Death Valley Explorations
Coming in from Beatty Nevada, we drive up to the Mesquite Campground hoping to find a site. Surprisingly, it's almost empty so we have no trouble.
Quiet air with a slight breeze, and utter silence as only you can experience in the desert.
After dark, we're sitting quietly at the picnic table and we hear a buzzing, so I flip on the headlight and look for beetles over on the car 15 feet away.
But no, it's actually a Sidewinder coming fast through the camp from a wash behind us.
He was full of energy, and the fact that we were silent before the buzzing started tells us that it was something else that got him excited and moving. Maybe a desert fox was prowling around.
Off he went into some creosote bushes at the edge of camp, and later he was gone.
The next morning we broke camp and decided to go towards Ubehebe Crater, and try for the Racetrack Playa on the rough 4 x4 roads. It was worth it.
Lots of individual water containers (not just one big one that can break), sat phone (cell phones don't work out here), detailed desert maps, shelter, food and last of all a pretty full gas tank.
The road from Ubehebe Crate enters the map below at the top center.
Having visited the Racetrack, we continue to have a look up ahead. Lippincott Grade is not a wise thing to do with one vehicle, so we loop back to Teakettle and take the track towards Hunter Mountain. That way we can connect to the 190 outside of Panamint Springs.We decided to give it a try before retracing our steps all the way back to Ubehebe.
In previous trips, we had traversed Saline Valley, and also been up Whippoorwill Canyon, and down Grapevine, so had an idea what to expect.
Just don't try to go a shorter route via Lippincott Pass.
The rough and ready road is not for most people. There are lots of other tracks that lead off in all directions, and some tough climbing through hairpin turns and along steep dropoffs.
If it rains while you're in here, you won't get out of the mud, the rain will form streams down the sloping climbs cut into the hill slopes, and the rocks in the overhangs will fall and crush your car while you're driving. Anytime after rain in prior days is a time to stay out , or if you're already in and there's a forecast of rain it's time to get out, and do it quick.
Along the way out, we take a detour to an old mining site.
Coming around Hunter Mountain, northern Death Valley spreads out below.
Still it's early in the afternoon so we head up to Mahogany Flat in the Panamint Mountains for a free campsite, and a hike to Wildrose Peak the next day.
It gets warmer by the second as we descend from Emigrant Pass down to Stovepipe Wells.
"it's not the heat, it's the humidity" people out east say.
Well, there's no humidity here and it feels wonderful.
After a good veggie burger meal at the local spot next to the Stovepipe Wells motel, we hit the sack.
Early next morning the air is perfect for an early dip in the deserted desert pool.
At the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, we see real world "topo maps", and also what a tire rim looks like if you're desperate to get out of a tight desert spot and back to civilization. At that point, the car is expendible, no matter what.
Our last stop is a visit to Zabriskie Point before heading off to Vegas and prep for coming home.
