Heading Home

We decided to head home today for a couple of reasons. 1) We have seen everything we are going to see and 2) It has gotten crowded and noisy here!  Last night I think the coyotes were protesting visitors as well I guess, since they howled much of the night, which in turn had Tony growling! As a side note it also seems to be getting warmer! We decided to go the more mountainous route home so we took 190 west to 395 then picked up 14, 58, 99 and home! We briefly stopped at Mesquite Sand Dunes but decided we didn’t want to hike out on the dunes like so many others. We continued on the 190 route, which is the Death Valley Scenic Byway. It was interesting to see but I doubt we would go that way again. It is a two way road, nicely paved, but steep and lots of cliffs, that’s how the “scenic” gets it’s name. Owens Lake was probably lovely at one time but there isn’t much left of it now. It was shocking to see how little snow was on the Sierras as well! We made good time with just a few stops and very little traffic, except on Hwy 99 of course. We were home just before 7pm. Tony immediately went in and hopped on our bed between the pillows! 

Tony was Tuckered Out Last Night

Mesquite Sand Dunes

Padre Crowley Point

Owens Lake & Sierras

Home At Last!

Titus Canyon and Beyond

Our main adventure today was a fabulous drive through Titus Canyon. However, our first stop was Salt Creek where we wanted to see the Pupfish. We took a nice little walk on the boardwalk path and saw a couple schools of the fish along with many stragglers. Interesting little fish and happy we got to see them. The water is very salty as we took a taste where we could reach it from the boardwalk. The area actually has more water than Badwater, also more plants in the form of Pickleweed. The Pickleweed absorbs salt and when it reaches saturation it grows more “green” for animals to eat and also absorb more salt, amazing. We also drove to Stovepipe Wells to see what was there, which wasn’t much; a small grocery store, bare campground and gift shops. We saw the dunes we wanted to see as we drove by but there were a lot of people so we opted to keep going in the direction of Beatty, NV where we would pick up the road through Titus Canyon. Thankfully, we have the Jeep and we can enjoy some of these more challenging road adventures. It is a high-clearance and 4x4 road only, though I think our van could have done most of it! What amazing views along they way, we really enjoyed it a lot! The photos taken do not do it justice. We made several stops along the way to take in the astounding views. After that drive we were back to the main road and headed back to camp with just a brief stop at the Harmony Borax Works. We are tired now and we don’t think there is anything else we want to see. We tentatively plan to head home tomorrow. I probably forgot to mention there was a coyote that ran right past our camp last night. They caution people to keep their pets close by. When Tony saw the coyote go by last night he had the most vicious sounds coming from him that we ever heard! Later in the evening when John took him for a walk he put on his brakes and would go no further in the dark. I suspect he smelled a coyote then, even if he didn’t see one at that time.  He wanted to go back to the trailer! 

Salt Creek Trail

Pupfish at Salt Creek

Pickleweed

Leadfield Ghost Town

Our new Jeep Latitude loved the dirty, rough road!

Titus Canyon Road

Titus Canyon Road

Titus Canyon Road

Harmony Borax Works

 

Fiddler’s Campground

We decided to spend a restful and quiet day around camp. Most of the other Casitas were scheduled to leave today. We had a few nice chats with others before they departed. Thankfully the woman apposed to our generator departed early so there was nothing more of her opinions. When we talked to others we expressed concern if our generator bothered them and none said it did, in fact quite the opposite. They commented on how quiet it runs, which of course is an attribute to the little Honda 2000 and why we bought it. The next time we decide to try out a Casita Rally or gathering of some sort we will first as about the use of generators, etc. Apparently at the Rally these people came from there were maybe 100 Casitas and certainly a lot of them used generators, and not quite ones either! Before it was too warm today we went on a “Headquarters Plant Walk” that started at the Visitor Center, just a brief walk from where we are camped. It was interesting to hear about the different wild flowers, shrubs, and trees in the area. We are told in the coming weeks there will be a lot of wild flowers in bloom but the bloom will be very short if there is no more rain. This I can believe. Mesquite is the only natural occurring tree in this area. Fascinating to hear about all the uses of this particular tree! One can even grind cooking flour from the pods. During the afternoon we relaxed, read, and played cards. I managed to put most of my photographs in order and labeled this afternoon as well.  Tonight we went to a “Seekers of the Stars” program, also at the Visitor Center. It was not very impressive, but I have one nice photo from the talk. When they began to talk about dark sky pollution and extraterrestrials we decided to head back to camp. It must have been above our thinking. One thing we heard today that makes one pause for thought – In the desert “things” either stick, sting, stab, or stink.  I thought that was funny, though pretty accurate!

Furnace Creek Visitor Center

Creosote Bush and Butterfly (lots of bees too!)

Desert Holly or Atriplex Hymenelytra

Globemallow

Evening Brown Eyed Primrose

Seekers of the Stars

Scotty’s Castle and More…

We slept in and didn’t get an early start, but that was fine. Our lunch was packed and off we went. We filled up with gas before leaving at $3.72 per gallon. I was surprised it was not more expensive here. We stopped along the way to read about the Alluvial Fans formed by rocks along with other interesting sites along the way. We arrived at Scotty’s Castle around noon so we ate our picnic lunch and waited for a shady parking spot to open up so we could leave Tony in the vehicle. It was 71-72 degrees at the castle, quite cool feeling in the shade by the spring where we ate our lunch. The house tour started at 1pm so our timing was perfect. It was half price for us to tour with our Senior pass so that was $15 for the both of us and lasted about one hour. You can also do a 2-3 mile guided tour and a 1 hour underground tour. The house tour and story were interesting and worth doing. It is always interesting to hear about the motivation of people and what they do with their lives. From that point we headed a little further north to see the Ubehebe Crater. A lovely place surrounded by cinder cone type mountains. There is such diverse landscape here, quite something to see. Our trip back to Furnace Creek was uneventful. We decided we would try a Prickly Pear Margarita, very sweet but ok. It was dark by then and we enjoyed the outdoor gas fireplaces they have in front of the Corkscrew Saloon before heading back to our sparse campsite. It seems a little cooler tonight, but I am unsure of the temperature. 

Aprons of Alluvial Fans formed by rock

Scotty’s Castle

Scotty’s Castle, Natural Spring, John & Tony

Evaporative Cooler, made to look like a waterfall in the house.

1933 Packard

Ubehebe Crater – Very windy!

Corkscrew Saloon Fireplace

 

Badwater and More

After breakfast and looking around the area a bit we headed toward Badwater. It was only a 17 mile drive from our camp spot. We stopped at a couple turn outs on the way to Badwater and on the way back we went on the Artist’s Drive. We took a few short walks from the road to see extra view points. We ate our lunch in a particularly lovely spot call the Artist’s Palate. We are drinking plenty of water even though it is only in the low 80’s it feels very hot and dry to us. We spent the afternoon out of the sun and relaxing. When we started the generator at 7pm to heat our dinner in the microwave it was less than 2 minutes when the same who said “we are not generator people” came to ask me if I was aware the generator hours were 7am-7pm.  In fact they are 7am to 11pm but I did tell her as soon as our dinner was warm I would turn it off. 

Badwater 282 feet below Sea Level

Telescope Mountain behind John at 11,049 feet (with snow)!  Such a contrast!

Artists Palette Drive Exploration

Artists Palette, our picnic lunch site

Our Campsite

Furnace Creek, Fiddler’s Campground

Feb 10: We had a nice drive with some different, but lovely scenery. We stopped and ate a bite of lunch along the way and arrived to the campground just after noon. Unfortunately there is little to no shade in the area where we are. But we are in walking distance to the Furnace Creek Visitors Center. We took a walk over there and left Tony in his kennel in the trailer. It was between 75-80 degrees in the trailer and it was for less than an hour.  He didn’t even want water when we got back, so he was fine. After we got back from the Visitors Center we saw 6-8 people from their Casitas all sitting in their folding chairs together. We went and said HI and they invited us to join in. We said we would later after we ate dinner if they were still there. They were somewhat friendly but it seemed they all knew each other and were talking about past trips they have taken together.  We went back and ate our dinner, also started our generator to charge our laptops. Before we were done eating one the “main” people from the Casita FB site (Eileen) came along and asked why we were running our generator. I said to charge our laptops and asked if it was bothering her. She said “We’re just not generator people.” No one told me that but that’s fine. We did notice that most people had a solar panel “suitcase” unfolded and in the sun most of the day.  She went on to tell us how we need a solar panel and showed me different adaptors that would charge a laptop from a 12 volt battery.  Not feeling too welcomed in this group I guess… BUT, trying it out is the only way to know. We’re here now and we will be taking some day trips from this location. As the sun went down the temperature dropped nicely, glad of that. I think it was between 75-80 today but seemed pretty hot in the sun.

Almost There!

 

Made it!

Death Valley Marker

Sea Level, but no SEA for sure!

DV or Bust!

Feb 9: What a slick ride over the Tehachapi Mountains, put it on cruise control at 57 and never missed a beat.  We drove as far as Barstow the first night and spent the night at Wal-Mart. We got a few groceries and had a good night’s sleep.

Death Valley

Today we will get finished packing and we will be all set to go in the morning. This trip will be our first time socializing with any part of the Casita Club happenings. This isn’t a typical rally but an informal event so we will see how we like it. Everything I have read says there is no cell phone service in Death Valley.  We are supposed to have Wi-Fi where we are staying so hopefully we really do!  So off we go to the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere AND Northern Hemisphere!