Black Velvet Road Conditions (with Video!)

I'm sure everyone remembers the heavy rain we got in Vegas a few weeks ago. Me and a friend happened to be in Black Velvet that day hiking and we got to witness the monsoon up close and personal. In short, the road was pretty much a river and pretty deep at points. It all mostly dried up in a few hours but the damage/wash out to the road remains. So if you're planning on going back into Black Velvet in the near future make sure you have pretty decent clearance on your vehicle or you might run into problems.

http://youtu.be/auD012k-PhE

Whitewater near Vegas!! Yay!

Thanks for posting. Good to know about the road conditions in our neck of the desert.

Thats it!!?? Expecting so much more...

"We might want to sit this one out."

Classic!

Is the road passable with a Honda Civic in October? (Not sure the month makes any difference) I've driven over it when I had a full-sized pickup, but have since downsized. I'm a bit leery about taking the Civic on the road and getting high-centered. What do you think?

RockyMtnTed wrote:Thats it!!?? Expecting so much more...

It's a dry desert out here. We get excited when we're flashing.

BTW, we went 4 wheelin' in the Mojave NP that day. We hit a bad part of road and I went a flyin'; bounced up out of my seat and hit my head really hard on the ceiling of the truck, D'OH! Hurt like a motha fu*ker. Wear your seatbelts out there folks. Fun day!

FrankPS wrote:Is the road passable with a Honda Civic in October? (Not sure the month makes any difference) What do you think?

Check back for an update around then, Hopefully the road will get better. As it is now a Civic or most Sedan/Wagon style cars would probably not cut the mustard.

Matt Kuehl wrote: Check back for an update around then, Hopefully the road will get better. As it is now a Civic or most Sedan/Wagon style cars would probably not cut the mustard.

Thanks, Matt. Does the road actually smooth out with traffic? The county doesn't grade the road ever, do they?

Not totally sure but I will talk to the the BLM folks and find out. Some of the big dips would certainly need a little manpower to improve.

Will my import make it?

Yota

I was out the end of August, and we had to make the second left and park at the trailhead at the end and hike in from there because we did not want to chance the creek bed crossing. It was dry, but very soft gravel for our mazda 6. And we also were going through water sections of the road. I think this was about 3 days after the poster came through with the video. We actually got caught in this storm 300' feet up moonlight buttress in zion

Haha Adam, the Yota might have more issues with fitting on the highway, but you can just forge ahead threw people's yards instead. Lets climb soon man

I found out the BLM does maintain the BVC road and it was last maintained Feb 2012. I talked to the BLM climbing liaison and he has since put in a work order request for maintenance on the road. Hopefully it will be repaired before we lose the awesome BV temps.

That was my Focus on 9/2/12. The road was just fine for a compact 2WD if you are careful. The car has a 5 speed manual which helps getting up out of a sandy dry wash. I hit 1 section a lille hard and felt a tap on/around the engine area, but made it back to SLC with no leakage (at least from my engine). I have the best luck dodging the bumps if I take that road in the dark. The visability is actualy much better with headlights. If you arn't arriving in the dark and leaving in the dark, you are wasting daylight imo.

There was a Mitsubishi sedan out there Monday afternoon. Looked OK. Couple other 2w vehicles as well. Road's a little rocky last part but reasonable enough if you thread through.

I think I saw a Razor scouter back there today... the road must be getting better with travel so if you bunny hop a little you should be fine.

Matt Kuehl wrote:I think I saw a Razor scouter back there today... the road must be getting better with travel so if you bunny hop a little you should be fine.

Yeah, that was me on the razor scooter shirtless w/ a pink hannah montana backpack!!!!

The road has obviously seen a lot of work and is better than it was back in May the last time I was on it. There is fresh gravel in the washes and several areas were regraded.