A little geology lesson, if I may.
This region is known as ‘basin and range’ topography. Millions of years ago the churning inferno in the mantle a thousand kilometers under us attempted to rip the continent into two pieces, but it had a tough time doing it so finally gave up and quit. That left a deep rift trending north-south sort of along the California/Nevada border and in fact further north as well. The surface expression of that failed rift is a number of deep, flat bottomed valleys with a series of mountain ranges between them. Death Valley is one of them, but it has several parallel neighbours. The upshot of this is that as you traverse the region in a west-east direction, you keep climbing up and over mountains and crossing wide, flat valleys, I am now in the fourth such valley. The summit of the mountain pass to the west is about 5000 ft. As I came down the eastern flank there were signs announcing 4000 ft, 3000 ft, 2000 ft… I felt like I was coming in for a landing! The last time I descended so far and so fast I was in a 747.
Tonight I am camped out in the desert at Stovepipe Wells and the elevation is about sealevel.
Tonight I am camped out in the desert at Stovepipe Wells and the elevation is about sealevel.
 |
| The Bruiser arrives at Death Valley |
Joshua trees dot the landscape in the less arid regions outside the Death Valley reserve.
The temperature was a comfortable 25 C for much of the day, dropping to about 18C at the summits and about 30C when I stopped for the day.
The temperature was a comfortable 25 C for much of the day, dropping to about 18C at the summits and about 30C when I stopped for the day.
Nice placenames!
If you look over the edge you will see the bottom of Death Valley, 5000 ft below
The big lesson I have learned here is to fill the gas tank and the water bottles at every opportunity. I was counting on a fill up at Tondo but the station had no gas. The next one was at Panamint Springs 50 miles away.
“And between here and there there ain’t nothin’!” offered a helpful local. And he was quite right.
 |
| Miles and miles of nothin' but miles and miles. |
When I did stop for gas there it was about $1.50/gal more than the normal price. Quite exorbitant, I thought. But after I did some arithmetic if figured it is still a few cents less than it was in North Vancouver when I left!
Often I would encounter a realty sign announcing a property for sale at a location far out in the absolute bugger-alls. Houses or trailers were perched on an unshaded slope like toaster ovens on a shelf. Now, I do understand the motive of the vendor (somewhat more than I do the property owners who are staying put) but have to wonder how the realtors make a living here.
I would say it is a buyers’ market.
My little camp in the desert.
Exquisite!
Notice the little lizard tracks in the sand at the edge of the brush.
At the time of this posting I have found my way out of Death Valley and am in metro Pahrump. Seriously.
Internet has been rather scarce for me lately.
More later!
