Well, I'm going to start today's tale. (Yes, of course, this is Rover writing. After all, I'm the only "person" besides Denise who is on this trip.)
I think I might let Denise write too, but I'll have to see how much writing energy I have today. Denise was really tired last night; I guess that long flight took more energy than usual. Or it could be the fact that she didn't get enough sleep the two nights before we left. I think that was the issue, but she insists it was the flight. No matter though...
We finished our travels to Death Valley with a drive this morning. It was about 140 miles along mostly quiet roads. US-95 started as a limited access highway in Las Vegas, then switched to "just" a 4-lane road, and then shrunk to 2 lanes. The speed limit was 70 for most of the drive - even on the 2-lane portions of road. And you know what? Denise behaved and didn't stop along the side of the road to take pictures. I know she was really tempted. There was low scrub, some taller cactus, blue mountains in the distance, and low haze near the mountains. Stark, beautiful... no photos! Oh, and there was a very interesting metal sculpture of a big horse following a truck on the highway. It passed by so quickly, a flash, but not a figment of my imagination.
Our first stop in the park was at Zabriskie Point. Denise said that she wasn't going to stop until we got to the visitor's center at Furnace Creek, but I convinced her that a viewpoint stop would be a good idea. What an amazing view... Just to whet your appetite, here's the description of Zabriskie Point from the park's newsletter: "Surrounded by a maze of wildly eroded and vibrantly colored badlands, this spectacular view is one of the park's most famous". The sky was still overcast when we were there; I wonder what it would look like in sunshine.
After our quick stop at Zabriskie Point we continued rolling down the road, down, down. The intersection of Route 190 and Badwater Road is at sea level, and the road was still pointing downward. Wow! I've never been on ground that is below sea level before. Denise has, but that was before I joined her travels.
Next stop was the visitor center where Denise chatted with one of the rangers about hikes. I don't think that she will run out of places to wander here. And then...
It was time to walk!
Oh, Denise said she wants to write today too, so I'll sign off for now.
--- Rover
It was still relatively cool when I headed up Golden Canyon, but by the time I wandered back out of that beautiful place the sun had decided to take over the sky, chasing the clouds away. Temperature rising, hot hiking... Up, up, gradually up. Fluted walls of different colors, curves, striped rocks. I continued past the turnoff for Zabriskie Point, heading to Red Cathedral. The trail got steeper, narrower too. And then it was time to turn around, the end of the trail. Out, back again, and on to...
Artist's Drive was just a little further down Badwater Road. It's a very narrow road - just one lane wide. And yes, it's a one-way loop. I have a feeling that it will be very easy to repeat this drive again later this week. I pulled off the road several times to absorb the light, the colors. Artist's Palette jumped out and demanded more time. The colors of the rocks were fantastic. I expected the desert shades of red, from light to dark. What I didn't expect was the greens, and the pinks. I wonder what minerals cause those colors. My camera was very busy trying to capture those colors. (You're right, I really didn't need an excuse to take pictures.)
I was standing near the edge of a dry wash, at the top of what seemed like a pretty steep drop. I looked across and saw someone walking on the other side of the wash, heading up. Hmm... how did he get over there? I looked and looked, and I found a path down. Ah, I can get closer to those wonderful colors by crossing the wash and climbing the other side. I guess this is what the park service means when they mark trails as "no trail".
Tomorrow, I'll have to try some more of those "no trail" trails!
After dinner, I sat outside for a while, watching the dimly lit clouds start to fade into the sky. It was almost dark, almost time to walk over to the visitor center for the evening ranger talk. I stopped first at the general store to pick up a small flashlight. The visitor center is a down the road a bit, and it's a very dark road. I wanted a light not to see but to be seen. Funny, I walk at night at home, and I wear some very bright little blinking lights. It never occurred to me that I might want those lights here!
Tonight's program was titled "The Storms of 2004", the story in photos of an amazing rainstorm. Death Valley usually gets less than 2 inches of rain a year. One night in 2004 there was 2 inches of rain in 2 hours. We saw photos of smaller flash floods, water running down the washes. And we saw photos of this results of the 2004 flood. Roads were washed out, totally destroyed. The park was closed for nine days. That's unheard of. And that storm was the reason why the roads I was on today were in such good shape - they were totally rebuilt just 3 years ago.
Presentation over, I walked back to my home away from home. Stars sparkled, making me appreciate the darkness of the night. Later, I sat outside of my room looking at the wisps of clouds that were highlighted by the moon. I think this place is casting a spell on me.
