Wow… I never thought on this trip I would long for the cool of the northwest. But then I had never been to Death Valley. Deane has been here before and knew what to expect. I rather naively thought that since it was still March, it would not be too hot. Well, hot is a relative term and one that effects everyone different. 85 degrees here in the desert is like 100 in Portland (to me anyway!)
We got here on Monday, after meeting up with everyone in Kingman Arizona on Sunday for a potluck dinner . There are 12 rigs (24 people and three dogs) heading to Death Valley.
Death Valley is one of those places I never gave much thought to when it came to visiting. All I really knew about this area was it was extremely hot and that many of those who migrated to California during the 1800’s attempted to reach the California coast via this valley. A lot of them unsuccessfully.
We dry camped at the Furnace Creek Area and discovered there is a lot to see and do here. Once again, Deane was a great tour guide since he had been here a few times, but even he saw things he had not seen before. And most of what we saw made our heads spin with wonder. You can climb large sand dunes you find right in the middle of the gravel and rocks of the floor of Death valley.
We also found a couple of Oasis’, one where the Furnace Creek Inn is built with grounds that look like they belong in Palm Springs. You can stay here at a cost of about $350 a night. They also have the Furnace Creek Ranch across from where we camped for about $150 a night.
We toured Scotty’s Castle, a 6000sq ft home built on another oasis back in the early 1900’s by a couple from Chicago who had at first been conned by William ‘Scotty’ Scott and then formed a close friendship with him. The Chicago couple eventually moved to hollywood and became friends with many hollywood movie people who visited their castle in the desert. www.nps.gov/historyculture/scottys-castle.htm
We took some incredible hikes and some of the colors we saw could not be captured by the camera, but we tried. Golden Canyon, Mosaic Canyon, the Natural Bridge, and a drive through Artist Palette are all beyond description. These are places you have to experience to see and understand their beauty.
We also spent time at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282ft below sea level. Two to four thousand years ago, the basin was the site of a 30ft lake that evaporated and left a 1-5 foot layer of salt and a briny pond that is four times saltier than the ocean.
We took the tour of the Harmony Borax Works (does anyone remember 20-mule team Borax?). Borax was discovered here in 1881 and went out of business in 1888. During that time about 40 men worked to produce 3 tons of borax a day. They used 20 mule teams to haul the borax 165 miles to the railroad in Mojave. They worked fall through early summer. The only reason they did not work through the summer was because the borate they were mining could not precipitate in the high heat. http://digital-desert.com/death-valley-history/harmony.html
Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water. Borax has a wide variety of uses. It is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes. It is also used to make buffer solutions in biochemistry, as a fire retardant, as an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass, as an insecticide, as a flux in metallurgy, a texturing agent in cooking, and as a precursor for other boron compounds.
In Salt Creek, we also got to see Pupfish, a small fish about 1 to 2 inches long, whose male is blue. These fish have adapted to living in shallow, hot and salty water. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/deathvalley/pupfish.html
One of the things Deane wanted to do and we could not, was to drive through Titus Canyon. It is a one way very narrow road with very high canyon sides. The excessive rain the valley had this winter washed out the road in places. We will be back sometime to do this drive. http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/may/stories/titus.html
On our last night in Death Valley, we experienced something we had heard about, the winds of the Valley. We were flying the kites in the afternoon, when we were told a wind storm was coming and would hit in about 15 minutes. Everyone scurried to get their RV’s, trailers and 5th wheels closed up. I have never seen anything like this storm. We never got rain, although we could see it was raining out towards the hills. But the wind blew, stirring so much dust up, at times you could barely see the rig next to you. Sleeping was difficult because we had some 70+mph gusts throughout the night and our 38’ RV was rocking! When the sun came up, the winds died down to 15-30mph and we headed out.
Death Valley was a surprise to me, with all of its history (great Ranger talks), and the contrast of colors, textures and geology. At one of the rangers talks we went to, he described Death Valley as a Terrible Beauty. And it truly is.
We are starting to head towards Portland, and will be home by the 31st. We will spend a couple of days here in Lone Pine California, just below Mt. Whitney then onto Reno for a couple of days and then Portland.
Scotty's Castle - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=678661713407%3A1258994366
Gold Canyon - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=970841713407%3A922026409
Salt Creek - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=796423713407%3A1235960679
Natural Bridge - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=586423713407%3A383346297
Bad Water - lowest place in No. America - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=286423713407%3A127655752
Artist Drive - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=876423713407%3A126087454
Mosiac Canyon - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=496423713407%3A741120471
Borax Works - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=886423713407%3A676986363
Furnace Creek Inn - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=107423713407%3A57885377
The Rally Gang - http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=857290713407%3A83754290