Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 7 of 8, Death Valley National Park (con’t)

On our fifth day in Death Valley the luck with the weather ran out. As I always do, I got up to watch the sun come up but on this day I looked up north and saw a large ominous cloud of dust billowing in the distance. There was also a chill in the air that we hadn’t felt yet here in Death Valley. NOAA had forecast patchy blowing dust and gusty winds of 45 mph so we knew this could be an interesting day.

We decided to brave the cold and at least go for a jeep ride. Seven miles east of Stovepipe Wells we turned north onto the Scotty’s Castle Road. This was the same road I had taken to Fall Canyon but Andrew and Bridgit hadn’t been up here yet. We drove forty-six miles way up into the northern part of Death Valley National Park to the Ubehebe Crater. This is an interesting place. The crater is a half mile wide and almost eight hundred feet deep. You would think it was caused by some big ol’ meteor but you would be wrong my friends. The Ubehebe Crater was actually created when hot magma (is there any other kind?) pushed its way close to the surface and created a steam explosion that threw tons of material up and out over the surrounding land. It’s similar to what happens when I cook pancakes. Large bubbles form on the surface of the pancake and if I don’t pop them with my spatula they eventually burst leaving craters in my flapjacks. Ubehebe Crater sits at an elevation of just under 2,500’ above sea level. It has another smaller crater close by. A trail climbs up to that crater. Another circumnavigates the rim and a third goes down to the bottom of the crater. When we arrived it was freezing cold and the wind was howling so we didn’t linger to do any hiking.

**Trail along the rim with the Last Chance Range in the background**

Death Valley is the fifth largest national park in the country and the largest park outside Alaska. Even further north than Ubehebe Crater lie the Eureka Dunes. Not only are these dunes the tallest dunes in California, they are the tallest dunes in North America, rising almost seven hundred feet from base to the top of the tallest dunes. I very much would have liked to have taken the Jeep up there and tent camped overnight but that plan never materialized. It would have been quite a story if I had decided to do that and picked this day to do it.

The three of us drove back down and along the way we stopped by Titus Canyon but decided it was still pretty cold and windy so we figured we still had time to do that the next day. Instead we drove back to Stovepipe Wells. By now the sand had reached our camp and the winds were getting stronger by the minute. Taking what we learned from our sandstorm experience in Goblin Valley, we immediately brought in our slideout on the Navibahn before the gears got filled with sand. As the afternoon progressed, the winds were gusting around 45 mph and sand was everywhere. The poor souls that were tent camping in the adjacent lot were really taking a beating. The sand was so thick we couldn’t see any mountains and visibility was down to maybe fifty yards. One thing that was much better than when we were in Goblin Valley was that our rig was facing directly into the wind. At Goblin Valley we were taking the brunt of the winds broadside and sand was coming in through the seams of the windows and doors. It was nasty out there but the forecast said that by around midnight it would all calm down and we should have beautiful weather the next day.

We even had things to do while we rode out the storm. This was Monday night and the UConn Huskies were playing San Diego State for the National Championship. We donned our rain gear for sand protection and made our way across the street to the Badwater Saloon and grabbed a table. We figured we would just eat dinner there and then stay for the game. Just when we were getting ready to order and about a half hour before game time the power went out in the entire village of Stovepipe Wells (insert loud groan from the crowd). We waited and waited but after an hour and a half it was starting to get dark and the rumors were flying around the room that Stovepipe Wells wouldn’t see a power company until morning. We threw in the towel and went back to the Navibahn to make our own dinner there. At this point it was probably halftime for the game. With no wi-fi and barely any cell signal, I somehow managed to pick up a YouTube video. It wasn’t exactly the game itself since I think contractually YouTube can’t show the games live but I did come across a ridiculously irritating channel sponsored by Wendy’s. It was basically a host and a couple of former NBA players chatting through the whole game about everything but the game. My only saving grace was that they had a tiny scoreboard box showing in the corner of the screen so I was able to keep up with what was going on in real time. Like the semi-final, UConn dominated and this game was never a nail biter. So congratulations to the UConn Huskies for winning their fifth National Championship! Good thing the game wasn’t held outdoors at Stovepipe Wells! Now that would have been interesting!

As promised, the following morning was clear and calm. Andrew opted to sleep in but Bridgit was eager to see the dunes. This was a perfect time to head out there for sunrise. I figured the sandstorm and winds the previous night must have erased any boot prints from the dunes so they would look much more pristine. We made it over there just before the sun rose and started walking out in a similar fashion to where I went the first night for sunset. This time the sun would be coming from a completely opposite angle so I was curious as to how that might look compared to my first visit. If anything, I think the light was even better than when I was out there for sunset. Bridgit and I were both stunned by how absolutely beautiful it was so early in the morning on the Mesquite Dunes.

Watching the sun come up on the Mesquite Dunes was a perfect way to start our last full day in Death Valley National Park. There is so much to see and do in this incredible place. I only had two more things on my “to do” list even though I could start another list and fill up another week with no problem.

With Andrew happy to take the morning off and the power in Stovepipe Wells still down, Bridgit and I once again drove up the Scotty’s Castle Road and drove up to the parking area for the Fall Canyon Trailhead. This trailhead is at the mouth of another canyon called Titus Canyon. In normal times, Titus Canyon is a one way road that starts way east almost to the town of Beatty, Nevada. From there it is a twenty-seven mile 4WD road that crosses flat desert, climbs up the Grapevine Mountains to 5,250’ Red Pass, past Leadfield Ghost Town, Klare Spring where you can find petroglyphs, desert palms and bighorn sheep and then drops into a stunning gorge known as the Titus Canyon Narrows. In my pre-trip research, this was easily one of the highest things on my wish list for the entire vacation. Since I had been watching the conditions of the roads after the 2022 floods, I knew that Titus Canyon was closed due to extensive flood damage. I was hoping that perhaps by the time we arrived it would have re-opened but that was not to be. The best we could do was to drive the two way end of the road right up to the mouth of the canyon and hike up about a mile and a half through the narrowest sections of the canyon. And that’s what we did.

Our hike up Titus Canyon was really nice but I kept thinking about how cool it would be to drive through those narrows in the Jeep.

Meanwhile, I made one last call to the eastern Sierra Visitor Center and got some great news. Apparently the Movie Road that runs through the Alabama Hills outside of Lone Pine was partially opened back up as far as the trailhead to the Arch Loop. That would at least give us access to the area so we decided right then to go for it and spend the next two nights after Death Valley in the Alabama Hills before heading for home.

Now we were down to our last item on the to do list for Death Valley National Park. I had seen some amazing photographs of Badwater Basin where the salt had crystalized into uniformly shaped hexagons caused by repeated freezing and thawing of spring fed pools. I was hoping to capture images of these hexagons as the sun set and during the blue hour. I had done extensive research into this and found out a couple of things. One was that the hexagons are not right by the parking area. There is a path through the salt flats that everyone goes on but you have to hike out about a mile and a half to get to where the good hexagons are. Second, a photographer’s tip said that if you drive .8 miles past the parking lot and park in a small pullout you can hike straight across and shave off about a mile total to get to the good stuff.

We headed to the secret pullout at about 4:45 PM and began hiking across towards the white salt flats. I had checked with the park rangers and there is nothing illegal about hiking off trail but I still felt odd hiking through this environment. It was similar to the ground at the Devil’s Golf Course but not quite as rough.

**Route to the salt flats in the distance. We were careful not to step on the raised parts.**

When we finally made it across to the white salt flats we began looking for the good hexagons. The best ones that I’d seen in photos were perfectly shaped and had raised borders that stood about an inch high. After rains, sometimes these hexagons are filled with water which make for remarkable reflection shots but we did not have those kind of conditions while we were there. We found some patterns in the flats but didn’t really see any well-defined hexagons. Because the salt flats in Badwater Basin are spring fed, the flats are really a crust over mud. After breaking through the crust up to the ankle several times, Bridgit and Andrew decided it was time to make their way back to the Jeep. I continued searching for the perfect hexagons. I wandered all over the flats but never really saw any great examples of what I was looking for. In that sense I was a little disappointed in my journey to Badwater Basin but I did try to make the most of what I did see while I was there. I did see a lot of cool patterns and oddly shaped salt crystals. It was also a beautiful sunset so it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the visit. It was just a little different than I had expected.

Thus ended our fantastic week in Death Valley National Park. As stated in the beginning of this report, this is a vastly diverse environment of geology, flora, light and color. I was hugely impressed with the place and was very glad we had chosen in the beginning to allot a full week to explore it. I could come back and do all different things and still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. In just the short time we were there I would have to say it has joined the ranks of my favorite national parks.

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 7 of 8, Death Valley National Park (con’t)

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 6 of 8, Death Valley National Park (con’t)

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23. Part 8 of 8: The Alabama Hills