Death Valley in Bloom: February 2016

    The blog has been silent recently for no apparent reason, and it is time to catch up.

Desert Gold & Desert Geology: Death Valley in Bloom 

    A couple of weeks ago, Marilyn and I decided it was time for our annual trek to the desert. After some thought, we decided to head to Joshua Tree and Anza Borrego for about a week. However the day before leaving, I read about the Super Bloom in Death Valley, how the recent rains brought on by El Nino had brightened up the hillsides, which even the New York Times reported. 

Travel is so much easier since we acquired our 2003 Pleasure-Way Ford Traverse Poptop.

    A quick check with Marilyn resulted in a big smile and a new destination. Traveling in a vehicle like the Traverse, our Ford van converted by PleasureWay of Canada, makes route changes rather easy—as long as your co-pilot is willing. 

    After a leisurely trek of 300 miles on decent roads, including being buzzed by two Navy F-18s north of Ridgecrest, which gave this old jet driver a jolly, we entered Death Valley, and the “oohs and ahs” began.

Death Valley Super Bloom.

    Small clusters of plants began to appear, and soon the clusters gave way to fields of color.

 The main wildflower we saw was Desert Gold, a flower on a 2-foot stem resembling a small sunflower. Marilyn's catalogue of flowers is at the end of this post.

Desert Gold.

    We found a campsite at Texas Springs, a basic National Parks campground with flush toilets near Furnace Creek. Having the Golden Eagle Pass, we were able to camp for $7 a night.

A tent was in the site next to us at Texas Springs. On our other side was a Vanagon.

    One of the joys of Texas Springs is that generators are not allowed at all, a great way to keep the noise level down. In 10 minutes, the top was popped, bed rolled out, and dinner begun. 

Hills surrounding Texas Springs Campground.

    The campground was full of energy: 2 groups of Boy Scouts, a crew of Americorps volunteers working on getting Scotty's Castle back in shape after the October flood, and many, many types of camping vehicles. We camped next to Lucy and her beautiful VW Vanagon, and down from us were Paul and Christy in their Ford van similar to ours but made by GTRV out of Sebastopol, CA, a great company if you are interested in this type of rig.

Sunset at Texas Springs.

    After a great night with an almost full moon and temperatures in the mid-50s, we were off on the road in search of more blossoms. The October downpour in Death Valley produced almost 3 inches of rain in 5 hours. Since the normal annual rainfall is 4 inches, a lot of damage resulted. Scotty’s Castle to the north is still closed, as it is being mucked out and the grounds repaired. 

Driving down the hill out of Texas Springs.

    Scotty’s Castle Rd from the valley is closed at the junction to Scotty’s Castle and 374 to Nevada to the east, due to major damage, but open to the north. One of our favorites routes leading into the park, Wildrose Canyon, is also closed due to flood damage.  Badwater Road is closed near mile marker 50, which is where the ranger said the greatest concentration of flowers were. So off south we went—I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Heading south on Badwater Rd.

Snow on Telescope Peak on the west side of the Valley.

We stopped, of course, for Marilyn to photograph the surroundings and wildflowers on the east side of the valley.

Driving Badwater Rd. Clouds descended on Telescope Peak.

Dry Amargosa River along Badwater Rd.

East side of the valley.

East side of Death Valley. Marilyn photographing flowers.

    We turned west on Warm Springs Canyon Rd and headed out across the valley.

Along Warm Springs Canyon Rd on west side of valley.

We met a couple from San Jose who had driven to DV specifically to see the Desert Five Spot.

Desert Gold & Desert Five Spot.

 

Desert Five Spot

Geology & wildflowers.

Van among the flowers.

Doug among the flowers.

Marilyn among the flowers.

Marilyn loved it when I took the curve Warm Springs Canyon Rd a little fast & fishtailed returning to paved Badwater Rd.

    The next day found us desiring to do a hike. We headed to Golden Canyon, about 5 miles south of Furnace Creek on the Badwater Road. It is advertised as a 3-mile roundtrip trek up a rather large slot canyon ending in Red Cathedral, an amazing sedimentary wall. Since the weather report was silent on rain and the sky was severe blue, off we went. 

Golden Canyon hike.

    We began surrounded by Boy Scouts, but soon they forged on, and we seemed to have the trail mostly to ourselves. After a little over a mile of a gradual assent on the gravel wash, we entered a narrower canyon and the trail began to go vertical. Soon we had to scramble up on hands and knees. I was impressed with Marilyn’s determination to get to the top. We even discovered what was left of an abandoned ladder.

Remains of ladder in slot canyon trail to Red Cathedral

Red Cathedral.

Doug entering Red Cathedral.

Doug in Red Cathedral

   Once in Red Cathedral, we just lay back and observed the eons of mud that had been deposited in the old lake bottom and made the imposing hills.

Looking up at the walls of Red Cathedral.

Marilyn photographing flowers in Red Cathedral.

        

Calthaleaf Phacella in Red Cathedral.

Telescope Peak from Red Cathedral.

    Then it was all downhill back.

Doug entering the slot canyon part of the trail heading down.

One of narrow slots on Red Cathedral trail

    The walls of Golden Canyon were a gorgeous desert color palette changing with the light.

Doug hiking back down Golden Canyon.

Golden Canyon dinosaur.

An interesting wash down the canyon walls.

Remains of asphalt road that once ran up the canyon.

    Back at the van, we headed to Furnace Creek for showers then back to the Texas Springs and another night under clear desert skies.

    After two days of chasing blooms, we decided it was time for a change and headed for Beatty, Nevada via Death Valley Junction. First stop was Twenty Mule Team Canyon, a 2.5-mile one-way dirt road.

Giant mushrooms!

The road had been freshly graded after the October rains that had done so much damage in the park.

Wash that flooded & ran onto the road.

Marilyn & van.

We are so lucky to have our van to experience the desert in all its beauty.

Another wash that flooded onto road.

Desert uplifting & colors.

    We made a quick stop at the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction.

Marta Becket took over the dilapidated social hall of the old Borax company town in 1967 and put on her first one-woman show—which until then she had toured around the country—in 1968. During her decades of performing at the opera house—until 2012—she was featured in National Geographic, Life, and the New York Times. Marta created the nonprofit that has continued to run the opera house since her death in 2017, shortly after our visit 

    Then it was on north to Beatty, NV. En route we encountered a small herd of wild horses, so beautiful yet destructive to the desert environment. 

     While we were filling up with gas in Beatty, Marilyn asked if we could take Titus Canyon Road. I cringed. 

Titus Canyon Road: 26 miles of dirt washboard & dips.

  Marilyn, the lady with the fused back who grits her teeth at each bump in the road, wanted to do a 26-mile, 1-way trek on a washboard dirt road up and over the mountains. 
    After a few more questions, she proved adamant, so off we went. 

Keeping rocks off Titus Canyon Rd is a constant.

    Now, we have done the road before in the VW bus, but that was before her surgery and, we soon found, before the major rains. The road was tough, tasking the van and its driver in more ways than one.

Mud puddles in Death Valley? Followed by a rather substantial dip.

This early portion of Titus Canyon Rd turned out to be nothing compared to what was to come.

The road is not only rough & curvy but steep.

Looking back on Titus Canyon Road.

And climbing again.

We had the road to ourselves, and it was breathtaking once we reached the top of the range. Then it was time to work our way down a very narrow valley.

Washouts were the constant, and well...

...it was so rough, even going slowly, that one bump found the rear view mirror falling to the floor—that was a new one for me.

Where's the rearview mirror???

    We passed through the ghost town of Leadville, which in 1926 had its own post office and many mines.

Remains of Leadville buildings & mines; tailings piled on left.

Called a fraud by some, the town soon shut down, leaving a few abandoned cabins and many mines dotting the surrounding hills and valley floor. Most mines have either collapsed or been barred by the Forest Service.

Hm...

    As we entered Lower Titus Canyon, the road smoothed a bit, and we were in the middle of a great geology lesson. For stupendous sights like this, the rough road is worth it.

Lower Titus Canyon.

The canyon ogre?

 

Doug exploring.

Our trusty Traverse dwarfed under ledge in Lower Titus Canyon.

Nearing the end of Titus Canyon Rd.

    After a full day, we headed back to Texas Springs for our last night in the desert.
    Saturday found us ready to head home, yet what route? We decided to go back to Beatty, for our first meal out of the trip. En route, we made a quick tour of Ryholite, another abandoned mining town.

Remaining foundations of once-thriving mining town of Rhyolite.

How to Recycle 50,000 bottles: Tom Kelly's Bottle House in Rhyolite.

    Inspired by pancakes, bacon, and eggs in Beatty, we elected to take the road down to Baker and turn west to I-15 and home. Meandering south of Shoshone, we turned left on Old Spanish Trail and drove by the popular unofficial hot springs then past the official Tecopa Hot Springs, where we had camped before. 

    Continuing down the road, we were once again rewarded for our wanderings when Death Valley Brewing appeared in front of us. It wasn't much to look at from the street, but when a brewery appears in the desert it seems like you should go in.

Death Valley Brewing.

They were just opening. Once in, Marilyn realized this was her place, for they served many different IPAs.

They even had a beer named Marilyn—peach and habanera, "Hot and spicy," the bartender said. She opted for the sampler of 6 brews and I think 5 were IPAs. 

Marilyn's IPA sampler & my stout

The best I think was Snake Bite (she let me sample). I, the unoriginal one, enjoyed their stout.

Doug relaxing at Death Valley Brewery 

    Then it was back on the road, down to the freeway, marveling all the way at the green desert. 

Another road to follow...

    The Tehachapi Pass was another treat, with its rolling green hills painted in swaths of mustard and California poppy.
    We stopped in Bakersfield for dinner with my brother, his lovely bride, and his son and family. Finally home later that night, we noted we had logged over 450 miles that day, for a total of 5 days, 1,067 miles, and once again some amazing experiences.

                                                            —Doug

Our trusty pilot through thick, think, puddles, dips, bumps & anything else that's up ahead.

Marilyn's Death Valley Wildflowers

   

Brittlebush

     

Desert Gold

        

Brown-eyed Evening Primrose.

     

Golden Evening Primrose

  

Desert Gold & Purplemat. Purplemat

     

Notch-leaf Phacella.  Notch-leaf Phacella

   

Red Stem Filaree.    Desert Gold Poppy

Desert Sand Verbena

  

Globemallow.    Scarlet Locoweed

     

                ???          Scented Cryptantha

 

Desert Star.  Ground Cherry.

   
Spruce bush

 

     

I saw this photo somewhere on our trip & fell in love with it. It seemed like the perfect way to end my desert flower catalog.