Death Valley, February 2005
(Links on the thumbnails take you to the photo album. There are links both ways.)
Page Two -
Feb. 23 - Headed south today, stopping first at Gold Canyon. There is a nice parking area at the entrance. We hiked the canyon, one mile up and one mile back. We bought the pamphlets for the walk, which has interpretive points you can stop along. Really not a hard walk, except my knees did protest, as they do all the time anymore, it seems.
Last year the temperatures were in the 90's so we passed on this hike then. This year, the rain had washed the canyon out. Literally. In fact, there was the remnants of an old road we walked up last year before we decided to pass because of the heat. This year, after the wash out, the remains of the road was about waist high where the pavement jutted out.
The
are many colors in the canyon, gold, red, greens, white - really
quite a colorful place, but your eyes become overwhelmed. The
colors are more noticeable in the photograph in the online album.
It was interesting to note the formation of salts in the layers of
sediments, and how the growth of the salt crystals break up the
sediments and aid erosion.
After walking Gold Canyon we went back to Furnace Creek and had lunch at the restaurant. This place is slightly pricey, but the menu is good and the portions are relative to the cost.
After lunch we headed back south and took the turn off to the West Side Drive. This road goes on the west side of Death Valley and is classed as a "2WD high clearance recommended" road. Yep. It's rough, washboardy, pot holey, and in some places the road's base rock is as big as soft balls. It was supposed to be closed, but was open, so we went. We drove all the way to Harmony Borax works site. Nothing there but old windrows of borax that was left behind. There are a lot of reeds in a marshy area along here.
We
also drove south further to the site of the Shorty Harris and Jim
Dayton graves, with a marker there. We went to the Bennett Long
Camp site, where the folks in that party were eventually rescued
from certain death by a couple of tough young fellows who hiked
out to an area near Newhall, Ca. and brought back supplies and
help. Contiuing south, we finally met a fellow in a very muddy
Nissan pickup going back the way we came - he said the road was a
wash out, at least knee deep so he was going back. I allowed as
how we'd do the same. So, here we were, 30 miles down 40 miles of
bad road, and had to turn around and go back. The road was narrow
here, so I had to drive backwards for about a half mile until I
found a place wide enough to turn around. Ah...Short vehicles have
their advantages.
After getting turned around we headed back towards the real highway. As we were fixing to head back across the watery part of the road we stopped to tell a couple of seniors the road was washed out at the other end. They inquired if the mesquite trees were still at Harmony Borax. I said, "Yeah, but they are all dead, some fallen down. It all looks pretty derelict." The gentleman replied that some 30 years ago there had been a camp ground there, and that was where they used to camp. I allowed as how I think that campground was all but gone, and there is a cable across the road that went to it.
We made it back to the highway, muddy but no worse for wear. One parting comment before I leave West Side Drive behind - I am driving a 2002 Ford F250 HD super cab, with a long bed. After driving on this road one of the rules we made (and soon violated several times) was: "If it isn't wide enough to turn around on, don't go there."
After I inspected Anita's knuckles to make sure they had regained a normal color, we made a short trip down to Bad Water, the lowest place in this here continent. 282 feet below sea level. On the cliff above Bad Water, w-a-a-a-y up there, is a sign which simply reads, "SEA LEVEL". I'd like to meet the folks who put that sign up there. That must have been some undertaking!
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