Not Badwater - that's miles to the south...
A salt crusted valley floor surrounded by mountains
Once wet, now dry, cracked, even a few remnants of footprints...
Monday, October 29, 2007
Photos: From salt flats...
Not Badwater - that's miles to the south...
A salt crusted valley floor surrounded by mountains
Once wet, now dry, cracked, even a few remnants of footprints...
Photos: Artist's Drive
Look at the shadows near the bottom of this shot.
Those stick-like figures? They are photographers, standing on a high point, seeking photos of the colors.
Photos: Zabriskie awe
The mid-day sun isn't the best decoration, but the views here fill me with awe.
Color fascination
A desert introduction
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Flying... no walking today
I really wish I could just snap my fingers and be transported across the country in an instant. Have you figured out how to make that happen? Oh, I didn't think so, but I thought it might be worth asking in case someone has a wonderful secret they want to share.
Yesterday's warm and wet weather cleared out overnight, leaving me with a morning adorned by a clear blue sky, cool air, and whipping wind. There was no question that a pre-flight ride was in order. In fact, if it wasn't a travel day it would have been a perfect day for a long ride. I was a bit time-constrained though, so a short morning wander on my bicycle had to suffice. That helped the morning hours to fly by, and then it was time to really fly.
Funny, I usually start my vacation travels either directly after work, or first thing the next morning. The timing of this trip gave me a (weekend) day and a half at home before heading out. On the one hand it seems like a waste of time that could be part of my trip, but it was really nice to have a real rest day before heading out. If it had been nice weather instead of our all day soaker, yesterday would have been a riding rather than a rest day - and that would have been good. This time - rest was good too.
Flying early in the day is a habit too, but that habit was easily broken on this trip. Southwest has a number of flights each day between Manchester and Las Vegas, but only one flight in each direction is a nonstop, and that was my preference. My 1:45 PM flight out of Manchester is scheduled to land in Las Vegas at 4:45. My initial thought was to drive partway to Death Valley tonight. My actual plan? I'm staying in Las Vegas at a hotel along my route to California. My initial thoughts about staying in Las Vegas were a very big yuck! That changed when I started looking for a place to stay at a mid-way point, and when I realized how early the sun is setting. I'd much rather drive into the park in daylight. And no, I'm not staying at a casino. A Hampton Inn fits the bill for tonight.
Did you know that flying on Southwest can be entertaining? Yes, it was one of those flights. It started right after they closed the doors. Music filled the plane for the first time. It took a minute before we could make out the words to the song - "hey baby, let's go to Vegas". That was followed by the normal safety talk, and then as our big bird headed toward the runway, we were serenaded with "I'm leaving on a jet plane". An airplane full of smiles...
That continued when one of my seatmates asked the flight attendent for the name of a lake that we were passing over. Her response? "I'm not sure - it might be Lake Way Below Us."
Rover popped out of his hiding place for a minute. He prefers to nap during flights, but the woman sitting next to me pulled a small witch out of her bag, and he decided it would be fun to meet the witch.
For someone who is addicted to maps, I can't believe that I made it this far without any maps. Yes, I admit it, that's a third addiction; to add to my addiction to bicycles and to cameras. Trouble... Uh oh! Well, getting out of Las Vegas isn't an issue since I'm sure that the little rental car map will point me in the right direction. Do I really need a map of California? Maybe not, but I think I want one. I know I want a map of Death Valley, and I'm sure I can buy one of those in the park. Maps... a problem that's not a problem.
When Rover bounced out of his hiding spot he pulled out the information I'd printed about hiking in the park. That was good dreaming material for a chunk of my long flight. Today's dream, tomorrow's reality...
Yesterday's warm and wet weather cleared out overnight, leaving me with a morning adorned by a clear blue sky, cool air, and whipping wind. There was no question that a pre-flight ride was in order. In fact, if it wasn't a travel day it would have been a perfect day for a long ride. I was a bit time-constrained though, so a short morning wander on my bicycle had to suffice. That helped the morning hours to fly by, and then it was time to really fly.
Funny, I usually start my vacation travels either directly after work, or first thing the next morning. The timing of this trip gave me a (weekend) day and a half at home before heading out. On the one hand it seems like a waste of time that could be part of my trip, but it was really nice to have a real rest day before heading out. If it had been nice weather instead of our all day soaker, yesterday would have been a riding rather than a rest day - and that would have been good. This time - rest was good too.
Flying early in the day is a habit too, but that habit was easily broken on this trip. Southwest has a number of flights each day between Manchester and Las Vegas, but only one flight in each direction is a nonstop, and that was my preference. My 1:45 PM flight out of Manchester is scheduled to land in Las Vegas at 4:45. My initial thought was to drive partway to Death Valley tonight. My actual plan? I'm staying in Las Vegas at a hotel along my route to California. My initial thoughts about staying in Las Vegas were a very big yuck! That changed when I started looking for a place to stay at a mid-way point, and when I realized how early the sun is setting. I'd much rather drive into the park in daylight. And no, I'm not staying at a casino. A Hampton Inn fits the bill for tonight.
Did you know that flying on Southwest can be entertaining? Yes, it was one of those flights. It started right after they closed the doors. Music filled the plane for the first time. It took a minute before we could make out the words to the song - "hey baby, let's go to Vegas". That was followed by the normal safety talk, and then as our big bird headed toward the runway, we were serenaded with "I'm leaving on a jet plane". An airplane full of smiles...
That continued when one of my seatmates asked the flight attendent for the name of a lake that we were passing over. Her response? "I'm not sure - it might be Lake Way Below Us."
Rover popped out of his hiding place for a minute. He prefers to nap during flights, but the woman sitting next to me pulled a small witch out of her bag, and he decided it would be fun to meet the witch.
For someone who is addicted to maps, I can't believe that I made it this far without any maps. Yes, I admit it, that's a third addiction; to add to my addiction to bicycles and to cameras. Trouble... Uh oh! Well, getting out of Las Vegas isn't an issue since I'm sure that the little rental car map will point me in the right direction. Do I really need a map of California? Maybe not, but I think I want one. I know I want a map of Death Valley, and I'm sure I can buy one of those in the park. Maps... a problem that's not a problem.
When Rover bounced out of his hiding spot he pulled out the information I'd printed about hiking in the park. That was good dreaming material for a chunk of my long flight. Today's dream, tomorrow's reality...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Getting closer...
...Rover's pre-trip musings
Rover here... I'm borrowing Denise's computer as I let my thoughts wander before our trip to California, well, really to Death Valley. That's a funny name for a place, isn't it?
I just looked at the Morning Report on the National Park Service's Death Valley page. It shows yesterday's temperatures, plus some interesting climate stuff. Let's see, we (Denise & I, that is!) are going to be staying at Furnace Creek. Monday's high there was 87°F (31°C) and the low was 55°F (13°C). Predictions for the coming days are for temperatures in the low 90s. Hmmm... that's pretty warm, but it's right in the range that Denise expects. But wow - the total precipitation there this year so far is only 0.95 inches. So little water, that's so hard to imagine. I have to admit that planning a trip and not worrying about rain is pretty novel. And oh, look, the page shows the high and low temperatures for the year so far. The high was 129°F (54°C) on July 6th, and the low was 24°F (-04°C) on January 14th. I think it would hurt my paws to walk on sand that hot!
I've been bouncing around the house while Denise is at work, trying to see signs of packing, of getting ready to head to the desert. It didn't look like Denise was paying any attention to our upcoming trip, so I started bugging her about it last night. She says that it won't take long to throw some clothes into a bag, and the cameras are always ready to go. She did tell me that I could shop in our food closet and pick out a stash of energy bars. Oooh! I like having a choice. But she told me that we can't take any chocoloate-covered bars because she expects that they would get all melty. (Melty? Yup, that's kind of an odd word, but I like it!) I suppose I can find some good non-chocolate energy bars for us; after all, I know that's what Denise buys for her summer rides close to home. I just figured that we are getting into the safe chocolate part of the year.
It's really a good thing that I've figured out how to turn Denise's computer on. I put it back in a quiet mode again when I'm done so she doesn't even know I've been exploring.
I wandered over to the Death Valley National Park web page to start to understand why Denise thinks we'll have plenty of places to wander there. There are quite a few (relatively) short trails, a lot of wandering without trails, and some longer hikes too. Oh look, we can bounce across the Badwater Salt Flat. It's 5 miles across, so I'd bet we don't follow a straight line across and back. (You're right, Denise really doesn't bounce, but I do!) And there are sand dunes there. And...
Only five more days to wait!
Here's a shot of me on our last trip. I was training for hiking during our jaunts off of the bike - but I think that traversing the desert will be quite different from wandering on the rocks along the coast in Acadia.
If you've followed Denise's other exploits, then you already know who I am.
But for any new readers out there... My name is Rover, and I travel with Denise. I jumped into her bags shortly after she left home on her cross-country adventure back in 2002, and I've been traveling with her ever since. No, I really can't help her with hiking, although I do jump out of my traveling home and bounce across interesting places. And I can help find sights for photos, and I make Denise smile. That's enough, isn't it?
Rover here... I'm borrowing Denise's computer as I let my thoughts wander before our trip to California, well, really to Death Valley. That's a funny name for a place, isn't it?
I just looked at the Morning Report on the National Park Service's Death Valley page. It shows yesterday's temperatures, plus some interesting climate stuff. Let's see, we (Denise & I, that is!) are going to be staying at Furnace Creek. Monday's high there was 87°F (31°C) and the low was 55°F (13°C). Predictions for the coming days are for temperatures in the low 90s. Hmmm... that's pretty warm, but it's right in the range that Denise expects. But wow - the total precipitation there this year so far is only 0.95 inches. So little water, that's so hard to imagine. I have to admit that planning a trip and not worrying about rain is pretty novel. And oh, look, the page shows the high and low temperatures for the year so far. The high was 129°F (54°C) on July 6th, and the low was 24°F (-04°C) on January 14th. I think it would hurt my paws to walk on sand that hot!
I've been bouncing around the house while Denise is at work, trying to see signs of packing, of getting ready to head to the desert. It didn't look like Denise was paying any attention to our upcoming trip, so I started bugging her about it last night. She says that it won't take long to throw some clothes into a bag, and the cameras are always ready to go. She did tell me that I could shop in our food closet and pick out a stash of energy bars. Oooh! I like having a choice. But she told me that we can't take any chocoloate-covered bars because she expects that they would get all melty. (Melty? Yup, that's kind of an odd word, but I like it!) I suppose I can find some good non-chocolate energy bars for us; after all, I know that's what Denise buys for her summer rides close to home. I just figured that we are getting into the safe chocolate part of the year.
It's really a good thing that I've figured out how to turn Denise's computer on. I put it back in a quiet mode again when I'm done so she doesn't even know I've been exploring.
I wandered over to the Death Valley National Park web page to start to understand why Denise thinks we'll have plenty of places to wander there. There are quite a few (relatively) short trails, a lot of wandering without trails, and some longer hikes too. Oh look, we can bounce across the Badwater Salt Flat. It's 5 miles across, so I'd bet we don't follow a straight line across and back. (You're right, Denise really doesn't bounce, but I do!) And there are sand dunes there. And...
Only five more days to wait!
Here's a shot of me on our last trip. I was training for hiking during our jaunts off of the bike - but I think that traversing the desert will be quite different from wandering on the rocks along the coast in Acadia.
If you've followed Denise's other exploits, then you already know who I am.
But for any new readers out there... My name is Rover, and I travel with Denise. I jumped into her bags shortly after she left home on her cross-country adventure back in 2002, and I've been traveling with her ever since. No, I really can't help her with hiking, although I do jump out of my traveling home and bounce across interesting places. And I can help find sights for photos, and I make Denise smile. That's enough, isn't it?
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