Death Valley National Park, CA

February 21-25, 2016

Although Boulder Beach campground had been really comfortable for us, it was now getting hotter and more crowded, and there were an increasing number of generators running early and late, so we decided to head out for someplace new: Death Valley. I'd been there with Levi many years ago, but we'd only seen a very small part of a very large park.  The weather there looked tolerable right now, but if we waited any longer, it would be too hot. Also, it was on the way to our next long-term spot: Lone Pine, California and the Alabama Hills, likely the most popular place in North America for shooting TV series (Lone Ranger, Bonanza), movies (Gunga Din, Django Unchained), and commercials (especially car commercials). When we arrived at Furnace Creek, the town where the campgrounds were located, we discovered that the nicest one was full, so we investigated the other two, one of which was visible from the highway. It was basically just a large flat dirt area with RVs cheek by jowl. I remembered that there was one more campground up a road and out of sight, so we
drove up to Texas Springs campground...and discovered--to our delight--that it was a 'no generators' campground. Terrific news! Though the sites were close together, the campground, itself, felt more like Mars or the moon; it was nestled in among barren, odd-shaped mountains. The lunar effect was even more pronounced when the moon rose suddenly--huge and orange--over the mountain behind our site. This was better than we had anticipated, so we figured we'd spend one night in Death Valley, then continue on to Lone Pine. But Death Valley had other ideas. We wanted to explore a number of areas in the park, but, as we discovered, this takes time. That's because Death Valley is big: at 5300 square miles and 3.3 million acres, it is the largest National Park south of Alaska, which means you have to drive quite a while to get someplace. And, over the next 4 days, we did a lot of driving, as the places we wanted to visit were often 50 or 75 miles away...and were still inside the park. But the driving was a treat, not only because the landscapes are starkly beautiful, but also because the Park was in the midst of a 'superbloom' of wildflowers. Apparently, this only happens once or so a decade, and we happened to be there at the height of it!

Superbloom of wildflowers, Death Valley National Park, CA

Superbloom of wildflowers, Death Valley National Park, CA

Superbloom of wildflowers, Death Valley National Park, CA

Superbloom of wildflowers, Death Valley National Park, CA

The ranger told us that torrential rains in October, 2015 had done considerable damage in the Park: lots of roads were washed away, including the highway that led to one the park's premier attractions: Scotty's Castle. The rain damaged not only the road to the castle, but the castle, itself, and repairs may take up to 2 years. But the rain also giveth, in the form of the superbloom.

On the day we took these superbloom photos, we'd set out to see Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, at 282 ft. below sea level, and Ashford Mill, an abandoned mine site 20 miles up the road from Badwater. Badwater Basin is on the edge of 40-mile long salt pan, and you can walk out onto the pan. This is an interesting experience, since it appears you're walking out onto a huge, flat snowfield, but it's really salt. It crunches under your feet.

Badwater Basin, a 40-mile long salt pan in Death Valley National Park.

 Here is a shot of the scene above from out on the salt pan, itself, looking back:

Walking on the salt pan

About 1/2 way up that cliff, in the center, you might be able to spot a white rectangular spot. Here, I'll zoom in on the cliff:

See it now? 

It says, "Sea level". That gives you a good idea how far below the water line you'd be if the ocean suddenly flowed in.

We continued on to Ashford Mill, the abandoned gold mining operation. Not much left, really, except the standing walls of what once may have been an office building:

Ashford Mills Gold Mine building

On our way back to the campground, we saw this coyote, apparently waiting for tourists to feed him. Sad, really, since such a habit is a death sentence for an animal like this. He does look healthy, though. He wasn't just waiting to cross the road, either. We saw a car pull over just out of the shot, and he wandered very close to the car, then sat down and stared at the occupants.

Waiting at the side of the road for food hand-outs.

As I mentioned earlier, in order to get anywhere, we had to drive quite a ways. And because the views were so stunning, I often stopped to take photos...but Leah was never phased, since she always came prepared:

Using her time...

Over the next several days, we visited a number of interesting spots, including Dante's View, which overlooks Badwater Basin from the top of the cliff with the "Sea level" sign about 1/2 way up, and the famous Zabriski Point:

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We'd been told we needed to see Titus Canyon, so we set off for a 2 hour drive to the starting point, which was in Nevada. From there, after about 2 hours of spectacular driving over a mountain on a rough, windy, steep dirt road we pulled up to Leadfield, a ghost town from the early 1900s:

Today, this place is about 2 hours from the nearest road; in 1926, it must have been a lot more isolated. But a splendid place to explore! We had lunch there and had the place (almost) all to ourselves. Leaving Leadfield after an hour or so stop, we crept along down to and through Titus Canyon, where the 300-500 ft tall walls were only 15 feet wide, in places.

Interesting rock formations in the canyon walls:

After Titus Canyon, we drove to Artist's Palette, where real painters were at work:

We could have spent more than the four days we'd already been in Death Valley National Park, but the weather was heating up, and we were tired of being packed so close to our neighbors in Texas Springs campground.

Next day, we packed up and headed for Lone Pine, CA: