MONDAY - 10th
We left Oregon City about 10:30 am, stopped by Warren's to say good bye, then to Costco for gas. Even had to use google maps to figure out how to get to Sandy from Costco - we just have never purposely gone that way.
Stopped at Joe's Donuts in Sandy and basically had doughnuts for lunch, snack, and dinner...along with three ice cream bars we bought at a Dollar Store in Prineville.
Yep - we're heading east towards Mt Hood
And now south with Mt Jefferson to the west
There is pretty much nuttin' in the south east corner of Oregon. But - good roads and very little
traffic. much more peaceful that an Interstate
Had a mild gas scare.......there aren't many towns here, and we had 150 miles left in our tank. We tried to get gas in Crane, but there isn't really any commercial anything there. As we turned back on to the highway, we saw a tiny sign in some guy's yard that said "gas" but then we'd already passed the driveway. And then there was a sign "next gas 140 miles". No Problem! Dad even wanted to go back to the sign in the yard. I said, the digital reading on the truck can't be wrong....this is a Chevy truck." As we approached the Nevada border, in the dark of night, we could see in the distance the sparkling lights of McDermitt, Nevada..........and the low gas light came on along with and irritating ringing sound. But we got to the gas station just fine and put in about $80,00 worth of gas.
Next - find the closest rest stop! Well, who knew that three rest stops along an interstate highway would be closed!!!! We even drove fifty miles out of our way, but the furthest stop was also closed. Back to Battle Mountain to get more gas before heading south on a road, which on the map, has little dots all the way - must be scenic. The lady as the gas station said, "oh, just park in that lot across the street over there where those trucks are." So we did. Quiet and safe.
TUESDAY - 11th
This morning the temp was 29 F, but we were just fine.
Packed up and headed south on hwy 305. What a wide open and lonely road. Beautiful in its openness and loneliness. Our first stop was at the rest stop we would have parked at if we hadn't stayed in Battle Mountain. Realized that there was a geocache at this rest stop and found it handily tucked into the end of the guard rail.
A real phone
We continued to travel south and picked up geocaches along the way. Got a couple just east of the town of Austin. One was at the metal statue of a pony express rider and the other and a grave site in the historical Austin Cemetery. Austin was a booming mining town at one time and there were tons of run down gravestones in the sagebrush dotted cemetery.
Headed into the town of Austin - it looks like a movie set of a little town that has been forgotten
There was a gift shop in Austin that sold jewelry and rocks and whatever. Also, there was a geocache in the front yard area of the store. We finally found it taped with a magnet stuck to the inside of a cast iron frying pan hanging on the outside wall. Kinda fun. Then we went inside, and Dad bought a little bag of polished stones that he wants to use as trade for stash in a geocache.
Outside of Austin there was this billboard - we loved it!!
And nearby another geocache in lonely place.
Then a pretty straight shot to Death Valley NP
Got to the campground after dark - of course - and had a bit of a time finding the campground.....trust me, the signs are not very big. There were some huge RVs - really a semi truck cab hauling very long living quarters and even towing a small car behind. Look at the size of these rigs.
But we finally found a spot, literally in the middle of a huge gravel lot (not as big as at Disneyland for sure-but big), pulled in, and had leftover junk food for dinner and crashed.
WEDNESDAY - 12th -first day in Death Valley
We didn't get up at the crack of dawn, but pretty early and went directly to the Visitor Center to watch the obligatory movie and to see what was happening.
At the Visitors Center Dad found - gasp - a fuzzy jackrabbit puppet which he immediately bought to fill out our collection of stuffed rabbits. The grandchildren will love our new "Jack".
Went first to Badwater Basin which was about 19 miles south of the camp parking lot. It was interesting - it is where all the run off water collects and then evaporates, leaving salt fields. We walked abut a mile from the truck ( along with other visitors....most speaking a language other than English). We didn't quit when it seemed to be the easy thing to do, but continued until we could see big round dried up salt pools - maybe a yard in diameter. This is the lowest place in the United States and Dad took a screen shot on his phone showing we were at -296 feet (BTW, the lowest place is the world Dead Sea which is 1,354 ft below sea level).
This was the trail back to the car.
Next stop was Natural Bridge - granted this was not Natural Bridge at Arches National Park - but it was a big thick bridge towering over the trail. We hiked up the trail, took some pictures, and returned to the truck.
The road coming out from the bridge back into the valley
Next stop was Devils Golf Course. Hmmmmm....what does that mean. Well, it turns out that there is a huge expanse of salt crystals that you can imagine Satin having a fun time telling a golf pro to go play golf in the salt crystal field. Actually, we think it looks like dirty sandy muddy snow that has been plowed to the side of the road in big clumps and clods. ..like you'd think you were sent there by Satan to walk through .
.Next was a beautiful drive through the foothills to the east of the valley. It is called Artist's Pallet and for good reason. The colors of the hills were stunning. The road was a one way winding track, twisting and winding through the hills. There were a couple of dips in the road that were really deep and spine tingling. As we drove on this road, it felt like we were at Disneyland riding in the race-car with Lightening McQueen. As you may expect, the photograph does not do justice to the colors.
We got back to the Visitors Center before it closed at 5:00 to find out what kind of Ranger talks are offered for tomorrow. Bought some postcards and headed out to find dinner. We'd seen signs advertising Indian Tacos at a shop on the Timbisha Shoshone reservation. The outside looked kinda like something we'd found in Kaz -not really that bad, but kinda simple. We spent our second night in Sunset Campground again.
Inside...
Dad got a fry bread taco and I got a taco salad (should have gotten a fry bread taco too). Then we shared a strawberry fry bread/cake.
THURSDAY - 13th - second day in Death Valley
On our way to Dante's Overview, we saw a road sign that said "20 Mule Team Road", so we took it. It was a short drive through yellow hills. It was beautiful but all the photos look the same.
Then on to Dante's View. The story goes that there was some discussion before the construction of the highway whether or not it was worth the money to build it.. The governor (or someone) asked an Indian his opinion. The Indian said, "I usually don't pay attention to what I see, but I pay attention at this view point". The matter was settled, and the road was built. I think it was worth it. Miles and miles of vast distances lay in front of us with all the colors and grandeur that DV can offer.
Borax Works. This was an interesting Ranger led interpretive talk. About three months out of the year, hundreds of workers raked up borites off the ground and took them to this site where the raw materials were processed. The neat thing was that there were genuine huge wooden wagons.
Titus Canyon - we wanted to do this road trip because it is advertised as the absolute best thing to do in the park if you have a 4x4 vehicle. We asked if a 4x4 truck with a camper could do the trip and were told , yes. Well - probably it should have be a "no", because it was very difficult with the top heavy camper. I think Dad was sweating bullets, or blood, or twinkies as we progressed. At the end we drove through a slot canyon which was unbelievable. The adventure was way better than anything available at Disneyland.
Before driving the canyon, we got gas at Beatty and on the way out of town saw three burros which are advertised as being invasive animals. Don't know if these were "wild" or tame because we were so close to the town.
Also found a geocache at a big "Welcome to Beatty" sign.
Stopped by a ghost town...meh
The information about Titus Canyon said it would take 2-3 hours. We did it in about 3.25 hours. Stunning, scary, fabulous, Dad prob won't do it again :-)
We spent a long time on a washboard road through countryside like this.
But driving through the actual slot canyon was pretty neat.
And.... were out - back into the valley.
Then we headed for a new campsite - our third. The first two were really big gravel parking lots with RVs and campers and other big rigs. This third night we were at Mesquite Springs campground, and it looked like a real campground with tables and fire pits. It was really quiet too.
This is Mesquite Campground.
Friday - 14th - third day in DV
Went first to Ubehebe Crater which was formed when there was volcanic activity that fell back on itself and a huge steam explosion occurred. The pit is about a half mile across, and I forget how deep. We both trudged up to a high place to get a better-than-at-the-parking lot view. Really neat. I headed off to walk around the rim thinking that Dad was following......he declined. So he watched my progress, as I circumnavigated the crater. It took me 76 minutes to do the 2 miles. I enjoyed the scenery and my workout.
Sand Dunes - yep, there are sand dunes here. Believe it or not they look just like the sand dunes at the Oregon Coast except that it was warm and there was no sound of crashing waves.
Salt Creek Interpretive Walk - this turned out to be interesting. There are lots of little springs all over the valley which flow a ways before the water soaks into the ground and or the water evaporates. This place had a boardwalk providing the path so that human feet wouldn't disturb the marshy area. We saw pupfish which are unique to DV. Over eons of time and changing climate and habitats, ten unique species of pupfish thrive in the warm salty water. We even saw some.....about an inch long.
Keane Wonder Mine - King of the Desert. A long bumpy dirt road took us up the the base of the foothills where there were dried up wooden relics of an old gold mine. It was the only mine in the area that ever made a profit.
Borax Museum at Furnace Creek - we went into the museum/gift shop first and weren't impressed. But - behind the museum, there were wonderful exhibits of old equipment of all sorts - well, mining equipment. We were impressed at how heavy the equipment was - heavy timbers and iron works.
We decided to go to the Stovepipe Well Campground as it was closest to the two remaining sights we wanted to see. Got there just after dark, and again, because there are no lights (like streetlights), it was hard to find our way. It was an awful campground. Gravel parking lot full of RV and campers and lots of tents..just pitched on the gravel in a parking space. It was noisy too - lots of youngish groups whooping and hollering.
Saturday 15th - we headed back to Nevada
Decided in the morning that the descriptions of the two remaining points of interest didn't really seem too interesting. We ate a quick breakfast and headed east. Death Valley Junction, on the map, seemed to be a town, but it was kinda a ghost junction with one creepy motel. Then on to the city of Pahrump which we didn't know how to pronounce. Turned out to be a 32,000 population city with a Walmart and Home Depot and casinos, and casinos. On the internet it is called an xburg of Las Vegas. Then hooked up onto I15 and drove through Las Vegas - I am so glad I don't live there!!!
Our goal was to camp at Valley of Fire State Park. But no luck.....three day President's Day Weekend, and there was a line of cars at the entry booth where we paid the ten dollar fee. The attendant said we'd probably not find a campsite, and he was correct. There were thousands of cars on the road (maybe hundreds) driving along with people looking at the sights and trying to find a parking space to take a short hike. The place is interesting though - lots of red rocks in strange formations.
The Ranger in the Visitors Center said that if we drove north on the road that we'd come to BLM land where there would be lots of campers and RVs. Sure enough about five miles up the road we could see bunches of vehicles on the mesa parked for the night. So we did too....drove around just a bit and found a perfect spot. Really really quiet tonight - this place is called Poverty Flats
Sunday - 15th - we visited the Muddy River area and then headed to Hoover Dam
I'd read the book, "Muddy", which is a historical novel about the Muddy River Mission which occurred in 1865. It is an interesting book about all the trials and hardships which those early "missionaries" had when they were called to participate in the Muddy River Mission. I wanted to go see the area to be able to have more than a mental picture of the events.
Waking up at after a peaceful night on "Poverty Flats", we headed north to Overton where we found a cool museum which had all sorts of information about prehistoric Indians who had lived there thousands of years ago. Good displays and explanations. I bought a rabbit hat pin and little plastic lizards for some of the grandchildren.
In Logandale we saw this beautiful church building....in this tiny town.
Then we headed to find the source of the Muddy River.
Actually the source is comprised of a bunch of freshwater springs that come together to form the Muddy. We went to "Warm Springs Natural Area" which is operated by the Nevada Water Consortium.
Dad collected a palm tree seedling for scientific purposes.
Mistletoe
It was a nice place with picnic tables and lots of shade provided by Mexican Fan Palms which are invasive plants brought here over a hundred years ago. They live forever, can ignite terrible fires .....if there is a flame nearby, and are very difficult to get rid of. But, the shade was lovely. We took the nature walk.
I put my hand in one of the sources of the Muddy River
Two of the towns described in the book, "Muddy", were St Joseph and St Thomas. Both towns were abandoned when Brigham Young told the settlers that the mission "wasn't working" and that they were free to return home. All did, but one family. Ten years or so later, other Mormon families began to settle in the area and St Thomas became a thriving town on the Arrowhead Highway which connected Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, via Las Vegas. Everything was going well until Hoover Dam was completed and lake water began to lap at the doors of the buildings in the town. Currently (and several times in the past seventy years), the water level in the lake has receded, and the remnants of St Thomas are now visible.
We drove to the area, parked on a bluff, and walked about a mile and a quarter on land that in 2003 was at the bottom of the lake. Walked around the town, took pictures of concrete foundations and read stories on display platforms.
We headed toward Hoover Dam and planned to stay at a rest stop just over the border. The road we traveled on is a "scenic" road entirely in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It was a good drive, stunning scenery with stark mountains, great colors, lots of brown, and only two views of the lake. Finally got to Boulder City and after talking to a Chevron attendant decided to spend the night at the Railroad Pass Casino Truck Stop. A little bit noisy and not quite level, but it was handy and here we are.
And thus ended our first week of traveling.
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