All things must end, part3!

Saturday, Nov 4^th was grocery day in Pahrump, NV. Jeff had found the Pahrump Valley Museum so we stopped for a tour. A very nice museum with a very good overview of the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Depository. Also, a train room which was in progress with more work before the display could be opened. We got a preview as train buffs.

After lunch and grocery shopping we returned to Furnace Creek.

Our next big hike was to “Big Bird Canyon”. It is about a 1.5 mile hike up a wash into a canyon with large fossil footprints of a big 3 toed bird. I was last in this canyon in 2010. We spent more time looking for other footprints and believe we found more than previous visits. We walked further up the canyon looking for some rock alignments we had found years ago. Unfortunately, time did not improve my memory as to their where abouts. We decided that a further 1 or 2 mile hike would be required to find them but next year, not today. As it was we had about a 0.8 mile hike back to the vehicles after we reached the highway.

3 toed fossil bird footprints.

We again were looking for grave sites but this time it was up Echo Canyon to the town site of Schwab. I thought I had been to Schwab but had only been to the Inyo mine. We could only drive to with 1.3 miles of Schwab as the park service has blocked the road. So hike we did. We found the grave sites because of a photo our friend Tom had on his iPad. There could be more grave sites based on depressions in the ground which may be collapsed graves. Hard to know for sure.

Grave site at Schwab.

The National Park Service opened up the Keene Wonder mine site which had been closed for 9.5 years die to suspected arsenic in the ground and mine tailings. They also re-enforced some of the mine structures. There was a grand opening which we did not attend due to limited parking, instead we waited a day to explore the site.

Keen Wonder mine with towers in the background.

Having this site open means there are several canyons and mines which can now be explored. We decided to check out the Johnny Cyty mine which is about a mile from the Keen Wonder. Along the way we crossed several small streams which are the output of springs. These springs provided water for the mines but all are highly sulfated in fact so much so that we could not stay near the source for long because of the smell.

 

Johnny Cyty's cabin.

Johnny Cyty's mine.

The remainder of the trip had us participating in lectures and programs put on by the Death Valley 49ers. All were really interesting. 

I need to talk about the Desert Ballon Recovery Crew or DBRC. We started collecting mylar ballons last year and contined doing it this year. We found a total of 31 this year, 9 in one day. Mylar ballons are hazardous to electrical wires and animals. Jeff has created a Facebook page to show our colections. Check it out.

 Mylar ballons on our camp cloths line.

 

All things must end, part 2!

On Sunday the 29^th of October we waited at Longstreet for word from Bruce that our sites in Furnace Creek were open before we drove into the park. Finally left about 10:30 and drove right to our sites except for Jeff who had to wait for his site to empty at noon. A warm day so no rush to set up camp. Slowly got things done.

 

On Monday morning we drove to Cow Creek (where permanent staff lives) looking for two grave sites that Jeff knew about. We walked down to the salt flats and easily found the sites. They are just rectangular rock piles with a board marker.

Grave sites near salt flats.

On Tuesday we drove out of the park past Panamint Springs Resort to Father Crowley Point on Hwy 190. This is an overlook of Rainbow Canyon (also know as Star-wars or Jedi canyon) through which Navy planes fly. When they go through they are below us and very close. It must be a real kick for the pilots to do that. It certainly is a thrill for us observers watching. We spent a few hours watching then drove back to Panamint Springs for lunch. They do a real nice hamburger and fries.

For Wednesday we did a trip to Hole-in-the-wall canyon to recheck on some petroglyphs. We do this periodically hoping that no one has destroyed them. One particular rock is still there. Walking back to the vehicles, Nobby took a different route and called on the radio that he had found another petroglyh on a rock. Following the the route he had been on we eventually found a total of 10 rocks with petroglyphs on them. A great find! We are learning that we need to keep our eyes open to things like that.

Petroglyphs on rock.

On Thursday we hiked up Corkscrew Canyon with the purpose of checking out the mine which none of us have seen for many years. We walk up a wash in which there are some rocks with numbers on them. In the past we have found three. We again found the three which always amazes me that someone hasn’t removed them. The mine area is now closed by a gate so we turned around and headed back. On the way, Bruce called me and asked me to walk back to him which was about a ¼ back up the canyon. He had stumbled on another marker which was unknown to us. Because of the number sequence we now believe they may be one more rock to find. Always leave something for next time is our motto.

Corkscrew rock marker.

On Friday we stayed in camp and checked out the rebuilding of Furnace Creek Ranch. They have removed all the old public buildings and will replace the new facility with one 2 story building. They are also redoing the Furnace Creek Inn and it will be renamed The Oasis at Furnace Creek. A lot of money being spent on these 2 projects.

(To be continued)

All things must end!

Another great Fall Trip to the desert. We started out with only 3 of us camping at Calico Ghost Town near Barstow. We explored behind the town using Nobbies new Jeep Rubicon with all it’s bells and whistles. A great ride.

  Nobbies new Jeep Rubicon.

The next day we visited the Route 66 museum behind the Barstow train station. Quite a lot of Route 66 memorabilia. We also visited the Mojave River museum with its displays of dinosaur bones and local history. We gathered some information from the docent about local areas for a future visit.

We then moved on to Baker and camped behind the Mad Greek restaurant in the “trees” where 3 more of our crew met us. We drove out to an old Civil Air Patrol site at Silver Lake. I had found a reference to it on a desert website. Remains of buildings and a swimming pool near the high way are about all that is left.

We had dinner at the Mad Greek.

The next morning we moved on to Tecopa and our favorite campsite where we circled the wagons for a 5 day stay. As usual, we drove to the China Ranch date farm for a date shake followed by a trip to the date canyon overlook. A very impressive canyon which we hiked down several years ago through the mesquite trees. A very tough hike.

Our first goal was to visit Galena Canyon in the southern part of Death Valley. We had been prevented form doing this trip for the last two years, first because of road damage due to rains then last year the Armagossa River was running high due to a rainstorm. This year it was dry but we determined that the water last year would have been up to the windows on Jeff’s Jeep Liberty. Good thing we didn’t try it.

Galena Canyon.

This year no problem, so we explored the talc mines in the canyon and drove several roads in the area. We also explored an old Indian cave on the side of the cliff which had also been used by miners as they had built up rock walls in the front of the cave.

Larry and Jeff outside of Indian cave.

We also explored several more Talc mines in the area near our camp. Some of these are way up the side of mountains and required heavy equipment to make access roads. We drove these roads as far as possible then walked. All up hill of course.

Talc mine.

We now moved on to the Longstreet Casino North of Death Valley Junction. We have a few things we want to see nearby. We visited the Ash Meadows Wildlife Preserve visitor center which is new and talked to the ranger on duty. Lots of information. We visited Devil’s Hole, home of the Death Valley Pup Fish. This area is extremely well guarded by cameras and surrounded by fencing yet 2 people last year smashed through the fence and went for a swim in the deep hole. They caught them of course but they caused major damage.

We also visited a place called “Point of Rocks” which has boardwalks and a live stream. Then we went on to the cabin of Jack Longstreet who lived there and raised horses. Again, lots of water. It is always a shock to see so much water in the desert.

 Jack Longstreet's cabin.

We next went to the town site of Lee which is located on the eastern slope of the Funeral mountains and on the road from Echo Canyon in Death Valley. We had been over the road before but never had time to explore the town site. It was an extensive site with lots of buildings and mines. Now of course, all that remains are rock foundations and tent sites with lots of glass and tin cans.

House foundations at Lee.

On Saturday October 28^th we drove up to Beatty, NV for Beatty Days. We arrived in time for the parade which was quit long for such a small town. Many entrants tossed candy to the kids and some adults, us. We moved to the town park where there was a car show, a chili cook off, two bands, vendors and food booths. It was well done. We ate lunch then drove back to Longstreet.

Desert sunset.

(To be continued)