Death Valley II - July 2007

Up the road a couple miles and take the turnoff for Artist’s Pallette. We pull in, park, and find that the sign is gone. Whether some jerk knocked it over or whether the maintenance crew took it in for repair we don’t know. But we miss something because it explains what minerals all the different colors represent. We spent about twenty minutes studying the area and walking up a small hill to check out some other geologic formations, and then we’re back on the road.

Less than a mile Greg pulls over so we can take a look at Mushroom Rock. This is fascinating because it is a solid chunk of basalt that has been worn away by the wind over a whole bunch of years into this shape. What you can’t see is that the head of it used to be bigger. Where I’m leaning it is apparent (close up) that someone has broken off a good-sized piece. On the other side are the same indications. See, idiots come out here and just have to have a souvenir so they chip off a piece and ruin something beautiful just so they can have a chunk of rock on their mantle. Jerks!

Okay, enough of rocks, we go on up to Furnace Creek to check out the campground that will be home for the night. We’ve been on the 128 from Shoshone and for the rest of today and a lot of tomorrow we’re going to be on the 190. The two meet where the Furnace Creek Inn is located. Sitting up above the highway on the side of the mountain, it is the only five-star hotel in the world in a desert. Greg and I opined that they probably had one of the biggest A/C units in the world to keep that place cool.

We cruise into the campground, say hi to Ranger Myrtle (Note 2), and cruise around until we find a campsite. There are 136 spaces and, waaay in the back, there are a number of spaces reserved for tents only. We drive along and see space 90. Wow, trees all around it and even forming a little canopy over what looks like an ideal nook for sleeping. We go back up to the entrance, pay our fee, and then head back to the resort. We pick up our ice (oh, I see a bottle of 100 proof peppermint Schnapps and grab that) as well as some instant coffee for the next morning. Greg mentions that he had put a can of peaches in the refrigerator the night before, planing on having them and then forgot them. So we pick up a couple small cans of peaches. In front of the store is a display board showing the 2004 flood! I have never heard of it, but apparently there was something like fifteen feet of water all over Furnace Creek when they had a whopping six inches of rain in one storm. DV normally has only a bit over an inch each year. I mentioned it to Greg and then forgot about it until we got back to the campsite.

We go outside, ice down the beer and Schnapps, and I point to Old Dinah and say I’d like to take a closer look at her. We wander over and Greg gets a shot of her. Many people remember the tales of the 20-mule teams that carried Borax out of DV, but you never hear about what replaced those teams – Old Dinah did. She’s a steam tractor, the same as a steam train engine, but with enormous steel wheels to negotiate the desert sand and rocks. She served for years and then was used on the Beatty-Keane Wonder mine and then abondoned. They found her and brought her back to Furnace Creek to put on display.

I’m not too keen on going to the campground, unloading our stuff, and leaving it unattended, so we decide to go on up to the Keane Wonder mine. Twelve or so miles north, off on a side road for another six or seven, and we’re there. Well, not quite. As we’re getting close Greg is suddenly not sure if we’re going to have enough gas to get back to Furnace Creek. We take a look at whether we want to risk walking a few miles in the heat to get a gallon of gas and walking back and decide discretion truly is the better part of valor, and turn around.

On the way back down the road Greg stopped for another photo op and got this picture looking south across the floor of more than half of DV. Could you imagine coming over a hill in a covered wagon and looking at what was ahead of you?

A long, narrow valley, it is only from 4 to 16 miles (6 to 26 km) wide and the mountains on the east and west are so rugged that you wouldn’t be able to get over them. That means that once you enter the valley, you have to cover the entire length of it, nearly 140 miles (225 km) before you’d have a chance to survive. There are a couple of water sources in the valley, but you have to know where they are. There is also some water (such as Badwater) that you wouldn’t want to try drinking. I can imagine seeing that vista for the first time and just lying down and saying, "Take me now, Lord, I ain’t gonna make it."

We go back to the campground, say hi to Myrtle, and get to the campsite. Whoa, it’s hot all of a sudden. We are so looking forward to the shade. I tell Greg that I’m not unloading anything for a while. I want to sit down, have a beer, and relax for a few minutes first. He agrees and we pull into space 90.

Here’s where I embarrass myself. Somewhere during the day Greg and I were just leaving some spot and I saw another car pull in with a guy by himself. One of the things you want to remember when in the desert is that you need a buddy. Oh, yeah, eating. During the day Greg even made the observation that a lot of people are so intent on drinking water that they forget to eat. That’s just as important as drinking water. Earlier in the day we had the Jumbo Jacks and munched on some jerkey that Greg had. That was another thing I forgot to buy. I wanted that so we’d have enough salt to help our bodies assimilate and retain the water we drank.

Note 2: Myrtle was nonexistent. The ranger booth at the entrance to the campground was closed for the summer. Greg just had to have fun and waved and said hi to Myrtle. He also traded recipes for tuna casserole with her. What can I say, the kid is weird.

More in Part III