Tag Archives: Death Valley

C’mon, Man, Give Me a Brake/Break!

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Yeah, it’s been a while, but not a lot to catch up to. A lot of family stuff keeping us on the left coast, but we did manage to sneak over to southern Nevada for some alone time. First stop was bee-you-tee-full Pahrump, Nevada where we spent a couple weeks hangin’ at the Pair-A-Dice SKP park. With the insane China-virus-hysteria still in full force, going places and trying to live life normally is still nigh on impossible. The really nice thing about Pahrump is it is surrounded by open desert, with scads of areas to head out to in the Jeep and cap a few rounds off to relieve some of the daily pressures (OK, so the only limit on the number of rounds I capped was the severe pain-in-the-ass shortage of ammunition available in any of the gun & shooting supply stores).

  • Home, at Pair-A-Dice
  • It’s terrible having to see skies like this…
  • Prepping for the range
  • Do I even remember how to do this? “Load with 6 and holster!” “Load with 6 and holster!” (Did I just date myself there? Phrases from the wheel gun days?)

Heading, yet again back into “unfriendly territory” that is, Kalifornia, we wanted to do a few days of boondocking on the west side of Death Valley, a place known as the Panamint Valley dispersed camping area. This would turn out to be more of an adventure than we bargained for. Taking Hwy. 190 west through Death Valley, between Stovepipe Wells & Panamint Springs, we encountered a “glitch”. Now having been full-timing on the road for over 8 years, ocean to ocean and passing through all of the lower 48, I have traversed some of the steepest grades this country has to offer. But on this particular trip, I have found one of the worst. The above mentioned section of Hwy. 190 happens to contain a 9 mile stretch of 9% downhill grade. Thus far I have been able to manage all grades utilizing my lower gears coupled with my engine brake. Any brake use has been infrequent pumping just to take the edge off my RPM’s. But 6 miles into this downhill we got nailed with “that odor”. I immediately found a skinny piece of shoulder to pull off and stop. As I opened the door, the tell-tale “wisps” of smoke were emanating from my front wheels. Ouch. So there we sat, staring off at the flat valley floor 3 miles ahead. After a 30 minute “brake” break, I fired ol’ Rosie up and continued downhill. Not wishing to even touch my brake pedal, I made it down the remaining 3 miles using only first & second gears with the engine brake and absolutely no brake pedal use. Whheeeeeewwwwww! We made it to the dispersed camping area just west of the road to Ballarat and gleefully set up for a big “brake” break, 3 night’s worth, to be exact.

  • How’s this for self-quarantine?
  • We did have daily visitors from nearby China Lake NWS
  • And here’s the guilty party who ruined our International Dark Sky experience all 3 nights…

Being this close to the ghost town of Ballarat, we just HAD to see it. It was a mere few miles drive down the dirt road (don’t worry, all you “pavement Princesses” out there, no high clearance or 4×4 necessary) to get to the “center of town”. This was about as disappointing as a “ghost town” could be. There were a couple of mud walls here and there, old metal parts and pieces scattered about, and one whole building with a sign designating it the “Ballarat Jail-Morgue 1898”. I have my suspicions as to the authenticity of the sign.

  • Just walls left on all but one building in “town”
  • The Ballarat Jail-Morgue
  • Fine desert accomodations…
  • All the interior walls suffered graffiti over the years.
  • A supposed gravesite next to the Jail-Morgue. I have my suspicions as to the authenticity…

Seeing we had been to Death Valley on a few prior trips, there was not much to try and see. But we were close to the Windrose Charcoal Kilns so we took the slow drive up into the hills. The kilns were used by the early miners to create the fuels (charcoal, I presume) used for smelting. We found them to be pretty well preserved.

  • A charcoal kiln
  • 10 of them, lined up all nice and neat…
  • Inside the kiln
  • A view down into the valley from the kilns
  • We even got to see some wild ass…2 of them

The really big downer about this time around in Death Valley, it happened to be nearly full moons all 3 nights. If you are not aware of it, Death Valley is an  international Dark Sky Park. Needless to say, skies aren’t much dark if there is a big ol’ lit up cheese ball right in the middle of them. We missed out, big time.

OK, so that kinda catches us up for now. Until next post…

1/20/2015 Death Valley 2015, Round 2

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We stayed at the Sunset campground in Furnace Creek for 8 days at $12 per night for a no hook-up campsite with fresh water, a dump station, and flush toilets available. The weather this time was great, a little cloudy for a couple of days, a little blustery at times, but overall cool and enjoyable. The campground had paved roads and large gravel sites. The visitor’s center was across the street, as was the Furnace Creek Ranch, which contained a general store, a couple of restaurants, cabins for rent, and the Borax museum. The coyotes did not bother us much, only heard them in the campground on a couple of nights. Death Valley N.P. is very large and there is a lot of driving to do for the spread out sights to see. 

Sunset Campground at Furnace Creek.

Our first stop was the Harmony Borax Works. It is touted as one of the first borax operations in the valley, going in the late 1800‘s. Of all the mining throughout the history of Death Valley, borax was the most profitable. Here at Harmony are the remnants of that processing plant.  

What is left of the Harmony Borax Works.
A closer view…
Jeanne, Yvonne, and Gary in front of a 20-mule team wagon set up.

This time around we made it to Scotty’s Castle in the north. We walked around the exterior on our own, opting not to pay for the guided tour through the interior. The castle is a very large spanish style ranch plopped down in the middle of absolutely nowhere. It was interesting to see that, being built back during the Depression years, they had solar power technology back then, they had put a solar system in for the water heating behind the house. While we were there, a couple of coyotes were prowling around the picnic area looking for Scooby snacks. We took the short walk uphill to visit Death Valley Scotty’s grave which overlooks the castle and has a good view of the surrounding valleys.

 The front view of Scotty’s Castle.
Wile E. Coyote looking for Scooby snacks.
At the rear of the castle, you can see the water tank at right and the solar heating system remnants directly in front and below the tank.
Death Valley Scotty’s grave marker. Strange history behind this man, he did not actually own the castle, he was only the caretaker for a millionaire who he conned, was found out, then continued a friendly relationship with… 
View of Scotty’s Castle from his gravesite. 
A closer front view.

After leaving Scotty’s Castle, we veered over to Ubehebe Crater. It was a short walk up to the rim and a pretty scenic view. The crater was formed by volcanic activity—ground water was heated to steam and pressure built up until it exploded to create the crater. Amazing was nature will create…

Ubehebe Crater
“OK, who stole all the colors?”
I guess this is not a good location to play “pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey”—watch your step!

Badwater Basin is the lowest point of land in the U.S. (actually, in the western hemisphere) at 282’ below sea level. It is a big, flat, plain at the bottom of the valley and when you look up at the mountain along the highway you see the words “sea level” marking that measurement on the mountain.

The sea level marker waaaaaaay up on the mountain.
Yvonne, me, and Gary just chillin’ “under the water”. 
We still had a bit of snow on nearby mountains, but nice weather in Death Valley. 

Next on our agenda was the Natural Bridge. That is a short hike up a canyon with some spectacular formations and dried up waterfalls.

Jeanne, Gary, and Yvonne taking a break on this short hike to Natural Bridge.
Jeanne and her mom standing in a dry waterfall tube.
“Hooray, we made it to the bridge!”
Yvonne and Gary inside another “dryfall”.

The Artist’s Palette drive is always a must-see. In these narrow, windy roads through the hills the mountains look like somebody splashed bright paints all over them (not limited to Artist’s Palette, ALL of the surrounding mountains to Death Valley have to be some of the most colorful mountains in the country, if not world!).

The Artist’s Palette.
Some of the strange formations found in the Artist’s Palette drive.

The Golden Canyon Trail is very cool as well. The surrounding canyon walls and hills are a bright golden color with unique and interesting formations. We took the short walk, ending at the Red Cathedral, but there is a longer, about 4 mile loop hike that nears Zabriskie Point (which was closed during our visit this time due to construction work to repair erosion/damage to the viewing area).

“We’re climbing through THAT?!”
Cruising through Golden Canyon.
“Why do you suppose they call this Golden Canyon?”
Gary, Yvonne, and Jeanne in the canyons. 
The approach to Red Cathedral.
Jeanne conquered the hike to Red Cathedral.
Yeah, we made Gary and Yvonne climb rocks too! 
“Hey, hey, hey you two, get a room!”

The Titus Canyon drive is a must when visiting D.V. It is a bit of a rough dirt road (4-wheel and high clearance advised), it is about 27 +/- miles long, takes about 3 hours to traverse, and winds through the ghost town of Leadfield. Scenic, scenic, scenic, ‘nuff said.

Titus Canyon views.
Most colorful…
Leadfield, a ghost town in Titus Canyon. 
4-wheel beauty.
Toward the end of Titus Canyon drive. The end has the skinnier canyon trails…

On the way to Mosaic Canyon, we made a quick stop at the Mesquite Flat Dunes, a large area of sand dunes which looks out of place in Death Valley. Mosaic Canyon is another short hike up a narrow canyon area with awesome formations. Jeanne sweated it out whether her mom and Gary could make the hike(s), but they showed her how the cow ate the cabbage.

Gary, Yvonne, and Jeanne on the Mesquite dunes. Nice shot of mountains in background.
Walking Mosaic Canyon. Well, we walked. Jeanne danced…
Plugging away in Mosaic Canyon.
Platoon leader Jeanne taking charge of our march.
Atlas…times 3.
Help! I’m stuck up here!
Lots of different formations in Mosaic Canyon.

We finished off our time in Death Valley with a disappointing day of playoff football, then bid our farewells. We headed back to Pahrump to clean up and re-stock for our next adventure, which will be at…

1/12/2013 Cold in the Desert

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If anyone would like some extreme weather, get a hold of us and let us know, we can be there real soon. Yikes, it seems the weather is following us, this desert area in Pahrump NV is experiencing lower than normal temps while we are here. Nights are slated to get down in the teens for the next few days. Brrrrrrrrr! I should’a packed a couple of pairs of long johns with my shorts and tank tops…We did a second day trip into Death Valley, more of the southeastern area. Stopped off at the Badwater Basin, a large salt flat 282 feet below sea level. The valley floor stretches out and is flat as flat can be.

“How far below sea level are we?”
My beautiful and always photogenic wife, Jeanne, taking one of her more serious poses at Badwater Basin…
Take note of the sea level marker high up on the hill.

Natural Bridge is another scenic canyon to hike up into, an easy hike less than 1 mile and fairly flat. It leads to its namesake, a rock overpass. Just around the corner from the “bridge” is a waterfall carved out of the mountain and looks like something of a cathedral, very interesting. Of course, we are in the desert, so the many “waterfalls” are actually dry rock formations.

This is “Natural Bridge” in beautiful downtown Death Valley.
Jeanne stands on the path below the Natural Bridge.
This was one of the “waterfalls” that looks something like a cathedral just past Natural Bridge.

On down the road we stopped to see the Devil’s Golf Course. I have no idea why it got named a golf course, they claim “only the Devil could golf on such rough links”. Well, I am still as sharp as a marble, so I still don’t get it, but the terrain and scenery is very unique and eerie.

Devil’s Golf Course in Death Valley.

Our final stop in Death Valley was the Artist’s Drive, a 9 mile one-way road through the hills and past the Artist’s Pallette. Very colorful mountains. Definitely don’t want to be driving anything over 25’ long, it is a narrow and windy paved road through some wild west looking canyons and passes.

Artist’s Pallette, from a distance.
Some rather unique rock formations along Artist’s Drive.

Everyone here at the Pair-a-Dice SKP co-op repeatedly urged us to check out the China Ranch Date Farm because we absolutely had to try their date shakes. So, off we go into the desert, looking for this date farm. It was kind of eerie finding this working date farm oasis in the middle of the desert. Once we got to the main driveway/turnoff, it was a short 2 mile scenic road through some crazy canyons, rock formations, and abandoned gypsum mines. The shakes were good, but not really anything I would rave about. We took the doggies on a little walk around the date palm orchards and some of the historic buildings on the property. This place is privately owned and operated.

Strange rock formations on driveway to China Ranch Date Farm.
At the China Ranch.

On our way back to camp, we stopped off at the Dublin Caves in Shoshone. These were used as dwellings for miners and bums up until 1960-ish. There was also a funky little graveyard on the hillside, some very old-fashioned graves with but a wooden cross as a headstone, the names long since succumbed to the weather patterns of the desert.

The Dublin Caves at Shoshone.
Inside the “presidential suite” of the Dublin Caves.

So it looks like the only place left to see around Pahrump is Sherry’s, one of the local brothels. The ladies at Pair-a-Dice keep on about how we JUST GOTTA go eat lunch there and maybe get a tour of the place. I’m still not sure that will make our extensive itinerary, but you just never know…TTFN (as the younger, social media savvy crowd would type…)

1/8/2013 Death Valley Nat’l Park

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So we made a quick one day run into part of Death Valley National Park. We only saw a small part of it seeing it is a 5,000 square mile swatch of the Mojave Desert. It is the hottest and driest point on our continent. We checked out Zabriskie Point first. Very scenic with a few short trails to walk into the hills (up to 3 miles, one way, I think). Some points of the trails looked pretty steep, but we had the puppies with us which were not allowed on the point or trails, so they stayed in the truck and we made it to the overlook only. It was a pretty cool sight, looking at the mountain formations and the valley.

Zabriskie Point
These are the types of trails at Zabriskie Point
Jeanne says, “It’s ALL mine!”

Next stop was Mosaic Canyon. It was a short walk, a mile or so, but again we had to leave the furry ones in the truck. The canyon was basically more scenic rock formations, not really colorful as its name may imply. But it was still a cool sight.

“You coming, or what?!” Mosaic Canyon
An easy walk/climb through the canyon.
The beginning of Mosaic Canyon, catching a small piece of Death Valley in the background.

We headed just out of the park to check out the local ghost town, Rhyolite. It was a gold mining boomtown sometime around 1908, around 6,000 population jammed into a small mountain area. Not a lot of buildings/ruins left, but an interesting walk through time nevertheless.

The Bottle House at Rhyolite.
Looking down the “main drag” of what’s left in Rhyolite.
I think this is the one train depot left in Rhyolite.

We are going to try to get back to Death Valley at least one more time, there is still a lot to see. But now it was time to head back to camp. I had to deal with a toilet seal that was allowing the water to leak out. I found out the easy fix…silicone lubricant spray on the two pivot points of the flusher-thing-a-ma-jigger (a highly technical term) inside the pipe and below the bowl and, voila, no more leaking toilet (it appeared the flusher was sticking). It was a bit comforting to hear from numerous fellow full timers about their similar experiences with all the little things that need to be fixed now and then on the RV. I think I am caught up on repairs at the moment. The only thing that drives us crazy is the coooooold temps causing us to rip through the propane like there is no tomorrow. We are always amused at the stories of the elderly RVers here at this Escapees park. A group of the ladies have repeatedly urged Jeanne and I to go to the local brothel, Sherry’s, for lunch and maybe a tour. Their faces actually light up when they talk about Sherry’s. I think we’ll have to pass…It is nice to hear some of the road stories others have experienced, and there is A LOT of experience here, several folks have been full timers for double digit years and one gal has been full timing for 30 years! I don’t think I could do that long on the road. Time to sign off for now. Onward and upward!