Homestake Dry Camp Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

We started our day early. We had a long ride planned. We headed north to an area of the national park that we had not yet seen. Because it is a long distance, we planned to make this an overnight excursion…no RV accommodations here! The forecast was for 80 degrees and sunny in the valley. Temperatures in the mountains can be as much as 20 degrees cooler.

Our first stop was at the Ubehebe Crater.

We drove 20 miles on gravel washboard road. It was slow going. If Tim tried to go faster than 10 miles an hour…the Jeep sounded like it was rattling apart. It was a glorious day! We listened to 60’s and 70’s music . We just decided to go easy and enjoy the ride!

At around 3,000 feet of elevation we started seeing Joshua trees.

It was a very pretty ride!

This is Teakettle Junction. I’m not sure why but lots have people have tied their teakettles to the sign.

Our destination today was The Racetrack. This is a large oval dry lake. It is 2.8 miles long and 1.3 miles wide. It is the largest naturally occurring flat and level surface on earth. Any rain that falls here is short lived. The lake bed dries quickly in the hot desert sun and shrinks the mud, creating a “pattern of interlocking polygons.” This feature is in a very remote location and only 4WD vehicles can access this road.

The rock formation in the foreground is known as The Grandstand.

The cool thing about this racetrack is the “sailing stones.” For many years scientists couldn’t figure out how the stones moved across the dry lake leaving tracks in the hard dry mud surface. We set out to search for the stones!

Not this rock.

We went from one rock to another walking for about a mile before we started to see the special rocks!

In 2014, scientists finally figured out the mystery of the moving rocks. Winter rains come. When 1-2 inches of water accumulates on the lake bed, it freezes and forms ice sheets. When the ice begins to break apart, the wind blows the ice sheets along, carrying the rocks along the surface of the dry lake, leaving a trail behind.

We had hoped that we might travel through Lippincott Pass. This sign was a little intimidating as was the beginning of the very rough trail! A ranger had warned us that once you get down the trail, you might not be able to get back up…even with 4WD.

We made our camp at Homestake Dry Camp. This was the site of an old mine and is an old mining camp. You can imagine old miners camping out here. We were in such a remote location and excited to stay here! We had been wanting to do an overnight like this earlier in our trip and found several places that would also have been very neat camping spots. Until now, the weather has just been too chilly!

We saw lots of dark little lizards moving like shadows among the vegetation and rock…this guy posed for a picture!

Home for the night.

Dinner was a berry spinach salad with goat cheese, grilled asparagus, and grilled shrimp.

The sun went down behind our hillside fairly early but it cast this amazing glow on the opposite mountains.

We sat by a fire, drinking hot chocolate with amaretto and watching the stars pop out! It was a terrific day!

Mileage:  59,969 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

We left Pahrump early this morning.

We were back at Death Valley in Sunset Campground and had packed our picnic for today’s off-road adventure by 11 am.  We took West Side Road into Death Valley along the salt flats. 

It rained 1.12 inches here yesterday.  There is water in the basin.  There is hardly ever water here at this time of the year.  New salt crystals are forming.

We took a detour onto Trail Canyon Road but the recent rain really washed this rough gravel road out.  The gullies were deep and the travel was slow.

The scenery was pretty and we found a nice lunch spot.

We drove 40 miles in the valley.  The Panamint Mountain Range on our right and the Amargosa Range on our left.  Death Valley is in the Basin and Range Province.  This is characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, deep gullies or valleys and steep mountains.  In very simple terms, Death Valley formed because 2 parallel fault lines pulled apart, creating a rip or rift in the middle.  This occurred 3 million years ago.  The land on each side formed tilt block mountains, that is the land mass on each side tipped over, forming the mountain peaks.  The deep valley in the middle continues to sink even as the mountains continue to grow.  We think of rock as solid and unchanging but it very much depends on what is beneath it.  The actual geological history is much more complicated than that.  The most ancient rocks in Death Valley were formed at least 1.7 billion years ago!

Riding in the valley gave us a different perspective of the expansiveness and vastness of the space.  It made me feel very small.

We got back to the RV and started preparation for tomorrow’s overnight Jeep camping trip.  We are packing lunch and dinner stuff and then breakfast for Sunday morning.  We are going to the Racetrack!

Day 2 Wine Ridge RV Resort Pahrump, Nevada

I got up early to be at the Jeep dealer by 8 am. They had no loaner cars but they did have a shuttle to get me back to the campground. I asked Mike, the shuttle driver, what we should do while we are in Pahrump. He suggested Las Vegas, Death Valley, or Tecopa. He said “There is nothing to do in Pahrump unless you want to gamble!” We don’t gamble. We worked too hard for what we have. We might as well throw dollar bills out the window as we ride down the highway!

It rained from noon yesterday until noon today. It was chilly and raw. We decided to clean the inside of the RV. We even took down the vents on the ceiling and cleaned them.

We didn’t get the Jeep back until after 3 pm. The dealer needs to order parts, so we set up another service appointment for Monday morning.

Tim was able to get the replacement bulb for the RV headlight.

We went out to dinner again…just to get out for awhile. Mexican food and margaritas.

Finally after dinner…the sun!

It’s a shame the weather wasn’t better. This is really a nice RV park.

We cannot stay in Pahrump because of the big marathon this weekend. We are going to go back to Death Valley for the weekend and then we will not be too far away to come back to Pahrump on Monday.

Mileage: 59,904 Wine Ridge RV Resort Pahrump, Nevada

Today we had planned to go to town. Our Jeep has a leak in the front differential which we want to have checked before we do anymore off-road activity and I needed a new phone. Pahrump, Nevada was the closest town with a Jeep dealer and an AT&T store. We drove a little over an hour today and we were here before noon. It was a nice drive!

We spent the day doing chores and bills and other mundane but necessary things. It is important for us to group all our errands and be thoughtful about what we need because things are further apart out here!

I started the laundry and left for the phone store. It took 3 hours but I have a working phone…YAY!!! Sharing a phone is hard even on a very good relationship. You just don’t realize how much you use it, need it, depend on it until you need to share it!

I went back to get Tim and we went to Walmart together.

Then the grocery store.

The grocery sold beer, and wine, and liquor. There was a small casino in the store near the cash registers. We are in Nevada now!

We saw a BBQ place on the way in and that was dinner.

Our appointment for the Jeep is early tomorrow morning. Hopefully it is a simple thing and won’t take too long to repair. We only have a campsite for one more night. There is a Baker to Las Vegas marathon that runs through here this weekend and they expect the place to be mobbed.

Day 4 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

We were slow this morning to make a plan.  We had our coffee outside.  We went to the visitor center to see the exhibits and the Death Valley 30-minute movie. 

We packed lunch decided to take a short off-road ride to Echo Canyon. 

We were forced to turn around at this rock staircase.  This Blazer tried twice before giving up.  We didn’t want to take a risk.  Notice the recliners on the top of this Blazer!  Sometimes off-road you meet some characters! 

We passed a lot of abandoned mining sites.  There were places that someone had started to dig and just gave up!  The ground here is so hard and unforgiving…it must have been a very difficult job.  So many men traveled out here with dreams of getting the gold.

On the way back we had the sunroof off.  I was standing on the seat, with my head through the roof, taking in the canyon as we passed through. 

We went to Zabriskie Point.  This overlooks the Death Valley Badlands.  The rocks were soft ice cream colors, French vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mint…so tremendously beautiful.

We drove into the Timbisha Shoshone Preservation Area.  We had our dinner at Timbisha Tacos.  It was delicious!

Day 3 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

Death Valley conjures visions of heat and desolation, sand and rocks.  With names like Furnace Creek, Funeral Peak, Dante’s View, Devils Hole, Badwater Basin, Last Chance Mountain, Dry Bone Canyon, Deadman Pass, Lost Lake and more…this place is surely a desert oven. But in all things, there is something good and precious to be found, if we take the time and if we are paying attention.

We started our day on Artist Drive.  This is one of the most beautiful places in the park.  We hiked up to a ridge for a better vantage point. 

At Artists Palette, the colors are something to behold. 

We took almost 50 pictures along this path.  Here are some of our favorites.

We stopped to hike to Natural Bridge.  We met Jay and Jill from Iowa.  We took pictures for them and then they for us.  We ended up hiking to the end of the trail with them, chatting as we walked.  Jill and Jay are retired school teachers.  They both still work, though.  Jay drives a school bus because he loves it and Jill substitutes in 2 local elementary schools.  They were great people and easy to talk to.  They are on spring break and they love to travel.  They are trying to visit as many of the national parks as they can.  Maybe we will see them again one day!

We walked out into Death Valley at Badwater Basin.  The salt crystals can be 1-5 feet deep across this dry lakebed.  We could see the heat shimmering above the surface of the salt.  We were 282 feet below sea level.  As the Panamint Mountains grow, Death Valley will sink even deeper.  The hottest temperature on earth, 134 degrees Fahrenheit, was recorded here.

If you look on this picture, you can see a small sign on the mountainside marking sea level. 

We took West Side Road to Warm Spring Canyon to Butte Valley through Mengel Pass to Goler Canyon for our off-road adventure.  This was the roughest, most challenging off-road adventure we have ever undertaken!  We started off-road at 11:30 am.  We drove over these mountains!!

It started off tame.

Lunch spot.

We passed a quarry.

Lots of old mines.

Lots of burros.

This is our view passing through the valley.

Striped Butte.

This was an old geologist’s camping cabin.  You can stay here overnight if you choose.  We could peek inside the front window and there was furniture and dishes for anyone.  We didn’t go inside to check it out.

After the cabin, the road got a little rougher.  On other trails we might have turned around.  We had been traveling though for hours and had about ½ tank of gas.  We had talked to a guy earlier in the day who mentioned Mengel Pass twice…now we know why!  We were committed to finishing this trail.  Tim and his Jeep did an amazing job of getting us over some pretty interesting rocks! He always follows his brother Jeff’s two simple rules. Go slow and don’t be afraid to get out and look!

At this point in the trail…it just abruptly dead ended!!  This is not what we expected…this is not what the map said.  Where did we miss our turn???

I walked back a short distance to where I thought the road should be…no road!  We were not panicking yet.  I already knew that I had enough water and snacks packed if we had to stay out overnight.  We did NOT want to be driving this trail in the dark!  We were 25 miles from any road or civilization.

We drove about ¼ mile back the way we had come.  All at once I saw what I thought might be our road.  We walked down the steep bank and we were found! 

The scenery became very pretty as we passed through Goler Canyon. 

We emerged from the canyon into the valley.  We now knew that we would make it to pavement before dark.  We got to the road at 6pm! 

We found a gas station and a pizza place in Panamint Springs.  It was nice to sit down, have a glass of wine, and relax!

We still had 56 miles around and through the mountains to go before got back home!

We are so grateful to be able to share this adventure together.  For now, this existence is good for us.  We are immersed each day in nature.  Our souls are suffused by beauty.  Our minds are filled with wonder and curious about things we don’t know and understand.  Our bodies are soothed by the warmth and sunshine.  We keep ourselves open for new experiences and we usually find them!

Showers and bed sure felt nice!

Day 2 Sunset Campground Death Valley national Park Death Valley, California

We started out early, excited to see what the trail had in store for us. The ranger at the visitor center recommended an adventurous 4WD trail in the northern corner of the park. Today was a Sunday and we were told the regular exhibits would be really crowded.

We stopped to stretch our legs and admire the view.

We visited the Rhyolite Historic Gold Mining Town. This was a gold mining community for several years in the early 1900’s. It is now a ghost town.

Our driving instructions were to drive 30 miles to Beatty. Turn left and at mile marker 71 turn left at the second gravel road. Look for the barbed wire fence and the closed gate. Go through the gate and close it behind you.

The adventure begins.

We drove across the Sarcobatus Flat. As we drove we began to see feral burros. These burros are a nonnative, invasive species. We saw around 50 today. They looked up at us as we passed, a little startled by our presence but for the most part they didn’t run from us. Goldminers who died passing through this desert stranded their burros. The burros have thrived here in this harsh environment.

We gradually climbed up into the mountains. The surrounding landscape was spectacular. As we stood on the ridge, we could hear the burros braying to one another far below.

It always amazes me…the loveliness that can grow from gravel.

We had to pass through another gate to get into the National Park. There was fence that is supposed to keep burros out. The park tries to manage the population inside its boundaries. The burros cause damage to plants that are food for other animals and they also have a tendency to mess up water sources as well.

Tim walked down to investigate an old mining site. He couldn’t see the bottom of the shaft.

Lunch with a view!

We are certain that there is a story that goes with this old car…

We drove across the desert and found our own way back to the highway about 9 miles from where we entered.

A dust devil over the salt flats.

Through Mud Canyon.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

The Harmony Borax Works mined borates. Chinese laborers scraped the salts from the flats and then other miners boiled it and harvested the borax crystals. 20 mule teams hauled the borax to trains 165 miles away.

We had a great day!

Mileage: 59,841 Sunset Campground Death valley National Park Death Valley, California

We watched the sunrise as we drank our morning coffee.

We got our first glimpse of a Joshua tree as we headed north toward Death Valley. It is an odd looking tree with bottle-brush like appendages on its limbs. It looks like a Lorax tree!

We rounded a bend to incredible mountain grandeur. Indescribable beauty. I made a foolish attempt to capture the loveliness with a camera.

As we drove through the Mojave National Preserve, we realized that we had chosen the perfect camping spot last night by the dunes. There were no other places in this sandy wilderness that we could have stayed!

In Baker, California we crossed over Route 15. If we had gone 15 in the first place it would have been so much quicker…but then we would have missed a truly gorgeous ride.

We took Scenic Route 127 through Tecopa. We took a short ride along the road to the town. We passed this dry riverbed of the Amargosa River.

We stopped in Shoshone to fill the RV and Jeep with fuel.

We told someone the other day that we were headed to Death Valley. His response was something like…Why would you go there? It is just a bunch of sand and rocks. I suppose that many people might see it that way. We however think that this park is worthy of the word “magnificent.”

We got settled in the Sunset Campground. We were going to rest awhile but we were both eager to get out and explore.

We drove the Jeep to Dante’s View. The scenery was outstanding. Dante’s View is at 5,475 feet of elevation. Below us we could see the Badwater Basin or Death Valley. The lowest point in North America, the basin is 282 feet below sea level. The snow-capped peak in the distance is Telescope Peak. It is 11,049 feet high and only 20 miles away. What natural power formed these incredible peaks and valleys?!?

Then we took the Jeep trail called Hole in the Wall.

Everywhere we look there are beautiful mountains. Mothers Nature’s finest handiwork. There are mountains that appear to be draped in all shades of rumpled velvet. There are mountains that are a tapestry of striped bands in muted shades of red and gold and brown and green and grey and cream. There are mountains covered in a patchwork quilt of uneven remnants.

We saw a chuckwalla. We also saw a mouse and a lizard…both too speedy to capture on camera.

We were only out for a little while this afternoon. I cannot wait to see what we can find out there tomorrow!

Mileage:  59,674 Keslo Dunes Amboy, California

It was time to leave Camp Cummins.  We are grateful for the free place to stay and the super good service. 

This morning we got on 10 west and took the road to Vicksburg.  I did another short stint driving the RV.  I hadn’t driven it for a couple of weeks and it took some time to get reacclimated.  Even so, I never feel like I can relax, there is a lot to pay attention to!

In Vicksburg we took the backroad to Parker and then to Lake Havasu.  This scenic route was stunning.  We took pictures, but you really had to be there!

We spent the day gaping at the passing mountains and just enjoying the ride.

We saw huge sand dunes in the distance as we got closer, we saw a sign to Kelso Dunes.  We took the road not certain where it would lead us.  There was a large parking area and we decided to stay. 

We watched the changing light as afternoon turned into evening.

Day 2 Camp Cummins Phoenix, Arizona

We had to be up and ready for our service call by 6 am. We set the alarm for 5 am. It was cold and dark and it seemed really early!

We headed for Bright and Clean Laundromat. We got 4 loads of laundry washed, dried, and folded in 1 1/2 hours! Gotta love a laundromat for speedy work!

A little after 9 am we were at Rio Vista Community Park. We planned to bike on the New River Trail. First we visited the adjacent Peoria Veterans Memorial.

New River Trail.

Because there were lots of trees, there were lots of birds. It was spring along the bike path…every bird was singing. We saw several kinds of ducks, cormorants, hummingbirds, finches, herons, and lots of other brown and grey unfamiliar birds. We actually saw 2 roadrunners. One was running quickly, the other was in this tree. It appeared to be gathering nesting stuff.

We took the path south and then we saw this sign.

All at once our path was covered by water…lots of water. You can see our tire tracks in the picture. We were going to go through and then we realized the water was getting deeper and ahead we could see the water rushing and forming rapids…we turned around!

We went back the way we came and tried the path on the other side of the river…no go! Usually this is a completely dry riverbed. The recent heavy rains have caused this river to fill and flood the surrounding banks.

We went back the way we came and tried riding north. The path was passable. Soon the river formed a “Y” with a canal. Our bike route took us along the canal. Across the water, we could see baseball spring training happening. We decided that at the next intersection, we would cross the water and come back along the other side to get a closer look at the players practicing. We ended up on a hard packed gravel surface that ran right behind the training center. We even found a stray baseball!

We watched for a little while and made our way further along the path…it started to get a little narrower and a little rougher…but no worries. The trail was intersected by this ditch. It was 4 feet deep and the sides were at 45 degree angles. Tim got his bike across and then came to get mine. I scrambled nimbly down the first side and up the other…well not so nimbly!

Ahead we had to pass beneath a bridge, ducking to get through. “Where are you taking me???”

The next obstacle was this very steep and gravelly hill…we could still see a path ahead…so we kept moving forward.

Once I got down the hill with my bike, we made our way along the narrow path in the riverbed.

Once you are in the riverbed…you have to get up and out…

Once again, Tim had to help me get the bike up the hill…I was on my own…but I got there…look how steep…

We rode for awhile across hard packed trail.

This worked for a long time…and then we got a little stuck. The rushing New River was to our left and the edge of the riverbank next to the highway with a fence was on our right…should we turn around and go back…or keep moving forward. Normally, there would be no water flowing in the New River and we could have just walked right across to the bike path on the other side. We could see where we needed to be. It seemed silly to go all the way back and around…I voted to move forward. We had to walk on the top of the embankment with our bikes for a long way.

I could see ahead what looked like a large opening in the fence. Tim went to check it out…no go! It was a steep 8 foot drop-off. Our only option was to backtrack to where we had seen a hole in the fence.

I crawled through first and Tim and I fished the bikes through the hole. Now we were along the highway. Which way should we go??? We looked at GPS and we could see that further ahead was an on-ramp from Bell Road. We were hoping that there might be a bike lane along the bridge across the water. I really didn’t want to turn around until we were forced to!

We made it! Lunchtime!

This is the view from across the river. On the left you can see the drop-off that made the embankment impassable. The hole in the fence is on the far right.

We had expected a fairly flat, tame bike ride and instead we got an adventure!! It was never unsafe, though sometimes challenging! We could always turn around and go back the way we had come…but we needed to see what was at the end! Thank goodness there was a hole in the fence!

We spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the RV to be ready. It needed a new gasket and that took additional time. The people at Cummins have been very accommodating and the service has been amazing! We sat in the customer lounge updating the blog and our phones and lounging.

We didn’t get the RV back until 5:30. Tim took it next door to the RV wash and baby got a bath. By then it was 6:30. We had the option to stay at Camp Cummins another night and we decided to say put. It was going to be dark and we were not sure where we would stay tonight if we started driving late. Tomorrow we plan to head north and west toward Death Valley.