Steve and Sandy... on the Road With Yoda: Death Valley

March 11 – 18, 2009 To view pix bigger Click on them.

Death Valley was amazing. We spent a week there & only saw about 1/2 of it. Plan to go back another time & see the rest. We started @ Scotty’s Castle & spent first night @ Grapevine camping. Nice grounds but not high profile RV friendly. Left there & stayed @ Stovepipe Wells Village the rest of the week. It’s a little more central in the park. With golden age pass $6.00 a night dry camping dump & water near by. Also a small store & gas. But just a parking lot. Below is Mike & Sandy’s Airbus & our Phaeton. We went sight seeing in the early day & relaxed, read, did beading or played Mexican Train in the afternoon. The VW camped in the row in front of us. The couple was about our age from Idaho. The camper truck was interesting in that it all folds down flat. And the 2 black plates on left side of the roof are solar panels.

Our first trip out was to Badwater Basin. Lowest elevation in the U.S. 282ft. (86m) below sea level. Steve & Sandy Standing out on the salt flat.

Below is a ramp you can walk out on to the salt @ Badwater Basin & the other Pix is of the white sign up on the hill that says sea level.

Natural Bridge

After a short walk up a narrow canyon you soon realize you are standing in a dry riverbed that water and flash floods have carved out . It has left behind a rock arch it has carved out that weighs thousands of tons. The high canyon walls are a hundred feet high in areas. Equally dramatic is the view overlooking the valley.

Devils Golf Course

The floor of Death Valley covers more than 200 square miles and over the years the rains bring down from the hills all the minerals and salts. As they evaporate, the salts and minerals remain leaving jagged formations as sharp knife blades or ocean coral reef. This process took place over 2,000 years ago.

Mike & Steve @ Devils Golf Course

Artist Drive – These don’t really show all the color in the rocks.

The geology can change quickly as mother nature will layer different minerals causing the colors to change during the day with different lighting.

Furnace Creek Visitor Center-

There is a Museum here & another campground. There is also Wi-Fi @ this location. As well as a restaurant, store & gas.

Zabriskie Point

Wind, rain, and sand have eroded these hills into a maze of valley’s and gully’s to form an ever changing landscape of carved mudstone hills.

Harmony Borax Works

Over 120 years ago the mineral Borax was mined and refined to allow it to be transported 120 miles out of death valley to the nearest railroad line. They could produce 3 tons of semi-refined product a day. The famous 20 mule team and men could average 2 miles per per hour and the round trip took over 30 days and covered over 340 miles. Anyone interested in a “outside” job?

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

The winds of mother nature will blow in specific patterns and directions and in specific areas will create blowing waves of sand that will accumulate in just a few spots. They can be as high as 150 ft.

Critter tracks above & a lone flower in the sand

Mosaic Canyon

Carved out of hard mineral rock is a canyon that is the slender bottle next opening into a vast valley. Water, sand and rock have been eroding and polishing this narrow canyon for thousands of years. The result is canyon walls that are only a few feet wide and have held back the rushing water carving away on the walls

Mike & Sandy Bubar

Charcoal Kilns @ about 8000ft. Steve standing by the snow @ the kilns.

These kilns were made to produce charcoal used for processing silver at a mine 25miles away and at the elevation of 6000ft. Loaded with 42 cords of wood each, they would produce 2,000 bushels of charcoal . It would take a week for each kiln. No chain saws or modern equipment for this job. Just back breaking hard work.

Steve, Mike & Sandy Bubar friends we met with the Escapees class of 2007. There from Minnesota & travel with evil cat Stormy. Yoda’s good buddy.