Today is Monday, 6/19/2017, and we are hoping not many people are going into the park sightseeing today. We are leaving
early this morning in hopes to beat the heat which is supposed to get to about
120º. Hot, very hot. We begin by traveling west on route-374 and
before entering Death Valley National Park we see these wild mules standing by
the side of the road. One of them kept
its eyes on us the whole time we were there.
Before we enter the Park and while descending to the valley
floor this is our view. And as you can
see the road is very straight and the land is very desolate.
We have just entered the Park and are headed towards
Stovepipe Wells Village; we cross through Daylight Pass, at 4,316 feet. A sign points to Corkscrew Peak at 5,804
feet. Not sure if this is the mountain,
but we have no plans to hike any mountains today.
We reach Hells Gate and after parking to view the area, we
can see the floor of Death Valley and the surrounding mountains. Shortly we have a choice of roads to take,
south on Beatty Cutoff or Mud Canyon which we will take to Stovepipe Wells.
Nearby was this plant with the fuzzy seed pods.
Somewhere down in this valley, a basin defined by the
Panamint Range on the west and the Amargosa Range on the east is Stovepipe
Wells our first destination.
Before leaving our short time at Hells Gate we see this
nearby. We can only speculate and think
it is some kind of earthquake or environmental sensors.
Driving along the Mud Canyon road we can see our destination
in the far right middle; a small grouping of buildings known as Stovepipe
Wells. Those are the Tucki Mountains on
the left of the village.
Next we come to a place named by early promoters seeking to
further the mystic of Death Valley with intriguing names, like this one they
called Devil’s Corn Field. The wind
blows the sand away from the plant and roots leaving them on a pedestal.
Just outside of stovepipe Wells we come to Mesquite
Dunes. As we are driving by we get a
picture or two and decide to stop on our way back, but we have a great view of
this high dune.
We read where the moisture just below the surface of the
sand supports clumps of creosote bushes and mesquite bushes. But the beauty of the shifting sands of the
dunes is quite evident.
We get into Stovepipe Wells which was established in 1926, and
since we are not staying here overnight or having something to eat we take a
few minutes to look around before continuing on. This area is called Burned Wagons Point
because people coming across Death Valley seeking gold in California would end
up having to burn their wagons and also dry the meat of some of their oxen.
Leaving Stovepipe Wells, we stop at the Mesquite Sand Dunes
parking lot and I get out and take some pictures. Here one of the dead trees sits exposed to
the dry heat of 115º.
Now I would have absolutely loved to hike to the larger
dunes, but we didn’t expect to see dunes so there is not much time we can spend
here. But don’t they look inviting? Maybe climbing to the top of one of these
will get me up to sea level since we are at an elevation of 36 feet below sea
level.
Continuing back to the cross roads, we pass the Devil’s
Cornfield again and take a right to continue on route-190 deeper into the
valley and on the way to Furnace Creek.
The mountains to the west are stark compared to the smooth and sandy foreground.
We pass Salt Creek and are on our way towards Mustard Canyon
and the Harmony Borax Works. Along the
way this is the view we have out our front windshield. You can see the dust haze in the air. It is hot, about 115º and we are at an
elevation of 242 feet BELOW sea level.
Stopping at the Harmony Borax Works we can see where the
original equipment is, up on the hill.
Near this location borax was discovered in 1881 and this site was built
in 1882. The borax was processed and
shipped in wagons, some weighing up to 36 tons like the one here, to Mojave 165 miles away to the railroad, by a twenty mule team.
A closer look at the processing plant for the borax; workers
would put the collected mud and minerals into boiling water. After adding carbonated soda, the borax would
dissolve and the lime and mud would settle to the bottom. The liquid would then be placed into cooling
vats with metal rods hanging in the water and the borax would crystallize on
the rods. Later the rods are removed and
the crystal chipped off.
Walking up to take a look at the vats and boiler, I can see
back to the parking lot. At this vantage
point I am looking north-easterly and towards the Funeral Mountains.
Leaving the Harmony Borax Works we have a decision to make;
take the Furnace Creek Road or the Badwater Basin Road. Since there are more things that we want to
see in the Badwater Basin, we’ll take that road. So that means we’ll be driving along the
valley floor and have scenes like this.
These are the hills and mountains on the other side of the
street from the valley. You can see the
crags in the hills along with the water gouges.
By the way, we have seen a sign warning of flash flooding for the next 55
miles.
Now this was not created by the wind, it had to be water,
and plenty of it.
We come to Golden Canyon which is a 1.5, 2.9 or 4.3 mile
loop depending on how far you go. We’ll
only go about 1,000 feet or so. In the
early days of tourism in Death Valley, visitors wanted to travel up the canyon
and a road was created. Some of the road
still remains and you can see some of it here.
Hiking the canyon and it is about 11:30 am, the sign at the
beginning of the trail indicated that it was not recommended to hike after
10:00 am. We have water and we are not
going far so we’re on the trail. Here we
can see the strata from when the land was uplifted. Looks like a scene from a sy-fy movie.
At this s-curve in the canyon you can easily see the old
paved road on the left side of the floor.
I have been paying attention to rain in the distance because this would
not be a good place to get caught in during a flash flood.
Here’s Carmen walking along the alien planet, I mean Golden
Canyon.
The uplifting of the earth, wind and rain has created these
sharp and unusual features on the canyon walls.
Heading back to the car we stop so I can get a good picture
of Carmen. You can see the different
colors of the rocks in the background.
It’s getting hot and time to go.
We’ll eat a little lunch and drink some water before continuing.
Our next stop or turn off is for Artists Drive, a 9-mile
one-way road with a 25ft vehicle length restriction. The sides of the hills have different colored
strata.
The mountain hills along this scenic road have varied
textures. Smooth sandy sides to the raw
rock strata.
We made a quick stop at Artists Palette and look at the scenery. There hills are suppose to have different
colors in the stone.
Coming down out of the Artists Scenic Drive we have a clear
view of the valley floor and the mountains on the other side.
Back on the main road heading south again, we can see the
hills that we just drove through. From
this hill we can see the different layering of rock.
We get to Badwater Basin and there is a place to stop and
park for a toilet break or if you want you can walk out into the valley. However, the parking lot was full, mostly
with a tour bus and many of the tourists were walking out into the valley. You can see one of them here, many with no
hat. We are also at the lowest point in
the United States at 282 feet below sea level and its 120º.
Driving along the windy road, we pass a place called Mormon
Point and find it looks much like the valley we have been following, although
the valley floor is sandy closer to the road than before, similar to the
Badwater Basin turnout.
On our way to the park exit, we cross Jubilee Pass, at an
elevation of 1,933 feet, so from our lowest point of 282 feet below sea level
we have elevated quickly. The views are still great.
About 5-6 miles after Jubilee Pass we are now going over Salsberry
Pass, with an elevation of 3,315 feet.
We are nearly out of the park now and close to the town of Shoshone,
CA, we are coming down from Salsberry Pass and will drive along the border of the town of Shoshone on the right and Death Valley National Park on the left.
Now on route-178 we drive through Shoshone, CA and by locations like Dublin Gulch and out our window we can see Castle in Clay.
Many of the mountains we have seen have had layering that
could not be easily seen, but with these mountains you can clearly see the
different strata layering, light to dark and back again. You can even see where the lower hills
actually have slid down from the upper layers.
These are part of the Nopah Range.
Now we have been on many roads similar to this; long and
straight. You can see where the Charles
Broen Highway cuts through the valley floor and just around the bend to the
right we'll drive into Nevada.
On our way out of Pahrump, Nevada, we can see a rain storm
in the distance; so we’ll be watching the low areas for any flash flooding.
Crossing over Mountain Springs Summit, we can see the southern
end of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Potosi Mountain on the south side of the road
has various antennas and even an observatory; we also see a sign for mountain
sheep – but no sheep.
Just outside of Las Vegas and looking north we can see more of the Red Rock
Canyon National Conservation Area.
It is funny, earlier we saw a sign for mountain sheep and
now that we are driving on I-15 through Las Vegas, on our way to our hotel, we see metal
sculptures of horses and guess what, mountain sheep.
We are staying at Treasure Island for two days and hope to
get to see a show. When we leave we’ll
stop to see family on our way back to Florida.
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