A Winter's Journey

Haven't posted in so long that I will have to do a series of "retrospective" posts to catch up with myself (and anyone else who reads this). Last January I was feeling a bit out of sorts. Retirement was finally sinking in. It is a very strange thing, but there is a whole lot of mental adjustment to do. So, sitting there sort of mildly depressed on a cold and blustery January day, I decided that Kim and I needed to do a little more exploring together. We were already headed to Tonopah NV for a Rotary function (a fundraiser for a Tonopah Rotarian with terminal cancer) so I thought she might like to spend a few days together exploring in Death Valley (a little over an hour south of “T-town”).

You should have seen the look on her face when I asked her if she wanted to check out Death Valley. Kind of a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and joy all mixed together. I am not well known for my wanderlust to say the least. I am working hard to change my mind set in retirement. I about blew it out of the water when we purchased our new 5th wheel last month. But that is for another post!

From Tonopah, we headed south and got settled into our motel room in Beatty. We considered staying in the park proper at a place called the Furnace Creek Inn. However, the room rate of $450 per night kinda ruled that one out. I may be changing my mind set, but I think I am a long ways away from paying that kind of bread for a room! It was a clean little place, right across the street from a little bar and grill. We settled in and headed out for Death Valley.

I am fairly familiar with the park, having taken three of my four lovely daughters there as a chaperon for their 8th grade science field trip. Those trips were all a lot of fun. Great memories! Kim always felt a little left out, so this was my opportunity to make amends.

Just coming over the pass into Death Valley from Beatty.

Of course we had to check out the visitor's center. After a long (it seemed that way to me) Ranger talk on desert wildlife, we headed out to see the lowest part of the valley, Bad Water Springs which is 282 feet below sea level (85.5 meters for you European folks). This was always a stop on the 8th grade trips. The ground is solid salt that has deposited over ages of evaporation. After a short walk, we worked had to get our feet relatively salt free to preserve the carpeting in the car!

This is the lowest spot in the Valley (and the US). It's called
Bad Water. There are a couple of perennial springs there, but
it would be tough to drink for sure. The smell was awful.

We got back to Beatty, and had a bite to eat at one of the saloons in town. There aren't a lot of actual restaurants in there. We eventually made it back to the room and crashed. 

Next day our big excitement was Scotty's castle. Another favorite stop on the middle school adventures. It seems this fellow, Walter Scott, was a cowboy trick rider with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show who moved out west to make it big. He conned people into buying stock in his Death Valley gold mine (there was no mine) and made a pretty good living at it. A millionaire from Chicago (one of his investors) found him out, but liked being around him so much they became lifelong friends and partners. The Millionaire built a beautiful home at the north end of the Valley, and it became known as "Scotty's Castle". It is run by the park service today, and is very much worth seeing if you get the chance.

A nice view of the "Castle". We took a house tour with a park
ranger dressed as a woman from the 1930's. Very interesting and
entertaining.

They imported these kitchen tiles from Spain, and Kim was
so excited to send a picture of them to Viola. The bull looks a little scary. 

Our next stop was a place called Ubehebe (U-Bee-Hee-Bee) crater. A huge hole in the ground that is only about 600 years old. It was caused by an explosion of steam when red hot magma came into contact with ground water in the area. A very interesting geological site. It is about 500 feet deep. On the eighth grade field trips, the kids would literally run (against orders) down into the bottom. Coming up was a little more of a challenge. So, Kim and I jumped off and headed down. It was about 20 minutes to the flat mix of sand and fractured rock that is the bottom of the crater. There are a few hardy shrubs scattered about as well. Interestingly, the crater looks a lot deeper from the bottom than up on the rim! We wandered about for a bit, and took a short break before we turned uphill and started the long pull back to the car. Probably took twice as long, with a few rest stops, but we made it without incident.

Kim stands at the rim of Ubehebe Crater. It was about a 500 foot
vertical descent, and of course ascent coming back out!

Resting my legs at the bottom of  Ubehebe Crater.

We headed back that evening, and decided to explore a ghost town located just before you re-enter Beatty. It is called Rhyolite. It was a pretty desolate place. Actually there were a few people still living around the old place. It was a gold mining town established in 1905. By 1910 it had a very well developed infrastructure with piped in water, and electricity. It even hosted a stock exchange. It probably housed around 5,000 people at is peak. However, when the gold ran out things went south quickly. By 1920 it was essentially deserted. There are some cool old two and three story concrete buildings, an old casino, and lots of remnants of habitation there. There is also a cute little museum run by a local artist. The museum was closed, but we got to see some of the guy's sculptures. I think he draped burlap over mannequins and soaked them in plaster to build a piece he calls "the Last Supper". It was actually very interesting viewing as the desert sun settled below the horizon. We left just as it was getting too dark to find any neat old treasures in the sand and mesquite brush.

A neat old caboose left behind in Rhyolite. Perhaps it was
used as some kind of store or business. It wasn't set up as a
residence.

This was a residence that was built out of thousands of old
bottles mortared together like brick. Must have made for some
interesting lighting inside.

"The last supper", as the sun goes down on Rhyolite.

Our last day we decided to leave the park from the west side and head back up 395 to home. Before we left the park, we stopped and visited another 8th grade favorite, the sand dunes. This is a pretty vast expanse of fine grained sand dunes. Walking out through and over them fairly early in the day, you can see all kinds of wild tracks from lizards, snakes, and rodents. The daily wind erases these each day, and the desert wildlife replenishes them each night. Kim and I strolled around for an hour or so, enjoying the scenery and solitude.

The dunes are a stark contrast to the rocky cliffs and bluffs
that you can see in the background.

Finally, we made our way west towards the exit of the valley that leads over to lone pine and State High Way 395. I had never been through this part of the park before, so it was all new. The scenery was incredible as we wound our way up the road and into the pass. We stopped at an overlook, for a break, and one last view of the Death Valley. It was incredible. 

Our last look at Death Valley was very inspiring.

We drove all the way up to Lake Topaz so we would have a short leg to home on the next day. Dinner at the Topaz Lodge was good, and the room was nice, clean and quiet. Next morning we headed out, and stopped for breakfast in Carson City at a place called "Woodette's Dinner". I had heard of this place from one of the young people that I worked with at RYLA camp several years before. His parents owned and operated it. I remembered that this young man's dream was to play professional soccer. He had trouble embracing this passion, as it seemed too impractical. By the end of camp, he was ready to live his dream. I always wondered what became of him, so I introduced myself to the lady behind the counter after breakfast (excellent!) and found out that he is back east at college playing soccer on a scholarship! He is doing very well and is even filling in as an assistant coach.

Kim can never make up her mind what to have. So, as usual
she ordered two items, and we shared!

It was a great trip. Kim and I really enjoyed ourselves (and each other). It cemented my thought that we definitely need to do more of this kind of thing together!

That's All!