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OWENS
VALLEY
OWENS
LAKE
(DRY)
LONE PINE
MOUNT WHITNEY
DARWIN
FURNACE
CREEK
PANAMINT
VALLEY
SALINE
VALLEY
PANAMINT RANGE
DEATH
VALLEY
INYO MOUNTAINS
NEVADA
CALIFORNIA
136
190
190
30
APRIL 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
ROADTRIP
MAP BY TIM VIENCKOWSKI
THE LARGEST U.S. NATIONAL
park outside Alaska,
Death Valley is a wilderness of rocks and sand nearly
the size of Connecticut, with topography as arid and
mountainous as the Moroccan fringes of the Sahara.
Since 1849 it’s been notorious for waylaying travelers
inwheeledvehicles.What be er proving ground, then,
for a factory-new 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon?
We left the town of Lone Pine, Calif., late in the
a ernoon, outrunning the shadowofMountWhitney
—the tallest inthe lower 48 states—ongoodpavement.
My co-pilot, aphotographer, snappedpictures through
the open so -top roof and played DJ as well, work-
ing the interface between his iPhone and the Jeep’s
onboard computer.
We’d been given the four-door model in a blend of
yellowandorangedubbed “dozer” (anewcolor perhaps
less reminiscent of heavy construction equipment
thanof artificial cheese), andwe looked forward to giv-
ing it a respectable patina of dust. Therewas plenty of
room in back for 10 gallons of water, a folding table
Sand Stormer
Chrysler’s new JeepWrangler Rubicon duels it out
with the Death Valley outback
BY DAVID PAGE
CALIFORNIA