As we flowed down the precipitous but winding, smooth corners into the valley I made rapid mental adjustments in my expectations for Death Valley. My mind's eye always saw Death Valley much as the Bonneville Salt Flats...long, flat and salt pan. Who knew? The reality is quite different.
Death Valley is the largest National Park in the in the contiguous United States at 3.3 million acres with the well known low point, Badwater, 282 feet below sea level, but bounded on the west by Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet and formed not by water but by sinking bedrock between two parallel mountain ranges, the Amargosa and the Panamints.
By the time we reached our motel in mid-park we had passed mountains, sage and dunes while gazing across the valley at snow covered mountain tops. Rain had been falling for much of two weeks and would continue to fall for one more day, making planning each day's activities a challenge of reading the morning park report to see what roads had been reopened after the inevitable wash outs and flooding that occur when rain and desert roads co-mingle.
And Death Valley is a motoring park with one North-South road and one East-West road and a handful of short gravel roads (trails) to points of interest. Four-wheel drive is recommended for off the two main roads.
Scotty's Castle became our first adventure on a day where rain continued to fall. Imagine this: a desolate, huge, climate challenged valley with a castle, yes a castle, at the north end. The full story of this castle is a tale in true western fashion, full of gold, mines, lies, investors and a wealthy but really private engineer and his wife. Suffice it to say here that Scotty neither built nor owned the castle. Filled with antiques and worldwide decor, it is a charming, comfortable, expansive and exotic wonder.
As the weather (and the roads) cleared we were able to hike Mosaic Canyon encountering only narrow crevices, rock scrambles and dry falls. A shorter hike at Natural Bridge provided a canyon hike with a great arch. Each showcased different canyon geology and highlighted the distinct varieties found in the park.
Zabriskie Point, a traditional park turnout area with far-reaching views of the Badwater end of the valley and the very aptly named Golden Canyon is a photographers dream. Dropping back into the valley, Devil's Golf Course is a walk through gnarled crystalline salt spires. Yes, they're sharp!
And then it is down to the bottom. Badwater, where you look 282 feet up the cliff at the sign designating the sea level, is a sheet of white and the lowest point in North America. With a winter-only briny pond at the edge, the sight of all that salt is a high blood pressure nightmare.
Saving the best for last, we hiked Titus Canyon one morning followed by the Artist's Drive that afternoon. Titus Canyon can actually be driven from east to west...when the road hasn't washed out from rain. Lest I mislead you, it is a canyon; a deep, narrow, twisty canyon and suitable at its best only for high clearance vehicles. The day we hiked the lower end only a really talented off-road motorcyclist might have made the washed out sections. A spectacular canyon with a huge variety of rock, Titus is a geologists playroom and entirely different than Mosaic.
On the other hand, Artist's Drive is the segment of the park most likely to provoke an intake of breath and unintelligible sounds of visual pleasure. On a wildly plunging and rising, curving one-way road the hills and ravines reveal a spectrum of colors: bright and inescapable pink, green, blue, purple, red, brown, black and golden.
It is impossible in Death Valley not to vividly imagine the pioneers who passed through this tough and unforgiving landscape. Purely by chance my reading while on this trip was a book about Wallace Stegner and the American West. Focused on areas that surround but do not intersect Death Valley, it nevertheless gave both ample context and much food for thought as our glances roamed this vast space. To be in Death Valley a person feels much like a flea on King Kong; an invisible annoyance but one which in great numbers could cause great harm.
There is a profound silence that slowly envelopes the valley as dusk rolls across the valley, tumbling out of the mountains in the west, creeping along the valley floor and over the dunes and rising again in triumph up the eastern peaks. Yet, it was the cloak of night which presented the the most striking awareness of human presence as several nights the loud, low flyovers of military aircraft from China Lake and Nellis roared repeatedly across the sky.
I have been too long among the pine and cedar to feel strong attraction for this curious and fascinating landscape. Yet Death Valley calls to be seen at least once even by those not passionate about desert expanse.
Coming Soon...Part 4, a remarkable side trip out the western edge of Death Valley to Manzanar National Historic Site (WWII Japanese Internment Camp).
No comments:
Post a Comment