28th September 2021, Tuesday
Death Valley National Park
O and I have coffee and muffins at the little coffee shop near Robbers Roost Motel in Green River, Utah. We are on the road by 8:10, heading towards our next destination, Death Valley National Park. Our drive is uneventful, mostly along interstate roads. As we drive westward skies become more and more hazy from the western fires. Mountain ranges are obscured in places. We finally arrive at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley and check into our motel. Our room is small, but clean and pleasant.
We have a surprisingly good dinner at the Badwater Saloon. The menu is quite limited as it is still the off season here. Tomorrow we will drive over to Furnace Creek Visitor Center to gather ideas for an exploration of the park. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 90’s F.
29th September 2021, Wednesday
Exploring Death Valley
O and I sleep in a bit this morning. We are at the Badwater Saloon for breakfast a bit before 8. After oatmeal, toast and hash browns, served by a rather harried waiter (he’s the only one here this morning, and business is beginning to pick up.) After breakfast, we hop into Vincent and head for Furnace Creek, a 24 mile drive to the south. There we get an official tag for Vincent so we don’t have to hang one of our “geezer passes” on the rear view mirror. The ranger warns us that passes have been known to melt in the Death Valley heat. He provides us with lots of advice regarding things to see and do while we are here. Apparently most people breeze through Death Valley in a day.
O’s first priority is finding a source of diesel fuel as there is only gasoline at Stovepipe Wells. Luckily, there is diesel available at Furnace Creek. It’s worth the almost $6.00/gallon since it saves us a 2 hour round trip drive to the nearest town. We view the film at the visitor center, which presents some of the geologic and natural history of Death Valley. The valley was formed in classic basin and range fashion. Folding and volcanic action uplifted mountain ranges on each side while the valley floor dropped. This occurred between 5 million and 35 million years ago. The mountain ranges prevent moisture-bearing clouds from dropping precipitation here. Rainfall in the mountains sends sediment down into the valley and erosion exposes a variety of colors. After watching the film, we proceed southward to Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level.
We read the interpretive panels and I walk out on the salt covered path. The valley is vast and there are few people about. I feel small and alone surrounded by the mountains and the wide flat valley. I am filled with a sense of awe and belonging – a sense that by being here I am almost a part of this landscape. It is a spiritual moment and I cannot describe it much better. I am reluctant to leave.
From Badwater we drive northward again and visit the Devil’s Golf Course. As we study the crystals and upheaval in this area O spies a pick-up truck with two bikes in the back. He comments to the driver that this doesn’t look like good terrain for cycling. In a very pleasant English accent the man agrees and (noticing our license plate) points out that we shouldn’t have any problem traveling here since we have a TARDIS.
O and I drive north again to Artists Drive, carved through sediment containing a profusion of colors – pink, gold, green, blue. . . It’s beautiful!
From Artists Drive we proceed to Harmony Borax Works interpretive trail. Borax mines were the only commercially successful mines in Death Valley – at least until other sources of borax were discovered in areas that didn’t require 20 mule teams to haul the product across 165 miles of desert.
Leaving the Borax Works we turn left out of the parking lot to drive through the yellow hills of Mustard Canyon.
Now it’s on to the boardwalk at Salt Creek. As we walk the trail we see numerous zebra tailed lizards in addition to coyote scat and tracks and burrows – we guess the burrows belong to kangaroo rats. We are followed by hungry horse flies the size of hummingbirds. (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration!) but they are thwarted by our long sleeves, long pants and hats. Yet, they still follow Vincent as we drive away.
We return to Stovepipe Wells where we dine on last night’s leftovers, enhanced by two Mojave Brewing Co beers and a dessert of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
A most excellent day!
30th September 2021, Thursday
We continue our Death Valley Tour
Just after 5 am we are on the road to Zabriskie Point. It is said to be one of the most beautiful places from which to watch the sun rise over Death Valley. We arrive at our destination well before official sunrise at 6:43, but the sky is already lightening. Up at the lookout there are a few people scattered about, talking quietly or photographing the Panamint Mountain Range to the west. Soon the first rays of the sun turn the distant peaks from purple to orange. The sunlight gradually brightens and the orange glow spills down the mountains, though some of the valleys remain shrouded in black. Soon the sun rises above the ridge behind us and Death Valley is awash in light.
O and I watch a bit longer in the cool morning breeze and then make our way downhill to Furnace Creek for breakfast. After breakfast we are on the road once more, this time to Dante’s View. We wend our way through road construction near Zabriskie Point and drive up to the peak in the Black Mountains. We are now more than a mile above the valley floor. The view is breathtaking – and the air is chilly! It’s windy up here and cold enough to warrant warm vests.
Now we return to the Visitor Center. We want to top off Vincent’s fuel and check one more time on road conditions for the Titus Canyon drive which was recommended by both the ranger at the Visitor Center yesterday, and by our waiter at Badwater Saloon. We get pretty much the same information we got from the first ranger. It’s a very rugged road. “Make sure you have a good spare tire and tools for changing tires.” The drive is about 26.6 miles from end to end on a one way, unpaved road. It is steep and narrow in places. O and I decide to go for it.
I’m driving. O prefers not to drive on twisty roads if he can avoid it since his cataracts have recently become more problematic. He is scheduled for cataract surgery on our return from traveling. The first 6 or 7 miles of the drive is on a bumpy gravel road which ascends to foothills that remind us of Umtanum in Washington State. Soon we are ascending – first over a pass with white to yellow coloring and then over Red Pass which is aptly named. The road is now an obstacle course: large rocks, a few big drop-offs from the rocks, gravel and narrow sections. My “favorite” kind of driving! Just as we climb over Red Pass we encounter some very large rocks. As I drive over these, Vincent drops down heavily. We hear a hissing sound and, almost immediately, the flat tire light comes on. I inch down a short distance to a wider and flatter spot. O and I exit Vincent. The right front tire has a huge gash in it and is completely flat.
We begin assembling the tools we need to change the tire and reading the manual to be sure of the proper procedure. As we are working a car from Nevada pulls up next to us. The couple in the car offer to help. Though they are from Nevada, they have English accents. Sarah notices our Tardis license plate and asks if we are Dr. Who fans. I say yes and comment that I could probably fix the tire if only I had a sonic screwdriver. Sarah points out that I wouldn’t need a sonic screwdriver if I had a real Tardis!
O and Bruce, with help from Sarah and me, eventually get the jack working and the spare tire in place. We thank Bruce and Sarah as they proceed on their way. We will text them when we are out of the canyon safely. Our main concern at this point is that we are only half way along and we had only one spare tire.
O and I make sure we’ve picked up all our tools. We stow the gashed tire in the middle of the van and continue through the canyon. Poor Vincent is rather a mess inside. All the jostling from the bumpy road has strewn gear from the deck all over. I continue driving down the canyon road as cautiously as I can as we drive over more rocks. After a long and slow descent we enter a narrow canyon, sort of a slot canyon for cars.
The rocks here are incredible – twisted and uplifted layers are visible in the high canyon walls. Thankfully, the road’s surface becomes smoother as we pass through the canyon. The scenery distracts me from my anxiety over driving this road and the last few miles seem to go by faster. Eventually the canyon opens onto a two-way gravel road. In another 2 miles we are back on smooth highway. Twenty miles later we are at Stovepipe Wells where we greatly enjoy our dinner of black bean burgers, salad and 2 scotch ales. Tomorrow we will figure out where to get a new spare tire.
1st October 2021, Friday
New Tire and More of Death Valley
We begin the day with another Death Valley sunrise, this one at Mesquite Dunes which is only 2 miles from Stovepipe Wells. We arrive at 6:30. Sunrise is at 6:45. As we walk out onto the dunes we note distinct pockets of warm air and cool air. The Panamint Mountains to the west are pinkish-purple in the pre-sunrise light. There are a few fellow early risers scattered across the dunes. Animal tracks inform us that there is definitely life in this desert.
O and I are enchanted once again as the rising sun casts shadows on the brightening Panamints and turns them orange. It’s a beautiful show! As we retrace our steps across the dunes I stop to photograph some of the animal tracks. They stand out even more in this early morning light.
After breakfast at the saloon, O calls Reverts Tires in Beatty, Nevada, about a 40 minute drive from here. He gives the proprietor the information he needs regarding tire size. He has one tire that fits the bill at his shop. Good enough! All we need is a spare for the trip home. We drive to Beatty where our tire is promptly changed. Our torn tire is described as “slightly squishy.” We leave our original spare on Vincent as the tire is good quality and, we discover to our surprise, that the wheel of the spare does, indeed, have a tire pressure monitor on it. Our new tire becomes the spare. Next, we find a gas station, top off our diesel fuel and buy more DEF – since Vincent’s monitor has been complaining that we are getting low. We are on the road back to the park before noon. On the way back I comment on some of the signs at the tire shop. One reads “rubber side out.” Another reads “we guarantee we’ll have some of the parts some of the time.”
From Beatty we drive directly to Ubehebe Crater (U-bee-Hee-bee) back in Death Valley. We begin our tour by reading the interpretive panel. About 2000 years ago magma caused ground water to turn to steam. There was an intense explosion which left a half mile wide crater surrounded by rocks strewn over a six square mile area. O and I walk up onto the rim to admire the crater.
We hike over to Little Hebe Crater and then proceed a bit further around the rim. Here we are slightly less than half way around – We retrace our path to the parking lot. It’s about an hour’s drive back to Stovepipe Wells. We realize that any further touring will not give us time to refill the DEF, straighten up Vincent, get dinner. . . etc. Besides, we’ve hit most of the highlights here. It’s been a wonderful visit!
Back at Stovepipe Wells O fits in his PT exercises. I do a few exercises also and find time to journal. After researching dinner options we elect to stay at Stovepipe Wells and share another mushroom pasta dish. Besides, we found out last evening that the saloon has a very good Scotch Ale on tap, brewed in Bishop, California. We wait for the sun to drop behind the Panamints so it will be cool enough to refill Vincent’s DEF reservoir. Meanwhile, we munch some brownies. I think I’ll fit in some fiddle time before bed.