I think you'll be fine getting up there in a 2wd vanagon. The main thing
going up past the kilns is clearance more than traction. I've gotten up
there before in a Nissan Maxima, so you shouldn't have any problems.

-a

On 1/23/07, Geza Polony <gezapolony@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> For Death Valley knowers-and-lovers, I have a question.
>
> What are the Thorndike and Mahogany campgrounds like, specifically for a
> 2WD
> Westy? I know they're up over 8,000 feet at the end of a dirt road, but
> are
> they, like, easily accessible, not too dangerous to get to?
>
> My wife and I visited Death Valley earlier this month, and the campgrounds
> on the valley floor weren't quite, uh, wilderness enough. Being enclosed
> on
> both sides by 40 foot "Bounder" motorhomes, each towing Wranglers with
> bikes
> on the  back, and running Honda generators to power the 42" projection tv,
> isn't your ideal way to groove on natural beauty.
>
> So I was thinking maybe the National Park Service purposely left the roads
> to Thorndike and Mahogany impassible to over-25' vehicles just so that we
> Vanagon types, along with tenters, could find some peace out there and
> gaze
> at the stars at night without Ms. Middle America in the Bounder staring at
> us as if we're fleas while she fries up the hubby's dinner.
>
> Anybody been there? Anything too rough for a 2WD Vanagon?
>
> What a beautiful place it is! I want to go back.
>