Alive and Kickin in Death Valley

After leaving LA, I made a few stops recommended in the Southern California Curiosities book. I stopped in Rosamund at the Big Cats breeding facility (Wang, after seeing the actual size of the puma – I wouldn’t want to be near one at all). I went to Boron to learn about the borax mining history of the area, but I unfortunately couldn’t go to the mine because of hazardous road conditions from rainstorms. I stopped in Barstow to see Rainbow Basin, but the wind was gusting and there was so much sand blowing everywhere that it was not a good day to hike. Simply walking from my car to the town museum caused me to have sand in my ears and grit in my mouth. I stopped at the recommended ghost town of Calico, a tourist trap and a waste of time. Driving across the northern edge of the Mojave Desert is interesting when half the sand is blowing across the road. I stopped in Baker to see the world’s largest thermometer – 137 feet tall to commemorate the hottest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley. I ate dinner and then headed to Death Valley to camp for the evening.

The wind was blowing so hard that I had to put rocks in my tent so that I could set it up in the headlights of my car. I then had to keep the rocks in there bc it was that difficult to pound in the tent stakes. It was really windy, but not too cold. It was funny to wake up in the morning and actually see where I was and realize that I did not need to pee beside my tent; there was a bathroom on the other side of the big bush I was attempting to shelter behind. The snow-covered mountains were also surprising.

I headed to the ranger station for my official map and to get suggestions of what I needed to do. While I was there, the folks changing the light bulbs removed a two-inch scorpion from the light fixture – two inches not including the tail being curled up - and the first scorpion I had ever seen not in a cage. The rangers sent me on my way with a much-highlighted map. My first stop was Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level and the lowest elevation point in the United States. The second lowest place in the US is the Salton Sea where I had been a few days previous. It had rained recently, so there were plenty of fresh salt crystals to crunch around on. I hiked a few more stops to enjoy the geological formations – canyons, colored rocks, rockslides, arches, sand dunes, etc.

Death Valley is the largest national park in the lower 48 and it takes hours to drive from top to bottom and to go across it. It is a stunning landscape with the lowest point in the entire US and the highest point in the lower 48 in the same park. The low areas are ringed by snow-covered peaks. It is a desert that is sparsely vegetated, but when they get enough rain, people come from all over the world to see the wildflowers explode the valleys into rainbows of color. I think this year might be a good one.

For the evening I headed to the north end of the park to camp (again setting my tent up in the dark) and go to a star lecture. It was soooo cold that night. The two rangers giving the star talk were cool and they had a laser to point out the things they were talking about which made it so easy to actually see what they were talking about. We looked at stars, nebulas, and planets in the telescope and with binoculars. That night I had trouble falling asleep wearing two pairs of pants, four shirts, and a hat in my sleeping bag and liner with my coat over top of it. I scrunched down in my bag and closed the top off and it was still chilly so I did not sleep like a baby, but I did sleep.

The next morning, I went to Scotty’s Castle, a Spanish ranch built in the 50’s by a wealthy Chicago couple who were originally swindled and later became friends with con artist Scotty. The stories are really interesting and the house is well preserved. Outside Ranger Jay was attempting to set up a solar telescope to view the sun (it was astronomy week in Death Valley). I gave Ranger Jay a hard time and I eventually had to leave so he could figure it out. I went to Ubehebe (you-be-he-be) Crater and hiked the rim. I tried to hitchhike to the Racetrack but no luck. The Racetrack is this salt flat with boulders with little tracks behind them from when they moved across the flat – but no one has actually seen it happen. The road to get there is a 4 wheel drive – high clearance vehicle only road that my ford focus, as awesome as it is, probably shouldn’t go on. Next time. I went back to check on ranger jay and he had in fact found the sun so I got to look at it. I talked with him for a bit and he gave me a few more rangers to harass in a few of the parks I am visiting in the future.

I then got on the road to visit a true ghost town – Rhyolite. This ghost town was mostly one-walled structures and rubble with plywood signs indicating that this fallen structure used to be the brothel and that one was the bank. I stopped in Beatty for gas and ice cream for lunch and then onto Ash Meadows to find the Death Valley Pupfish. The fish aren’t found in Death Valley until it gets a bit warmer, but they were easy to spot in the wildlife refuge just outside. I went in search of the endangered Devil’s Hole Pupfish down a road that was not recommended for my vehicle. The focus was tired of being discriminated against and did not find the little bit of mud and potholes all that difficult. The funny thing about Devil’s Hole is that it has an 8 foot barbed wire fence around it – so there is no way in heck you could see this fish bc it is only 2 inches max and it is 20 feet down hill in a hole that is 20 square feet.

After spotting some more accessible pupfish (each stream is a different species – and probably all endangered), I got on the road to Vegas. Watch out for crossing tortoises, bulls, and burros.