Death Valley Week

5 Alpines and an SOB (Some Other Brand) 

I was looking forward to our week in Death Valley.  We spent a week here last year with a group of our Alpine friends exploring a lot of the park but ran out of time to see it all. We left knowing we would return to explore further. 
(https://alpine36adventures.blogspot.com/2017/01/exploring-death-valley-national-park.html)

This past week in Death Valley flew by between group excursions, hikes, Happy Hour gatherings, and a couple of dinners together around the camp fire. Once again we had a grand time with our friends. And once again there was a lot to see and yet we still did not see it all. 
We will simply have to return again next January!

For me, the highlight from this year's visit was watching the sunrises from different vantage points in the park. 
Some were from the camp site where we watched the sun's rays slowly move across the mountains behind us and systematically light up the dark shadows as daylight appeared.

One of the more memorable sunrises we witnessed was from Zabriskie Point, the most famous viewpoint in the park. We arrived in the dark about 15 minutes before sunrise, bundled up against the cold morning air, only to discover a group of photographers already set up with their tripods doing the same - waiting for the sun to hit the yellow rocks and light up the valley. It was a spectacular display as the rays hit the golden colored badlands of the Furnace Creek formation. 

 

The other memorable sunrise was from the dizzying height of 6,433 feet elevation at Aguereberry Point located in the Panamint Mountains. We drove the distance in the pitch dark, and arrived in time to watch the valley and distant peaks come to life as the sunrays reached them.
Unlike at Zabriskie Point, there was absolutely no one else there, just the two of us. We were completely alone, two bundled up specks in the vast wilderness gazing out over Death Valley from the west.

 

Now that it was light, on our return along the gravel road from Aguereberry Point, we stopped off to see Pete Aguereberry's camp and his Eureka Mine. 
Pete Aguereberry was one of the original strike finders in this area that once was Harrisburg, the tent city that grew to support a population of 300. Today nothing remains of the town but Pete's home and mine. He spent 40 years working his claims in the Eureka gold mine which apparently kept him sustained. However it must have been a lonely existence in this remote corner of the mountains at such high elevation. It took us a half hour to drive the 5 miles along the gravel road to reach the Point from the main road.
Titus Canyon was another highlight from this year's visit. This 26-mile, one-way road descends a vertical mile before emerging onto the floor of Death Valley. We left in convoy in our Jeeps. The dirt road is rough, often steep and narrow, and just as often quite bumpy and jarring. I refer to these roads as "duhduhduhduhduh" roads, and to illustrate how juddery the ride feels, my head bounces up and down for emphasis.

To reach the beginning of the one-way road, we drove across the Armagossa Valley and towards the Grapevine Mountains, quite scenic and pretty. 




Sections of the road afforded truly spectacular vistas.

We stopped at the remnant ghost town of Leadfield for a quick break. Leadfield was once a busy and booming lead mining enterprise for only a year between 1926-27. The lead deposits bottomed out quickly and all that is left today are the few shacks and a number of mines. And a lot of curious retirees who make the trip into the canyon.

leg-stretch and lunch break at Leadfield

Just below Leadfield, the road enters the main fork of Titus Canyon, where limestone cliffs rise high above the broad wash. Great mountain building forces created the folded layers, creating a spectacular canvas. 

We stopped at Klare Springs to see the native American petroglyphs. The inhabitants came to the spring to hunt bighorn sheep, which depended on the small spring for survival. We saw the petroglyphs but did not see any bighorn sheep. 

deciphering the different petroglyph shapes

snakes, sheep, and birds are what we were able to identify best

Klare Springs

The final 1.5 miles of the canyon is the narrowest. The walls squeeze down to less than 20 feet apart in some places. As the road enters the narrows it detours out of the wash and descends what is often the roughest part of the entire trip. 

After 3 hours of boucing and shuddering our way through the canyon, we emerged on the other side to a terrific view of the valley ahead. 

In spite of the "duhduhduh" jarring drive, the Titus Canyon trip was definitely worth it. 

On another afternoon we stopped off at Zabriskie Point then continued on to the 9-mile scenic loop drive through Artist's Palette with its multi-hued sedimentary hills. The different colors were especially vibrant in the late afternoon sun. 

  

  

  

We stopped off at the Borax Museum in Furnace Creek. There were interesting displays about the machinery used during the borax mining days. 

As we have learned, prior to becoming a national park, this area was mined quite extensively and the cultural legacy that now remains is of towns and mines that once flourished here for a short period of time.

One day we all set off to Panamint Springs where we had lunch at the restaurant like we did the year before. After lunch several of us continued on to Father Crowley Point. The views from the grand overlook to northern Panamint Valley were breathtaking. The landscape consists of dark lava flows and volcanic cinders that give way to the gash of Rainbow Canyon. At the time we were there, a fighter jet zipped through the canyon below us. And at the very end of the lookout point, there was a van parked with three young French-speaking tourists who had set up a table and were playing a board game. It certainly was a unique experience, perched high atop the edge of the valley. 

  

  
The two of us went on a hike into Golden Canyon one morning, a hike we did during our Rialta travels a decade ago. We had planned to take a narrated, park ranger led hike this time. Unfortunately no ranger showed up due to the government closure that went into effect that weekend. We hiked the canyon anyway, and enjoyed the labyrinth landscape of golden colored hills and winding narrow canyons even though we did not learn about the geology of this Badlands area. At the end of the canyon we had a terrific view of Red Cathedral. 

Red Cathedral 

On the final morning of our stay, we drove with the Johnsons to the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, ten beehive-shaped structures built in 1876 to provide fuel to process silver and lead ore. These perfectly preserved structures are located in upper Wildrose Canyon in the Panamint Mountains. 
It was pretty chilly, the remnants of snow still lying on the ground at this 6,800-foot elevation. 

From the kilns we went in search of Skidoo, a ghost town, or rather in this case, a ghost site because nothing other than a reader board and a few rusted tin cans mark the spot where the town once stood. 

Skidoo was founded in 1906 when two prospectors, on their way to the Harrisburg strike, found gold. The town reached a population of 700 and became famous as the site of the only hanging to take place in Death Valley. It occurred when Hootch Simpson, a saloon owner who had fallen on hard times, tried to rob the bank, was foiled in the attempt, and later went back and killed the owner of the store in which the bank was located. During the night the townspeople hanged Hootch. According to legend he was hanged twice, to accommodate news photographers who missed the first hanging. No one was ever arrested for the hanging. Obviously in such remote areas it was simple for folks to take the law into their own hands and demand justice. 
On the return trip back to the main road, we stopped to take in the breathtaking view across Death Valley.

bird's eye view into Death Valley and the golden peaks of Zabriskie Point

Several of us went to the Keane Wonder Mine site which reopened again this past November to the public. Operating in the early 1900s, the Keane Wonder Mine was one of the most successful gold mines in Death Valley. It remains as one of the best examples of a historical gold mining operation in the national park. The aerial tramway remains well preserved and still has the cables attached. Traveling 1,000 feet down in one mile, the tramway cars began carrying the gold ore from the mine to the mill in 1907. By 1912 the mine was mostly tapped out and major operations ended. In that time, almost one million dollars in gold was hauled down those cables. 

the outhouse remains, and I wondered how hot it must have been inside
this corrugated iron structure especially during the summer months

From the higher elevation of the mine site we could see a wind storm developing in the valley below us. We watched the wall of dust grow and move across the valley floor. 

By the time we returned to the campground, the wind had increased and we spent the night occasionally being buffeted about during the higher gusts. The next morning we were greeted with a film of fine Death Valley dust that managed to find its way into the coach through the slightly opened kitchen window. 

On our final day, the two of us walked towards the Mesquite Sand Dunes before sunset. We reached the outer edges of the dunes, about a mile away, then turned around in the falling light. I enjoyed tramping across the flats with their patterns etched into the sand. 

All of us gathered for a final pot-luck farewell around the camp fire. 
It was yet another successful visit to Death Valley. Before we left we all made reservations again for next year. 

  

We will return. And will continue to explore the many more points of interest that this incredible National Park offers.  
Tomorrow we head out, retracing our two-day journey back to the Arizonian RV Park in Gold Canyon.