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| Zabriskie Point |
We decided to head out to Death Valley for a couple of days this past spring, before the heat set in. We spent the first night at Lone Pine, the next at Stovepipe Wells, then two nights in Beatty before heading back. This was a hotelling trip, no camping this time.
We took the Tacoma because we wanted to explore some of the more remote places and we figured we would need the ground clearance that our Prerunner offers.
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| The Taco on Racetrack Road |
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| Charcoal kilns |
After spending an uneventful night in Lone Pine, we headed for the Park. There is a large visitor's center just outside of Lone Pine and its a good place to check on conditions. There are some interesting displays to check out as well.
We then entered the Park, there is no kiosk or gate, you just keep driving along Highway 136/190. We turned south, off the highway and headed the Wildrose Mountain. The road took us through some pretty canyons and the wildflowers were still blooming, a good sign of things to come. Eventually we drove to the Charcoal Kilns, built about a over hundred years ago to supply charcoal to some smelters. The hills around are studded with small pinon pines and these were the fuel for these kilns way back then. Fortunately, the kilns shut down and the trees have managed to make a decent comeback.
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| Close-up of a kiln. |
After visiting the kilns we headed back the way we came. We took a side trip to Aguereberry Point to get a view of the valley. The road goes up pretty high and the view is amazing. On the way back to the main road we stopped at Aguereberry's old mine and camp. (Aguereberry was an miner).
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| Aguereberry Point, looking east into Death Valley. |
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| Aguereberry Camp |
Mr. Aguereberry ran quite a big mine considering he was practically a one man operation. He scratched out a living from the mine but not much more. He also made the road to Aguereberry Point, just for kicks.
Heading back to the main highway we made our way to Stovepipe Wells. We had booked a room there and checked in. Not a great room, but the only one in town! After that, we decided to take a quick trip up to Mosaic Canyon which was just up a nearby road.
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| Marble canyon walls |
The striking feature of this canyon are its marble walls. The smooth cream colored stone is really beautiful. After our hike we returned to Stovepipe and went to the saloon for dinner. It was actually a pretty nice place with an excellent beer selection!
That night, we drove to the dunes to observe the night sky. In a stroke of luck, we happened upon a Ranger's talk on the stars and joined the group.
The next morning we headed out and stopped to take a few pictures of the great sand dunes there.
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| The sand dunes outside of Stovepipe Wells. |
We came to the road junction and headed north, to Ubehebe Crater and the Racetrack Playa. I was anxious to drive to the Playa, reports I had read were a little sketchy. It turned out to be a 27 mile jaunt on rugged but passable dirt track. We left the tar road just past Ubehebe Crater, and gradually rose up a pass populated by Joshua Trees.
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| You know it'll be a fun road when you see this sign... |
After summitting the pass we continued down to Teakettle Junction and its colorful teapot collection. After Teakettle the road began to deteriorate a bit. A few deep holes and some bad washboard.
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| Teakettle Junction, on the way to the Racetrack Playa! |
Finally, the Racetrack came into view! A bright white patch with the dark grandstand in its middle.
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| The Racetrack. |
The famous rocks are found at the far end of the playa. We pulled off the road and walked across the hard playa surface. We viewed several of them and their tracks. The rocks we found were fairly small, but they still made great pictures!
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| The Racetrack! |
On our way back from the Racetrack, we stopped at Ubehebe Crater and took in that magnificent view.
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| Ubehebe Crater |
After Ubehebe, we drove to Scotty's Castle, a pretty oasis on the eastern edge of Death Valley. After having a small lunch we caught a tour of the Castle which was built by a Chicago businessman, his wife and Scotty, a cowboy/conman who provided the local color. An interesting place, well worth the visit.
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| Scotty's Castle |
After Scotty's, we drove out the east side of DV to Beatty, Nevada where we stayed at the "Atomic Inn". Well, the AI had seen better days, but it was okay for a couple of nights. We could walk to downtown Beatty, where we found places to eat and drink. The first night we ate at a bar, the food was alright, the beer choice was limited. We walked around and spotted other places to visit for the next night.
Next morning we headed back to DV. We stopped just outside of Beatty to visit Rhyolite, an abandoned mining town. Lots of interesting old building slowly falling apart.
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| Rhyolite NV |
After Rhyolite, we took a turn off the highway and headed down Red Pass road, leading to Titus Canyon! This felt like a real adventure, running on a dirt track up through the Red Pass, down through Leadville and through Titus Canyon, finally reaching the other side and entering Death Valley again. Along this road we found some beautiful country, a ghost town and some ancient petroglyphs...really worth the trip.
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| Along Red Pass Road |
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| Red Pass |
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Devil's Golf Course
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| Dante's View |
We spent one more night in Beatty, visiting the large Casino there where I actually managed to win a jackpot on the poker machine! Next day we left Beatty and DV and drove north through some lonely stretches of western Nevada, stopping at one ghost town, Palmetto, then making the long drive back to home, via Lake Tahoe.
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| At Palmetto, NV. |
This was a really nice little trip and we enjoyed Death Valley. Next time we will take our little trailer and camp, rather than using hotels, it will be cheaper and more comfortable.
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| In Palmetto. |
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