DV Day Five - March 2009

Saying goodbye to Death Valley.
We woke Friday to a windy morning. I had heard some tent flapping throughout the night but I generally sleep like a rock so I wasn't bothered much by it. Josh on the other had head every little thing and I thought for sure he was going to destroy the mish-mash windchimes hanging at the cabin!
We enjoyed some breakfast and did some exploring around the cabin now that it was light out. The views of the canyon were awesome and I can see why someone would want to live here like Russel did. The cabin itself looked like a shack with boards and corrugated steel hammered into place, but it was a perfect group cabin with several rooms, a fully stocked kitchen with icebox and even a solar shower. We signed the guestbook and decided to leave a can of veggie chili as payment for our stay. Spending the night at this cabin made us realize if it wasn't for the many volunteers who maintain this and other structures the Forest Service would just let them fall into nothingness.
Back on the road we headed back to the Geologist's Cabin to return the book Bob had lent us. He was long gone so we were able to spend some time there and it was clear this was the finest cabin of the bunch - and the most popular! I'm hoping on our next visit we get the chance to stay there.
Further down the trail we passed more wildflowers and varying landscapes. Suddenly a giant yellow square appeared from behind a rock - it was a sportsmobile - parked rather oddly between a rock wall and another boulder. It really would take some work to get this thing into this position, but after looking around and seeing the shades were up and it was locked up tight we carried on and hoped the people who belonged to it were ok and just out for a hike or something.
Soon we came upon another vehicle, but this time there was a person with it! A very nice BMW dual-sport and a friendly young man from Nevada who was sweating his ass off but having fun and enjoying the day regardless. Just around the corner from him was Warm Springs, an old mining camp from the 1940's. We were once again amazed by what we saw: the buildings were in great condition, surrounded by lush vegetation and a spring running down the hill. The main house even had a swimming pool with diving board! This was another area visitors were welcome to camp in.

After running around the springs for a bit we realized it was almost noon so we set out to finish the trail and find food. The remainder of the trail was smooth and fast; soon we were linked back up with the West Side Highway. We had planned to take the Harry Wade exit route out of the park but we'd had enough dirt - tired and ready to go home we aired up the tires and said goodbye to Death Valley.
We made our way to Shoshone, Ca and had lunch at the Crowbar. This place is awesome!! The food was excellent, we highly recommend the french fries!
We looked over the maps at lunch and decided we had enough time to split the trip up a bit and spend the night in Lake Havasu. We cut through the Mojave Preserve again, this time down a different road with a different view. Death Valley was certainly the most interesting and surprising place we have been in a long time if not ever, and I can't wait to go back and see all the things we missed!

Read more!

DV Day Four - March 2009

Snow in Death Valley and Helter Skelter!!

We had a decent nights sleep and woke up Thursday morning knowing our visit to DV was soon coming to an end. We took advantage of the showers at the campground, then went back across the street to the cafe for breakfast. After filling our bellies with grease we set out for the Wildrose campground with Linda and Pepper.
We had a few stops planned for the day, the first being Aguereberry Point which was chilly but had amazing views! Poor Linda had to stay behind because she didn't want to chance it down another dirt road and I don't blame her.

On our way back to meet her from the point, we also stopped by the Eureka Mine which was really cool. Many of the buildings were still there and in decent condition - its a shame the park service just doesn't take the time to maintain these areas anymore.
We left the mine after much exploration and picked up Linda again on the road to Wildrose. We were thinking about spending the night there but we arrived much earlier than we had planned. We fought the wind and stopped to have lunch at the campground, then wend down the road to checkout the Charcoal Kilns. These structures were truly awesome!! We still haven't seen the Coke Ovens in Arizona, but I have a feeling the Charcoal Kilns put them to shame. This is also where we saw snow in DV and it was close enough to stand in - madness!

At this point we had to say our goodbyes to Linda and Pepper. The Tiger just couldn't make it through rest of our journey and with so much more to see we had to move on. They ventured north back toward Stovepipe Wells to exit on the paved road south; we headed south toward Ballarat. We picked up a dirt road that was fast and smooth, running right next to the Panamint Range and into town. My intention was to run the Pleasant Canyon trail and camp halfway, but with the unknown steering issue on the truck we decided a 7-rated trail was probably not a good idea. We took some pictures as we entered Ballarat and I'm afraid to say we didn't really get out of the truck - we were too freaked out by the strange folk sitting on the porch of the General Store.
By this time it was about 330p and we had a ways to go before getting to the next planned camping spot. As we got further south, the road became more and more rough, slowing our pace a bit. We entered the canyon with its high, beautiful walls and spring flowers everywhere! Finally!! There were also some interesting mine remnants, including huge vehicles that had been left behind.

Eventually we made our way back into the park and soon found Barker Ranch. Josh was not too excited to be there at the old Manson Family home, but I had wanted to visit ever since reading Helter Skelter in high school...twisted I guess but I like history what can I say? A chill was certainly in the air and the area was really creepy. I had to work up a bit of courage to go inside, but Josh was content staying out. I read through the guestbook and signed it, took a few pictures and got the hell out of there. I still cannot believe this cabin was available for overnight stays, but it seems to get visitors. Just about a month or so after our visit, the cabin mysteriously burned down so I am grateful even more now that we got to see it.

When we were done getting our creep on we continued down Goler Canyon. It was getting pretty late at this point and we wanted to make it over Mengle Pass to find a place to camp. The trail became more and more rough, with large boulders and spotting was necessary at a couple of spots. Finally we made it to Mengles Grave, at the highest point on the trail, but didn't stay too long. The downhill portion of the trail was much like the uphill so I hopped out again to help Josh guide the FJ down.

Once we cleared the boulders we came down into a beautiful meadow and saw the first cabin, Stella's Place, far off on our left. Hoping to stay there for the night we looked through the binoculars and saw that a truck was already parked there. We moved on down the trail to the next cabin, the Geologist's, but that was taken too! We did notice there was another Fj parked there and a guy was standing ourside waving at us so we decided to stop in to see if it was someone we knew. It wasn't, but it was a pleasure to meet Bob who was a regular in DV and had a lot of information to share.


By this time it was almost dark and we needed to continue down the road to try and find another camp - but Bob told us about a third cabin we didn't see - Russel's Place. He wasn't sure if it was occupied or not but the sun was setting and the next camp was 10 miles away so we gave Russel's a shot. Bob sent us off with a fantastic data book he had put together with the promise we would return it to the Geologists Cabin on our way out the next day.
Russel's Place was hidden around a hillside rucked back into a small canyon and lucky us - it was empty! We had just enough light left to get a sense of our surroundings and set up the tent. Josh was a little creeped out by the cabin but I thought it was fantastic! We started a fire in a portable pit that had been left there, made dinner and settled in for the night.

Read more!

DV Day Three - March 2009

Off to the races at the Racetrack on Wednesday!


Wednesday would turn out to be another exciting day in the park! We woke up that morning with the plan of taking the Racetrack trail to Lippincot Mine and into Saline Valley to the hot springs. Linda had some friends staying there and I was very excited because I had wanted to spend some time there but I wasn't sure we could fit it in.

We packed up camp and headed north to make a quick detour to Scotty's Castle. It is unreal to think so long ago people paid $2 million to build this mansion in the desert. We didn't pay for the tour but did walk around the grounds and checked out the visitor's center which had a little museum.

Onward we went towards the Racetrack, first making a stop at the Ubehebe Crater. The crater was massive with black cinders all around. You could walk to the bottom but the grade was so steep it would have taken almost an hour to hike out so we skipped that. Josh had noticed the steering wheel was a little off on the truck and after closer inspection at the Crater it looked like part of the steering was bent into the boot on the passenger side. Luckily the truck wasn't shaking or pulling so we decided to carry on to the Racetrack.
After leaving the Crater the road turned to graded dirt. It was quite bouncy but nothing crazy we thought. Poor Linda and her Tiger RV were having a tough time though. We crawled a few miles at about 15 mph. About 5 miles in we decided to stop and air down the tires in hopes of making the ride smoother. At mile 6 one of Linda's rear tires shredded off the rim. Josh and Linda changed the tire and we decided it would be best to get her back to pavement since she was now without a spare. We followed her back to the Crater and she was off to Beatty,Nevada for a new tire. We agreed that there was no way her RV would make it to the hot springs without more issues so the plan changed to meeting back at Panimint Springs that evening.

Back down the Racetrack we went, and we were able to make up some time with increased speed. There wasn't much to look at for the first 2/3 of the trail but finally we made it to the famous Teakettle Junction.


Just a few more miles down the road we could finally see the Racetrack Playa and Grandstand coming into view. It was certainly an amazing site. We stopped about halfway down the playa and found some of the sailing stones, but were directed by some half-naked college kids that we needed to move further south to see the bigger rocks.
We drove to the very south end of the playa, parked and walked about 1/2 mile to where most of the rocks were. It was well worth it because we got to see quite a few of the sailing stones and got some great pictures.
Looking to the north you could see a mirage of water around the Grandstand, and although it was only in the 80's I could easily picture those tales of people crossing the desert on foot and what that must be like.
It was getting late in the day, around 430p as we got back in the truck to venture down the Lippincot Mine trail. This was the roughest-rated trail of our whole journey with an estimated time of 1.5 hours to complete so I was starting to get concerned about making it to camp in time in Panamint. The road ended up being a very narrow shelf road with less than zero room to pass but we wouldn't consider it overly rough. Lucky for us we didn't come upon a single vehicle and we were able to clear the trail in about half an hour.
We hit Saline Valley Road around 5pm and turned south again to get to Panamint Springs. This part of the trail was beautiful going through the valley with huge mountains. Just before reaching the highway we came upon a HUGE forest of Joshua Trees. We stopped for more pictures and to let Josh finally soak up some of his special trees.

From here it was paved all the way to Panamint Springs. Just as we were pulling into town, Linda called out on the radio. She too had just arrived and secured a campsite. We paid for a spot next to her - the campground was nothing to really write home about but they did have showers and internets, plus there was an excellent little cafe across the street. We set up camp and had dinner at the cafe and soon after I passed out after a long day in the sun.

Read more!

Death Valley Day Two - March 2009

We had so much happen on this day, it deserves its own post!!
Tuesday brought our second day in the park, and more adventure than one could possibly hope for! Our plan for the day was to check out a few more of the "touristy" spots, run two trails and meet up with the parentals in Stovepipe Wells to camp. I had also gotten an email from Linda who had managed to get her RV fixed and was heading to the park, so I directed her to Stovepipe as well.

So we were off, being responsible park visitors, we stopped in at the visitor center to pay for our pass and get some maps. A few folks were interested in the FJ but we didn't think too much about it. We left the center and headed down the road towards the Harmony Borax Works. Suddenly, we were pulled over by two Park Rangers who decided to read us the riot act. Unbeknownst to me just the day before when we were checking out the Artists Drive, some different Park Rangers had gone to the hotel to look for us. They had gotten reports that we had been driving off a designated road in the park, etc. The situation was taken care of at that time and considered closed.

Apparently these two didn't get the memo. In an attempt to make a long story short, these guys were pretty much looking to bust us on anything. First it was asking if we were running tours without a permit in the park because of the Sierra Expeditions stickers; then it was are we selling stuff out of the back of the truck...oh yes officer we just drove 9 hours to sell our only fridge that happens to be stocked with food. Finally he pulled Josh out of the car and told him that he didn't really pull him over for running that stop sign (which was the initial infraction), he pulled us over because of the supposed incident of driving off road the day before. After trying to drive the fact that we have 3 maps showing a road there through this guys head we finally showed him the maps. He finally decided that we had indeed followed the maps, but still chose to ticket us for running a stop sign, which he even said we didn't do. Thanks National Parks Service!!

Moving on from that drama, we continued on to Harmony Borax Works and tried to not let the incident ruin our day. There were lots of buildings, old equipment and a wagon all left from the Works, and we were beginning to realize just how much mining had gone on in Death Valley.

Next stop was the Salt Creek to see the pupfish. We were told we had just come at the right time to see this once-a-year event so we had to stop. Even in mid March the sun was intense walking down the little boardwalk next to this tiny creek. Many of the pupfish are endangered and are the only things to really adapt to this extra salty water. The pupfish only live for about a year, so many were busy doing it. **Warning Pupfish Porn**

Our next destination was Chloride Cliff on the northeastern side of the park. We were told that most of the wildflowers out at the time were through Mud Canyon so we took that route. There were certainly some pretty yellows and purples along the road, but nothing like I had been expecting. While we were stopped for pictures there was a callout to us on the radio - it was Tim and Danica! We were hoping to camp and run with them through DV but the timing wasn't quite right. Luckily though, they were about 5 miles behind us on the same road and also planning on running to Chloride Cliff, so we waited for them at the trailhead.

While we were waiting, we got another call over the radio, this time from bob and Diane. They were not feeling well, so they had decided to head home to Huntington. We were sorry to see them go, but it was a fun adventure with them anyway! Tim and Danica arrived and we went down the trail, which wasn't very exciting. There wasn't much left of the mining town Chloride City, but at the end of this spur we climbed up a steep hill and had the most amazing view of DV. Words cannot describe the area. We relaxed and had a late lunch, saw a Chuckwalla and soaked up the view.


The afternoon was carrying on so we headed down the mountain an into Beatty, Nv. Unfortunately Tim and Danica had to head to Tucson so they departed towards Vegas. Somewhere on this route we lost our R2 flag! After gassing up in Beatty, it was getting pretty late in the day but we really wanted to run Titus Canyon trail. Fortunately the late time meant not a lot of traffic. With the sun setting there were fantastic shadows on the hills and mountains. Then we entered the canyon and were surrounded by huge rock walls on both sides. An easy trail but one of the best in the park for sure.


As we exited the canyon Linda called to us on the radio - she was at the dunes at Stovepipe Wells and reported that the campground there totally sucked. Dispersed camping is VERY limited in the park, so we figured our best bet was to head about 35 miles up the road to the Mesquite Spring campground near Scotty's Castle. It was a much smaller campground but quiet and nice. We got a decent spot for both trucks, had some dinner and hung out by the fire for a while. Things didn't go as planned today, but it still worked out for the best!!

Read more!

Mojave Preserve and DV Day One - March 2009

We ventured through Mojave, drawing closer to the Valley of Death!
Our goal for Sunday was to hit up the hot springs in Tacopa. We may not have been able to run Mojave Road on this trip, but we did manage to at least cut through the preserve. The landscape was ever-changing; passing mountains, Joshua Tree forests, chloride lake bed flats, along with cinder and volcanic areas. As we came into Kelso Bob came over the CB to point out the old railroad building; they had just seen a program about it on tv so we decided to stop and check it out. The grounds were fantastic with nice little lunch spots and everything inside had been totally restored.
After lunch in the parking lot we continued on through Baker and to the hot springs. When we finally arrived the springs were actually mineral bath houses with old naked Asian ladies and men; the camping was in the pristine dirt lot next door. Bob paid his $7 for the shower but the rest of us decided to hold out for something else.

When we determined the camping spot sucked we took another look at the map and decided to take a shortcut to DV down a dirt road. It was a great decision because about 3-4 miles in we turned down a wash and camp upon a spot with a nice little fire ring, amazing views and lots of privacy. We settled in for dinner and some relaxation and looked forward to the next day into Death Valley.
Monday morning brought a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and revealed their multiple colors. After a nice pancake breakfast thanks to Diane we loaded up and drove north towards Death Valley. Our destination for the day was Furnace Creek via the West Side Highway. The drive in was beautiful and we made our first stop at the Ashford Mill ruins. Somewhere we had missed the turnoff for the West Side Highway so we backtracked until we found it. The road disappeared into a wash after about 1000 feet but we had 3 different maps telling us we were on the right track so we continued. We radioed to the Roadtrek about the conditions where we were, so Bob and Diane decided to stick to the paved road and we would meet up at Furnace Creek later.
The West Side Highway wasn't exciting at all. Most of the recorded stops on the side of the road were not there anymore or there wasn't much left to look at. The road did come out on the Devils Golf Course which made for some amazing pictures. Strange, rocky, salty and crusted areas on both sides of the road.

We met back up with pavement and stopped to check out the Gold Canyon area which was a really crowded hiking spot. We walked a little ways but decided to was too hot to attempt the whole thing without carrying water, so we returned to the truck to slather ourselves with sunscreen! We drove in to Furnace Creek with Bob and Diane not too far behind us. They decided to spend the night at the Furnace Creek Inn rather than camp, and were kind enough to get a room for us as well.

We had a great lunch at the Inn, and decided to return to the Artist's Drive area upon the recommendation of Bob and Diane. I'm glad we did because it was pretty stunning - many many different colors in the mountains. It really looked like an artist's pallet.I must have needed the rest because I passed out in the hotel for a good two hours! We had dinner at the steakhouse in town which was ok, but we still managed to stuff ourselves. After dinner it was back to the room for some internets and rest. I felt like we were cheating our adventure staying the night in a hotel, but it was really nice to catch up on the virtual world and take a shower!!

Read more!

California Adventure - Joshua Tree National Park - March 2009

Our Spring Break adventure began in Joshua Tree National Park...little did we know so did everyone else's!!
We arrived in Joshua Tree late Friday night, pulling into Jumbo Rocks Campground a little after 10pm. We weren't sure if we would find the rest of our party (our Cali friend Linda and Pepper, and Josh's parents Bob and Diane) after seeing the slew of vehicles, RV's and tour buses! After a little wandering around we found them and lucky for us they had managed to save us a spot. It was late and everyone was heading off to bed so we did as well.

We woke up Saturday morning and soon realized just how packed the campground really was. It was seriously like a city in the middle of the desert. After breakfast we all went for a little hike on the Skull Rock trail, then headed down a wash to play on the Jumbo Rocks. There were not many flowers in bloom but the area was very unique and beautiful anyway.

After our hike it was back to camp for lunch and an afternoon nap, but we were parked right next to the "college party" who did nothing but lay on their beach blankets drinking and screaming loudly all day right outside our tent. I was praying that they would at least be so drunk they would pass out early! We left the tent and went for another hike near the entrance to the campground which had even more amazing rocks. Walking through the campground you could really see just how large it was and how many people were seriously crammed in there.
Luckily Linda had a decent site away from most of the people so we congregated there to cook dinner and enjoy the campfire. A strong wind came through and wouldn't quit which almost made it unbearably cold. With full bellies and no more firewood we decided to turn in shortly after 10pm.

Sunday morning brought no wind and a beautiful weather after a comfortable night in the roof top tent. After some relaxing and a good cup of coffee we reviewed books and maps with Bob and Diane. Following our discussion we came to the conclusion that our goal for this trip was to see as much of Death Valley as possible, so we decided to skip doing the Mojave Road which was the next leg of our journey. We packed up camp and said our good-byes to Linda who wanted to join us but was having too many issues with her Tiger Camper. We were hoping to meet up with her a few days later in DV.

Read more!

Hiking the Arizona Trail - Passage #5 - Day 2

Our adventure continues in the Santa Ritas!
BRRRRR!!!! Friday night was a cold one! One of the coldest I've had camping in a while. Considering we were expecting 60's at night, I', glad I brought my sleeping bag that I almost left at home. I spent most of the night having convulsions from the sore muscles reacting to the chill. I think in total I got about 4-5 hours of sleep and maybe 2 hours of actual REM. I was positive Mike was sleeping soundly but I was relieved to find out he too suffered as much as I did!
After a 7am wake-up call thanks to some howling coyotes I crawled out of the tent and was happy to find that even with lack of sleep my body had managed to rest and I wasn't as sore as I expected to be. After a quick breakfast we packed up camp and headed to the summit of our trip. On the way up the hill we looked down and found a pond which probably would have made a better camping spot but there was no way we would have found it in the dark.
Mike and I trucked along the trail as the day got warmer and warmer. I noticed I was drinking a lot more water than I had the day before. Finally I spotted my first wildlife of the trip in the middle of the trail - a horny toad. We pressed on with the plan for lunch at the next highway crossing we came to. The trail was beautiful but the sun was getting more intense and I just couldn't seem to get enough water, and I ran out just short of our lunch stop. Mike wasn't far behind me with just about half left in his bottle. Just as we were coming down the hill to the highway we ran into our second human encounter - a solo backpacker coming up the trail. I was excited to stop and chat with him about where he was going and what his journey was all about but he just commented about the weather and kept on going.

We found a shady spot for lunch and relaxed for a while. Every car that passed on the road we wondered if they had any water! As we loaded up the packs a group with two dogs pulled up and parked on the road. Mike commented on them having water and I said the chances were probably good since they had dogs. He wandered over ahead of me, and lucky us! They donated two bottles of water to our cause. They bounded up the trail ahead of us with the dogs and we regained a decent pace on the trail. Soon we caught up with them again in a shady spot and they wanted to make sure we had enough food and asked about the Spot devices we were both wearing. We said our goodbyes and carried on to finish the trail.

The sun seemed to get more and more intense with every step I took. Soon I was down to the last half of my donated water and wondering how I would make it to the end. We estimated we had about 2 more miles to go, but Mike spotted a water tank on the map ahead of us so we pressed on to find it. It seemed to take forever but we finally came to the tank at the bottom of the hill. I ran all around it looking for someway to access the water but there was no spout! Then out of the corver of my eye I spotted a small water trough off to the side filled with not only water, but rocks, slime, creatures and dead bugs...perfect! I could finally test out the new Katadyn water filter we got for christmas! I set it up and it could not have worked better - the water was crystal clear and tasted great. We both sat there on the tub for a while filling, drinking and re-filling our bottles again along with having a snack until we were satisfied.
From there the trail was pretty much a straight shot out on a closed forest road to the highway and our meeting point. I felt rejuvenated and picked up my pace a bit. Mike spotted some deer bounding across the road in front of us - our second wildlife encounter! We made a left turn which was the wrong was to go and ended up hiking about half a mile of the next trail section. After seeing our mistake we turned around and finally we could see the road. We made our way over the barbed wire fence and collapsed next to the road to wait for Susan. We were tired, dirty and sunburned - but happy we survived our first section of the AZT!!!

Read more!