Death Valley

Sunday, Jan 22…

Remember that wind we felt Friday night in Barstow? It kinda whistled around us, nudging the MH every now and then. Well, last night there was no nudging. I’ve been in several hurricanes and felt safer than I did then. (Admittedly, I was in a house w/ a solid foundation during the hurricanes, not a 34’x12’ box on leveling jacks.) Anyway, we were first wakened around 2am by a rattling sound. Greg opened the 2 smaller windows and pulled in/down the outer awnings. A short while later there was significant buffeting.  (OK, significant is open to a wide range of interpretation – let’s just say the MH was definitely moving.) We retracted both slides, then snuggled close in the middle of our bed (which is now against one wall). Eventually Greg fell asleep, so I figured he wasn’t too worried and relaxed. I was awakened by more gusts around 4, but – again – Greg slept. By the time we actually got up to shower and dress, the wind had diminished and there was a steady rain. So much for an early start to take advantage of the sunshine.

We head out w/ two doable goals for the morning: Mesquite Spring & Ubehebe Crater. It was raining at both sites. Greg tells me there was a solar-powered pump station at Mesquite Spring, but neither of us saw the spring it was pumping from (probably b/c we didn’t actually get out of the car). I did get some pics of the mesquite (it’s a tree, right?).

Several along the road, and ...

up close and personal.

The crater (Oo-buh-hee’-bee, I believe) was different. Obviously we had to get out to see it. The crater is at a higher altitude than the spring, and there’s no vegetation. The wind is blowing again – hard. Raindrops pummel our faces as we try to walk toward the rim. There’s no guardrail, and the wind is rocking us just like it rocked the MH last night. We each snap a blind shot and retreat to the car. The crater is 600' deep and half a mile wide. (The photo on the right comes from californiathroughmylens.com, my favorite site for info on CA travel.)

What we saw...

and what it really looks like.

Backtracking... kinda desolate.

After Ubehebe we backtracked 40 miles and continued another 17 to the Death Valley Visitors Center at Furnace Creek. Watched the movie, checked out the various exhibits, and grabbed lunch at the Forty-Niner Café (where our server asked if he could bring the check early b/c the lights were flickering – there’s still wind – and a power outage is anticipated). Then we drove down to the salt flats – at 282’ below sea level, this is the lowest point in the U.S. Greg thought it was kind of creepy; I thought it was cool. 

View from the parking lot (the pathway to the left goes quite a way out).

Close-up of Salt Deposits

Salt spring bubbling near shore
(not sure why that white film is there)

To give you some perspective...  These flats are 282' below sea level. The thin white line behind the 2 people is the parking lot. Find the cleft in the lower rock, just left of center. Look up slightly to the wavy line of blurry white spots. The one to the farthest right is at sea level - 282' feeet above the parking lot (and the rock is a lot farther away from the 2 people than it looks).
Vastness defines every aspect of Death Valley.

Oops. I almost forgot the borax. Harmony Borax Works (1883-1888) was the central feature in the opening of Death Valley. After borax was found near Furnace Creek Rance, William T. Coleman built the Harmony plant and began to process the ore. When in full operation, the company employed 40 men who produced three tons of borax daily. Getting the finished product to market was difficult, and the Harmony operation became famous for its innovative use of 20-mule teams pulling double wagons to haul 10-ton loads of borax (and 1200 gallons of water) to Mojave, CA. (picture from Wikipedia)