Go Around the Bend: Death Valley Days

I’ve got several posts drafted, but haven’t had the bandwidth to upload anything. So be prepared, once I find a Starbucks we have some catching up to do!

I must admit to being totally surprised by the size, scope and diversity of Death Valley National Park. My mental image was of a big, flat, boring sandy stretch whose primary claim to fame was brutally high temps. And while there is that, there is really so much more! Death Valley is the largest national park outside of Alaska (new fun fact!) with over 3 million acres of wilderness. The ecological diversity is amazing, from below sea level to 11,000 feet you can see wind-swept sand dunes, twisty slot canyons, salt flats, mysterious moving rocks, abandoned mines, and snowy peaks. And of course, we want to see it all and share it all too! So I’m opting for several shorter posts, if I tried to fit all of our Death Valley adventures into one, you might think you’d opened War and Peace with pictures. Lol.

Beautiful, not boring at all!

Telescope Peak
Choose your spot - over a hundred degrees in the valley or snow in the mountain - without leaving the park!

Getting here was an adventure all its own. We left Bakersfield on Sunday, 4/15, and took Hwy 190 into the park. Let’s just say we won’t do that again. Although it was designated a scenic route, the section through Rainbow Canyon was so twisty, narrow and steep with scary drop offs that I spent a good deal of time with my eyes clenched shut, gripping the arm rests. When Rog says a road would be fun on a motorcycle it is NOT fun in the RV. We stopped at the Father Crowley Vista Point to walk Riley and steel ourselves for the next portion of the drive.

Hwy 190 through Rainbow Canyon was scenic, at least when I could bear to look. :)

Dramatic clouds at Stovepipe Wells.

Yep, the winds are kicking up and tomorrow will be much worse.

The weather guessers were calling for high winds with gusts up to 50 mph on Monday, so we wanted a spot where could hunker down and wait out the winds – preferably with hookups so Riley could have air conditioning. We snagged a spot at Stovepipe Wells RV Park for Sunday, but it was only open for one night. Essentially a gravel parking lot with hookups it wasn’t anything to write home about. On Monday, we could have moved into the adjacent camping area – a larger gravel parking lot without hookups, but decided to drive the 24 miles to Furnace Creek Campground. Before leaving Stovepipe Wells we spent a little time exploring the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes – one of my favorite areas of the park!

Mesquite Flat Dunes

It was fun walking on the dunes, but I wouldn't want to do it in the heat of the day.

More sandy goodness.

Winds are just starting to blow, time to get on the road!

We’d hoped, in vain, to beat the winds to Furnace Creek. It’s only 24 miles, but it felt like “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”. We were the tallest thing around for miles and the wind was having a ball pushing us all over the road. Rog usually does a fairly good job keeping his Zen face on while driving, but even he was *ahem* commenting on the challenge.

The wind was blowing sand (and us!) across the road.

We were extremely happy to pull into Furnace Creek and snag a full hookup site that had just been vacated. I love the stands of mesquite dotting the campground, more green than we’ve seen in a while! The visitor’s center is right next door and there’s a small community here with a huge lodge and golf course (really?!), a diner, tiny store, museum, post office and more. There’s even a jeep rental place (more on that later!).

Our Death Valley home (with hookups!). Yeah, us.

All this and a golf course too - in the middle of the desert?!

We spent most of Monday just hanging out – the winds got worse, blowing so much dust and sand that on the short walk to the Visitor’s Center it felt like we were being sand blasted. Even with all the windows closed, my entire life is gritty. The winds were so crazy the aluminum antennae bracket bent straight up. Luckily, it was already on the list of things that need upgraded. Ha.

Ouch! Mother Nature was not fooling around.

Tuesday, 4/24, could not have been a more perfect weather day – blue skies, sunshine, 80 degrees and NO wind. We loaded Riley up in the CRV and did some of the scenic drives and overlooks. Our first stop was Zabriskie Point with fantastic views of badland formations, red rock, and the valley floor against a backdrop of the Funeral Mountains.

Riley does Death Valley. :)

Zabriskie Point pano.

Love the colors and patterns.

What a view!

We drove through 20-Mule Team Canyon and then did the Artists Palette scenic drive. The colors are anything but boring here! After that we stopped back at the coach for lunch and to leave Riley in airconditioned splendor.

Artist Palette Scenic Loop.

Nature's abstract art.

Our next stop was the Harmony Borax Works where we learned about the early mining and processing of borax. Remember those old commercials for 20-Mule Team Borax for your laundry? They really did haul the refined borax 165 miles across the desert in 20-mule team wagons. The mule teams hauled loads up to 36 tons including 1,200 gallons of water for the trip.

One of the 20-Mule Team Wagons at Harmony Borax Works.

The aptly named "Mustard Canyon."

This area had its fair share of boom and bust mining towns. In addition to borax, prospectors mined for lead, copper, tungsten, silver and gold. One of the few profitable mines was the Keane Wonder Mine, a gold mine with a mile-long aerial tramway built to move the ore from the shafts down the steep mountainside for processing. Gold from the mine was made into coins to pay its employees. Rog and I hiked up the tram line for a birds-eye view of the remains. It is amazing what human ingenuity and grunt labor can accomplish when there’s a profit to be made!