Since I was by myself and wouldn’t be slowing anyone down I decided to do a little exploring. The route to Death Valley goes through Goler Wash, but the route there from Spangler Hills has to skirt around a huge semi-dry lake via the Ballarat ghost town. I found there was a short cut through the Slate Range that cuts off 20 miles of tarmac and flat trails. However, the short cut uses the Isham Trail, which is a tough rock crawler route. I decided to check it out to see if it was possible on a dual sport.
Here is a pic of the Isham trail entrance in the Slate Range: