Old Trees, Death Valley and a Fish Tale

We woke up early to head north to the Ancient Bristlecone Forest.  We only stopped long enough to take a picture of the biggest knitted hat in the world and to fuel up praying it would get us to the other side of Death Valley.  I almost ran out of gas the last time I made this drive.  I definitely did not want that to happen again!

fallen tree that we thought looked like an elephant

We wound around the mountains climbing to over 10,000 feet before making it to the trails to find the bristlecones.  We really thought the trees would just be there when we arrived and never intended to hike.  The temperatures were in the 60s and we were prepared for the 118 of the desert.  However, once we started on the trail (hiking another 400 feet in elevation) we were dressed just right.  The trees were amazing...so small compared to our East Texas pines but knowing that most of these trees were over 4000 years old made it a special place.  I am so glad we made it to see them and once again for Ranger Mark for helping us navigate the hills to find them.

Then we wound through the hills to the east into Nevada and then back into Death Valley to Scotty's Castle.  This castle was a dream house when it was built and continues to be today.  A real oasis in this harsh desert but also a technological dream with many modern conveniences that are still desired today.  The dream of two men (Walter Scott and  Albert Mussey Johnson) came together to make it become a reality.  It made me think of my Dad who loved saving energy and creating homes that would work for us instead of draining from the environment.  I wonder if he had ever heard of this castle.  It was a very different side of the Death Valley National Park (literally and physically) than what we had seen before.  We were not able to take the full tour due to time but we did walk around the outer grounds and to the top of the tower.

Then we were on our way Furnace Creek area.  We stopped at the Harmony Borax Works to see the old mining equipment and where they processed the salt into the cleaning supply we know so well.  We would later see a modern day version of this equipment.  What a big difference 100 years makes!  Then we arrived at the second visitor center for water and a quick reprieve from the heat before heading deeper into the park.  It was already 116 degrees and took our breath away every time we stepped out of the van.

We made our way down to the Badwater Basin where it was 120 degrees!  We walked around the salt flats for about five minutes but that was all we could stand...the little ones were especially having trouble so we spent the rest of our time in Death Valley in the van touring the different areas like Artist's Palette, Natural Bridge, and Zabrinski's Point.    We also passed by Devil's Golf Course and Golden Canyon.  We would have liked to hike through the canyon as it looked interesting but it was just too hot!  We were a little disappointed that we did not make it to Dante's View, but the park is just too big to get to everything and it was too far out of our way to justify the distance as we were trying to get out of the park to make our next destination...Las Vegas!

We have now traveled through Death Valley twice and I do not think we will make it back here again.  It was a great experience both times but it is also hard on the body.  AND...there are so many more things to do in California.

When we were talking with the park ranger at Furnace Creek, Sean mentioned that he wished he could have seen the pupfish in the park.  She told us that we should try to make it to Ash Meadows-Devil's Hole on our way to Las Vegas.  I told Sean that we would try but it would be a difficult task.

He really wanted to see these endangered rare fish.  The rest of our trip out of Death Valley and into Nevada was spent talking about them.  So I made every effort to make it to this spot.  We did make it to the park and to the Devil's Hole.  Unfortunately, the visitor center closed 30 minutes before we arrived!  So we went to the fish hole and peered deep into the dark hole...no fish to be seen...but we were there so we felt like maybe they were peeping out of the water to see us!  Maybe we can make our way back to this spot again.  Or maybe this piqued the interest of one of our children to help these fish one day.

Broke the "rules" and took Mickey into Nevada for a short part of our trip...
here he is at the Rattlers Hill in Ash Meadows NWR