Death Valley 2008
6-9, February, 2008
a
Mt. Shasta Snow Trip
"Post Trip"
pg. 3
Ubehebe Crater to Rhyolite
... continued from the previous page ...
***Disclaimer: This page is sort of boring, as it relates events barely worth mentioning, and is just here to keep a sense of continuity and completion. If you would like to move on, I won't be offended! You should check out the video though! So scroll down and get your links to Page Four and the Ubehebe Crater to Rhyolite video ...
The roads for the rest of that afternoon were paved, but I did not complain. Neither did Bart. There's nothing like the feeling of that smooth floaty asphalt after hours of insane rattlebus ruckus! However, even though these roads did qualify as "back roads", they did not have the same feel as some of the more gnarly, rocky, and adventurous roads that make for a groovier tale to tell. Still, I wasn't feeling put out by the lack of rattles and clangs and bounces, as the ability to look around at something besides the road immediately in front of the bus gave me a sense of actually being in the desert, and being able to tell what that was, being that my vision was not cut off after 20 feet by clouds of dust from the buses ahead.
Ever wonder where all that asphalt comes from? Seems that a lot of folk aren't all too happy with the way that the mass that makes up the planet we live on is apportioned, and are doing their best to "set things straight" by paving as much of it as possible. Hmm. At least I can enjoy one aspect of it, if not its ramifications. Tar-Baby?
While I'm thinking of it, I want to express a desire to go back to South Eureka Dunes Road not only to finish it despite the washboard and dust, but to see the dunes and climb up onto them and to hear the sound the sand makes as it cascades down the dune. From one guy I spoke to who was there, the low-frequency rumble is something else!
After enjoying the passive and not-unfriendly taunting of the ranger stuck in her little box in the road at the Grapevine Ranger Station, we finished our little luncheon and made a plan based on the perusal of the big maps stuck to the wall, finally driving east into the hills with the sun (and the threat of fees due) at our backs.
It was a nice drive, and scenic, and the light began to richen in preparation for sunset as we passed Scotty's Castle, barely slowing. We were hoping to get out of Grapevine Canyon and out of the shadow of the northern reaches of the Amargosa Range before sunset, but our hopes were in vain. We got to enjoy the deepening hues of sundown in the depths of a rocky canyon, and it was pretty cool. Kevin had stopped briefly prior to passing Scotty's Castle to attend to a hitch in his throttle cable, and apparently the fix was temporary, as he soon felt the need to stop again, and this time we were all together, and it made for a nice relaxing roadside moment. The five minute epoxy we were waiting on turned out to be twenty minute epoxy (my fault), and we took the time to wander about in the road and on the verges, staring up at a vividly pink sky (so pink that the air itself was pink!), framed by weathered crags and ancient hills.
Getting back to the business of driving, with the last vestiges of the sunset fading into dusk, we crossed into Nevada, and left the curves behind us. By now we were reaching higher speeds, and it was a rush. Nothing like speeding through the desert at night! At some point back in the hills I had accessed the last dregs of my tank via reserve tap, and opted to stop and refill on this lesser road than have to pull off on a main road. Judging by the distant glow, we'd make it to Beatty, Nevada, in twenty minutes or so.
A town of fair size for its location, Beatty was not altogether unpleasant. Just another unremarkable desert town given life by the constant flow of travelers and truckers needing wayside services, rest, and fuel, its proximity to Death Valley, the test ranges, and, of course, the unfathomable mysteries of Area 51 give it a somewhat undeserved "glow". I exaggerate. Beatty, Nevada: Where we got gas and brake fluid and Kevin got his coffee gratis, and was impressed ... and not only because the coffee was drinkable!
It was only seven o'clock when we set out from Beatty, and we were under the impression that we had not long to go before finding a place to camp somewhere up a road we planned to traverse the following day. This impression was, of course, mistaken, as it followed the assumption that the map was informative, complete, and correct enough for us to figure it out. Not so! A few errors of omission, and what we had to work with was nothing but firestarter. At least we had a bit of indecision and confusion to help spice up our life that night!
At one point during our seemingly aimless wanderings through a maze of dirt roads in the desert, we chanced upon a dip of significant depth to bash our buses a bit, and just past it hunkered the hulk of some kind of generator/pump/utility trailer. There weren't any bodies in it, nor did it conceal the access to a secret underground human/alien breeding experiment complex. The road pretty much ended (for us) at that spot, and we performed an about-face and continued our search. That spot would have made a cool campsite, were it not for the lights of Beatty being visible --- if we could see them, they could see our fire, and we did not want to share our potatoes.
A bit more dirt road driving through the desert ensued, and we were pretty much officially lost, but not. We simply kept on driving in the vague direction we thought we wanted to go, and came eventually to Rhyolite, the skeletal bones of which looked incredibly spooky in the ambient glow from our lights. Being that there existed lights interspersed throughout the area, we knew not whether the lights indicated that someone (with a shotgun?) might be home, or if there was some kind of living town here. But we wanted only starlight, and kept on creeping around in the dark, aiming towards some shadowy hills hunkered against the western horizon.
At long last (OK, it was only 8:30!), we came to a spot at the end of one road spur -- not only large enough for us to park our buses and have our fire, but sheltered from most the rest of the valley, and flat enough to do our necessary maintenance chores the next day. It was cold, but not agonizing, and once our fire was healthy enough to share its cheer, we set about creating dinner, which included fire-baked potatoes. Yum. We hoped for a chance to sample pupfish tacos for the next day's repast, but for this night, beans and 'taters would have to do ...
Sleep was not long in coming once we settled in, but in the dark hours of the morning, the banshees in the old pit mine gave voice to their woes in sepulchral harmony with the fierce and bitter wind, which came out of nowhere and buffeted us without mercy for the rest of our stay. Kevin, in his tent-cot, caught the brunt of this onslaught, and later told us of dark insinuations whispered by jealous shades as the wind clawed at his shelter, preventing him from getting his beauty's sleep. I think his beasts got theirs, though, as they have proven immune to disturbances such as howling wind and banshees!
Go to Page 4 of the Death Valley Saga!
Video: Ch. #3: Ubehebe Crater to Rhyolite-- Death Valley Video Ch. 3 (15.7 MB, 320x240, 2:20, Windows Media Video)
Death Valley Video Ch. 3 (smaller file) (8.54 MB, 240x180, 2:20, Windows Media Video)
Here's a video "synopsis" of sorts from our Death Valley experience:
Dust, Rust, and Sage: A Synopsis (19.2 MB, 320x240, 2:29, Windows Media Video)
Dust, Rust, and Sage: A Synopsis (smaller file)-(10.9 MB, 240x180, 2:29, Windows Media Video)
Death Valley '08 Photo Galleries:
-Kevin's Photos- -Michele's Photos- -Gene's Photos-
End Page Three, Death Valley '08
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