I've been looking into Death Valley with some people who have already been there a few times. They had some floods over the summer that washed out some of the roads, but I'm not sure exactly where. Might want to call the Park Service before heading out that direction to see what the latest news is. October though - it will be hot there. We're talking about January which I guess is still usually in the 80's. I think Hoover Dam is pretty close too, but a different direction.