbie Bob took the plunge. We had three jeeps: my 1992 Wrangler, Joey's Rubicon Unlimited, and a rental Wrangler from California Baja Jeep Rental in San Diego. The rental jeep was not as capable as ours, but at least it had decent off-road tires, which can be more important than most aftermarket add-ons.

This story was written 1½ years after the trip, based a voice recorder diary, GPS tracks, 1300 photos (shot by all of us), and rapidly fading memory.

The Greenmeister

Why “Greenshit”?

Viewing Hints

First, this site is quirky on mobile devices—for best results use a computer. You can click on most photos to see an enlargement, and most of the links in the text show you photos. Drag the photo out of the way to keep it visible while reading the text. Click anywhere to make it go away. The little icon after a link means it goes to an external web page and means it’s a movie.