Posted: Sep 29, 2009 12:15 pm EDT
On 9 October Todd Carmichael is starting a new expedition, this time in one of the hottest places on earth, the American desert, Death Valley. He will be hauling his 450 pounds supplies, including water, on a custom made cart.

The challenge

Todd said no one has ever walked across Death Valley. According to him the longest ever self-supported trek across a desert was 399.5 miles, accomplished in 37 days.

The challenge to him was, “Why not go for 400 miles in 18.5 days, and with whatever is left, stumble out another 30 miles for a new distance record?”

Desert washes

Todd explained how he worked out the route. “Preservation and low impact trekking would need to be considered. Although the lowest impact travel is by road, roads would need to be avoided, limited travel on un-maintained trails, yes, but no roads.

“While looking over satellite images, it came to me, I’d use the long root like erosion gulleys cut into the desert, Mother Nature’s torture trails, miles of loose gravel. That was it. I would use the washes.”

“A few weeks work and the route was set, South to North, a wide detour through a salt flat or two, into sand dunes and all the way back South.”

Camping

“Backcountry camping is forbidden from Ashford Mills to two miles north of Stovepipe Wells, an approximately 75-mile stretch of the route,” added Todd.

The only option he said will be to abandon the valley and trek westward into the hills each night to set camp, and in the morning rejoin the route.

Todd came to the conclusion, ”I beginning to understand why no one had ever accomplished this.”

The cart

Todd said that everything required to build his cart, “The Desert Pig”, was purchased at local stores.

“In short she is two aluminium ATV wheels and tires mounted on a one inch stainless steel axle. The axle is bolted to a half-inch aluminium plate with two gas pipe “pull bars” and a set of go-cast drum breaks.”

“In her case, the pull bars are not used for pulling, instead I use a polar harness rigged to the main plate, and the bars are used to steer and level. This configuration allows me to actually jog with her, once the load allows for it.”

American Todd Carmichael announced that he will be attempting a 400 mile trek in 18.5 days through Death Valley in the USA; and circumstances permitting he will trek another 30 km. He will be hauling his reportedly 450 pounds of water (33 gallons / 125 liters), food and gear.

Todd Carmichael skied solo to the South Pole in the 2008-09 season in a speed record time of 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes.

Death Valley is a desert located in the southwestern United States of America and located on the border between California and Nevada. Some areas are located below sea level which makes it one of the hottest places on earth.

 EMAIL   PRINT   SHARE   TEXT