January 5, 2002 - Indio, CA - 2 (More Death Valley)

The canyon where the spring is located that provides water and power for Scotty's Castle, and a shot of the clock tower as we hike up to Scotty's gravesite.

Like so many guys, Scotty and Mr. Johnson just "had" to have some spare stuff around.  A railroad was being dismantled, and these guys got all the old wooden ties so they could use them for firewood.  For the next several hundred years!  Square logs they liked to call them.  And then some spare bricks too, of course.  And that truck looks like it needs a spare.

AHA!  The truth at last.  These guys were just regular guys.  They liked old cars and old trucks, and had a backyard big enough to store them in.  Sort of.  And here's where we'll all eventually end up, eh?  A name on a plaque.  Better make it good while we can, because we're sure dead a lot longer than we're alive.  Know where you'll be when you're dead?  Only one guy ever really came back after being dead for three days that I know of.  I'll take His advice, thank you very much.

One of Scotty's favorite dogs is buried up there with him.  And looking down at the Castle from the gravesite.  Main building is on the right.  Off to the left a bit are the bunkhouses that served as sort of a motel, the cook house that burned, and the stables that have Scotty's last cars and stuff like that.  The "Follow Road" sign wasn't for us.  We weren't about to slide down the rocky hill to get back down there.

Couldn't find Glen to ask him what this loading platform thing was all about, and there's the cookhouse that burned.  We brought our lunches with us, and ate them sitting in the shade.  And while we had lunch, so did a bunch of little black flies.  All four of us had welts from their bites for several days afterward.  Real itchy bites too.  Diane got small blisters where they'd bitten her.  We tried all kinds of over-the-counter meds, all to no avail.  We simply ended up outliving the critters chewing on us.  That was the only place in Death Valley that we got bug bites, and they were sure memorable ones!

That white bush was quite alive, in spite of the fact that it looked dead as a doornail.  And inside the powerhouse we could see the machinery quite clearly and see the layout in the tile plaque.

One last look at the graciousness of Scotty's Castle, and it was off to explore the Ubehebe Crater.  Seems that some magma was creeping up and came to the aquifer, creating some high pressure from the resulting steam, and it blew a hole in the ground.  After which, everything settled back down to normal.  So, this wasn't a "normal" volcanic action, but rather a steam blow.  Big one, too.  Barb and Diane are standing on one side of the hole, and the other side is there behind them.  We could have walked around the edge or down into the hole like these other people did (see them way down there?), but we were about walked out for the day.  Particularly me, as I was just getting used to hiking around again after laying around getting well for a month or two.  Talk about sore muscles!  My legs really let me know they didn't appreciate not being used much.

Next day found us off wandering up another canyon to enjoy seeing whatever there was to see.  Pretty easy hike, too--with one small exception.  All the hikes we took here in Death Valley were easy ones.  The change in colors make me wonder why, and what happened to make it like that.

Now here's where it got interesting.  I was only carrying the single lens for the camera, so couldn't really get the perspective of this last photo.  This is where the canyon is pretty narrow, and this big rock has rolled or slid down one side or the other, and is forming a "roof" over the trail.

And here's Barb under the rock, and me peeking over her head to see if it's worth the risk to continue.

And it was.  On the left you can just make out Barb's reddish shirt and her white Tilley hat.  And then if I zoom in you can see her a bit better.  Patiently waiting for me to scramble up there too.  Bill had already gone ahead a bit, and Diane decided to wait at the narrow place for us to come back down.

These last shots were taken by Bill, as I was not comfortable continuing on up the ridge above Barb (see Barb lower left).  Pretty nice view, eh?  And thanks, Bill, for letting me include your pictures here.

Then that evening, it was off to Badwater Basin for another Ranger talk 'n walk.  We were being led by a retired guy who is a professional photographer and not only was he knowledgeable about the salt flats, he was also giving tips on picture taking.  So some of the following shots are more "artistic" than I'm usually into, but hey, everybody can learn from every new experience if they try, eh?  On the left I was looking back fondly at where we'd left Bill and Diane's Honda CR-V.  On the right, a close-up of salt crystals.

The formations are constantly changing as the sun dries out the water and leaves just the salt and mud.  We could feel the ground (salt) give away a bit under our feet as we walked, and it was sticking to our boots as well.

From the rough 'n tumble to the fine and hairy, the salt crystals were fantastic in their shapes.  And pretty fragile too.