Death Valley - Spring 2023 & 2024

   While talking with his dad on the phone last year, Andrew said, “Dad, why don’t I fly down from Bellingham and we can go to Death Valley together?” As Doug said, “What else do you say but, YES!” So that’s what they did, in April 2023, which led to Drew wanting to take Devon, his wife, to Death Valley—and we were invited, too! So we planned a trip for Devon’s 2024 spring break at the end of March. Now, Death Valley starts to heat up around mid-March, but heat or not, it is always splendid.

Sunrise, Texas Springs Campground, Death Valley National Park.

    This is about the—I dunno, 27th?—rendition of my trying to tell this story. It was just almost perfect (what can I say, I’m a writer and editor) when I deleted it! Now, when I did this once before I was able to retrieve the draft. Not so this time.

    In that 27th (37th?) draft, I continued to focus on words, as in, cut down on the words already! You will hopefully now benefit from even fewer words, due to my internet guffaw. Here we go...
    Back in 2023, almost to their first night destination, Wildrose Campground, Doug and Drew discovered the ’86 VW Westy had a flat tire. 

Uh-oh. 1st night, not quite to camp, & a flat tire.

Fortunately, Doug had a spare.

Changing a tire by headlamp.

A "tin top" VW was next to them in the campground.

    Death Valley is only 70 miles from home for us—if you are a crow or happen to backpack the High Sierra Trail, as Doug, Drew, and friends did in 2009. By car, it’s 300 miles, 5 hours. But we had it easy—it was 1,200 miles, 20 hours from Bellingham WA for Drew and Devon.

Blue: our route to Death Valley. Purple: route home.

Desert Gold wildflowers in Panamint Valley. Snow in Panamint Range. Death Valley is on the other side.

    As expected, we spent our first night at Sunset Campground, a big slab of asphalt at Furnace Creek—except we were in the new annex, dirt and generator free! In the morning, we drove up the hill to Texas Springs and secured adjacent campsites at the end of a row, so no possibility of the view being blocked.

Texas Springs Campground.

What the heck is that box???

    We gave Drew and Devon a break their first morning, due to their long days on the road. Then the explorations began!

Driving by usually dry Lake Manly. It had been so full from winter & spring rains that folks had kayaked, canoed, & paddleboarded on it.

Our amphibious Promaster, 282' below sea level at Badwater Basin.

Drew & Devon.

Devon getting photos of salt crystals. Devon alone had not been to Death Valley before. Though you can never tire of it, it was great seeing it through her eyes.

Wading in Lake Manley , a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you broke through the salt crust, your foot sank into the mud below.

It was windy the entire time we were there.

 If you've watched Star Wars, then you've seen Artists Drive, a 9-mile-long, 1-way road curving through hills colored by volcanic deposits & carved by water. (Filming in the park is much more strictly regulated today.)

Artists Palette. Devon, Drew, Doug near bottom right.

Devon, Drew, Doug taking in Artists Palette.

Next up was Zabriskie Point. From its 713 feet you can see the valley below & Panamint Range beyond. 

Manly Beacon, named for one of the first 49er Gold Rushers to enter Death Valley.

Drew & Doug, Zabriskie Point, 2023.

VW, Zabriskie Point, 2023.

    We spent the afternoon on the lawn under the palm trees at Furnace Creek to get a break from the heat.

Folks watched sunrise & sunset from the hills surrounding Texas Springs.

By 7:00 AM the following morning we were on our way to Golden Canyon to beat the crowds. Coyote didn't say where he was headed.

Entering Golden Canyon, a 3-mile, out-and-back hike to Red Cathedral, with options for longer hikes.

Drew commented it's clear how the canyon got its name.

Death Valley geology dates back 1.8 billion years.

Doug and I didn't walk far. Seems I gave myself a concussioni while gardening and was getting dizzy. Drew and Devon went on to the base of Red Cathedral.

Doug maneuvering the slots & ladders to Red Cathedral, 2023.

Doug, Red Cathedral.

    Back in camp, we plotted the afternoon's adventures. First up would be Dantes View.

Yikes! But it's only 1/4 mile to the parking lot.

Badwater from Dantes View, 5,600 feet above. Black specks are people walking across the salt flats to Lake Manly. Vehicles can be seen on road to left.

Lake Manly from Dantes View.

Drew, Dantes View, 2023. Notice there is no Lake Manly.

    Then we were off to Nevada! Well, it was only 7 miles to the state line for cheaper gas and another 8 to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

    Ash Meadows incorporates an area of 50-plus seeps and springs where water from an underground river emerges at the rate of 10,000 gallons per minute . 

A boardwalk from the Visitors' Center led us to Crystal Springs. Here water emerges at 2,800 gallons per minute.

Limestone gives the 15-foot-deep springs its color. The water is 87° year round.

Drew identified an eerie sound: branches of dormant mesquite rubbing together. 

Drew also pointed out a purple flower he somehow spotted in the underbrush, a desert hyacinth (blue dick), I think.

Information board ramadas with sandstone bases carved with native species are perfect to the site.

Signs at Kings Pool flip for Spanish/English.

Artistic bridges & boardwalks add to the area's story.

Devon & Drew at Kings Pool in Point of Rocks area of refuge.

Ash Meadows Amargosa Pupfish in Kings Pool. Males are blue.

    Another pupfish has populated Devils Hole, a section of Death Valley NP within Ash Meadows, for at least 10,000 years. Divers have not yet reached the bottom of the Devils Hole pupfish home, but it's at least 500 feet deep.
    At Death Valley Junction we looked around Amargosa Opera House and Hotel. Like many, the town came to be in response to a railroad coming through, in this case to haul borax from nearby mines. 

Amargosa Opera House & Hotel, Death Valley Junction.

    Marta Beckett arrived here in 1967, on hiatus from her one-woman traveling show, and made it her new home, thereby reviving the town. She performed her last show in 2012 and passed away five years later.

Opera House doors, painted by Marta Beckett.

Opera House interior  (Andrew Chamings, sfgate.com, 12/13/22).

Across the street is a former photographer's gallery that now displays Marta Beckett costumes.

Marta Beckett costumes (said not to be originals).

Amargosa Hotel collonade—nothing says abandoned like a tumble weed.

In fact, several hotel rooms have been renovated & may be reserved year round.

Mural in dining room, one of many Beckett painted throughout the buildings.

    After dinner in Shoshone, courtesy of Drew and Devon, we meandered back through Death Valley on Hwy 178, with numerous stops for Devon and I to take photos of wildflowers.

Our Death Valley adventures.

    Not far up the road we stopped at the former Ashford Mill, today just a few timbers & chunks of concrete.

Ruins of Ashford Mill where gold from mountains across the valley was processed 

Drew setting up a photo at Ashford Mill.

Devon takes amazing photos, like this one.

I love photos & art of doors & doorways, like this one Devon took. What's inside? What's beyond?

Desert Gold wildflower, Devon.

It was amazing to see Death Valley so green...

...and in bloom.

Desert sand verbena, by Devon.

    Our last full day, the wind continued but the temperature dropped and it rained. Doug, Drew, and Devon headed out for more adventure. I hung back in camp.

Snow more than dusted the mountains on both sides of Death Valley.

Bottle House in Ryholite, a thriving gold-mining community in the early 20th centurey.

One of hundreds of wild burros.

Along Beatty Rd, 2023: Doug says Devon & I have them well-trained, for he & Drew stopped often to snap pics of wildflowers for us.

Doug & Drew spotted two burros last year...1 burro, 2 burro...

Hard to imagine crossing Death Valley on foot any time of year.

The sky is such a part of the desert, Doug, 2023.

    After stocking up at Death Valley Nut & Candy in Beatty NV, the threesome were off to Ubehebe Crater.

A volcanic steam eruption created 600-foot-deep, 1/2-mile-wide Ubehebe Crater.

It was chilly!

    Awhile after returning to camp, Drew and Devon decided they needed one last adventure so drove off to Twenty Mule Team Canyon.

Seen Star Wars? Then you've seen Twenty Mule Team Canyon. (Filming today is far more restricted.)

What 1.8 billion years of shifting plates, wind, & water does to land.

Or was it the gods at play?

In 2023, Doug & Drew had a different idea for a last adventure. Doug figured the VW's 18-year-old spare tire was holding out, so why not—an '86 Westy is a 4x4, right?

Drew & Doug finished their trip in the Alabama Hills on the East Side of the Sierras. 

Drew & Doug, Alabama Hills, 2023.

Drew, Doug, & Mt Whitney through Mobius Arch, Alabama Hills.

Mt Whitney, highest point in the contiguous US, is the highest peak. Mountains on the left appear taller but are actually closer. 

As for the four of us in 2024, we broke camp after coffee under the awning in the rain.

    Drew and Devon headed south to Joshua Tree, while we headed west to Lone Pine for breakfast.

We look forward to more travels with these two.

    But it wasn't the final goodbye! The following week, after visiting Devon's family near San Diego, Drew and Devon stayed with us a a bit, then were off to Yosemite before heading home to Bellingham.

Breakfast at the Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite. Drew chowing down while Devon photographs.

Snow gave Andrew another opportunity to prove the prowess of his Subaru Crosstrek.

Sunset, Death Valley.

    We'll tell the saga of our trip home in the next post.