Boondocking, Beer, and a Blow Out

On the way out of Death Valley on Sunday, 4/22, we stopped at the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction. Roger’s Grandma Ardys had regaled us with stories of her trip many years ago to Death Valley. She and Grandpa Oscar made the drive to the Opera House and attended a show by the acclaimed Marta Becket. They were thrilled by the artwork, costuming, and performance and Grandma still recalls it fondly.

We didn’t get to see inside the Opera House, it’s only open for scheduled tours and performances, but we did get to learn a little of the fascinating history. A flat tire brought Marta Becket, an artist and performer from New York, to Death Valley Junction. She decided that day to make it her home. In 1968, she began painting fabulous murals inside the Opera House and creating and performing her one-person shows. After a career spanning more than 40 years, Marta retired in 2012 and passed away in 2017. We did get to see displays of her costumes, artwork and show programs. It was fun to think of Grandma enjoying the spectacle decades ago. 

Rog & Riley outside the Amargosa Opera House.
Luckily, neither will be singing today. :)

Incredible murals inside the Opera House painted by Marta Becket.

Sirlurian Dry Lake Bed was our destination for Riley’s first real boondocking adventure.  The lake bed is huge, level and open with great views. Best of all, we had it all to ourselves! We pulled out onto the lake bed, picked a spot, set up our patio, and kicked back to enjoy a quiet evening of total solitude and puppy playtime.

Lots of open space to play for Riley's first boondocking experience.

Our front yard. :)

Our next stop was a long, dusty drive down a dirt washboard road. The payoff was a quiet BLM campground surrounded by badland formations. Beautiful! Another draw was its proximity to Barstow and Starbuck’s wifi. I spent an afternoon getting all my Death Valley posts uploaded. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until later that something broke on my subscriber feed and it quit sending emails letting folks know there’s a new post. I’m working on getting that fixed, so drop me an email or comment on the blog to let me know if it is (or isn’t!) working. 

Owl Canyon BLM Campground.

This makes the washboard worthwhile.

Riley got to hike the Owl Canyon trail with us and he had a great time. We stayed two nights, the minimum to make that five miles of washboard worthwhile. I swear by the time we got to the campground I felt like a 007 martini – shaken, not stirred! Lol.

Owl Canyon Hike.

Riley did a great on the rocky terrain.

 

Ancient mudflats.

Turning into a trail dog. :)

On Tuesday, 4/22, we drove the Rainbow Basin scenic loop. What a gem! We did it near sunset and I ran out of light for pictures, but it was spectacular.

Badlands formations in the evening light.

Rainbow Basin pano.

Love the colors and striations in the stone.

Riley likes it too!

Bizarre folds in the landscape.

Last light in the basin.

After bouncing out of Owl Canyon, we make a quick stop in Barstow to get the short bus and the mule a shampoo. We then turned our clean, shiny rig north on Hwy 395. There’s still a whole lot of nothing for miles around, so you have to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, right? Beer Tasting? Yep, that looks like an opportunity to me! Lol.  In truth, Rog had scoped out the Indian Wells Brewery outside of Inyokern and we planned to stop there for lunch. It turned out to be a great place – fun, funky, good beer and a lovely, green outdoor seating area. Riley was very happy to join us on the cool grass, something he hasn’t seen for quite awhile! 

Who could pass this up? Lol.

Lobotomy or Amnesia .... hard to decide. 

Great outdoor seating area.

Riley didn't get any beer, but he enjoyed the grass. (hee, hee)

We decided to stay at Fossil Falls, another BLM campground just off Hwy 395 near Little Lake. The road to the campground was graded dirt, no washboard - yeah! Unfortunately, the road inside the campground was decidedly more challenging. The campground is known for its formations and fields of black volcanic rock. Interesting to look at it, but not so good for getting up close and personal. It’s like hiking through a field of razor blades.

The campground reviews mentioned the sharp rocks and they weren’t lying. As Rog was maneuvering into a campsite a long-talonned gremlin (ok, maybe it was just a sharp volcanic rock) reached out and clawed a hole in the sidewall of our right, rear tire. We limped into a more accessible site and gave Coachnet a call.  Props to them, they had a repair person on site within a few hours with a shiny new shoe for the short bus. Let’s just say our $6 site ending up costing about 100 times that. Ouch! (Oh, and Coachnet paid for the $540 service call or it would have been a lot worse!)

Ouch! Baby gets a new shoe.

Even with all the *ahem* fun, we managed the short hike to the Fossil Falls. No fossils and no waterfall, so what’s up with that?  Ahhhhh… all will become clear. In the Pleistocene era the Owens River flowed through here. Volcanic eruptions dammed the river and it ran over the basalt flows, sculpting and polishing the rocks. Over time the river changed course and the falls are dry now, dropping 40 feet into an ancient river channel. So, the area is named for the fossil of a waterfall! 

Fossil Falls.

Water sculpted channels.

Some of the indentations are grinding holes used by the early natives.

Looking down canyon at the ancient waterway.

Walking (carefully!) back at dusk.
That's a huge cinder cone in the background.

We opted to move along after just one night here. We’ve read so much about the boondocking at Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, CA that we’re excited to go check it out.