December 27, 2011 - Park #33
The Hottest, Lowest, Driest Park
To celebrate Terry's 62nd Birthday, we visited our 33rd National Park - Death Valley, CA. Now that Terry has reached the ripe young age of 62, she qualifies for the Lifetime Park Pass. Cost of Pass- 10 scoots! We now have unlimited access to our country's natural Treasures on the cheap!
Death Valley National Park is the largest Park in the lower 48 covering over 3.3 million acres. It stakes claim to being the hotspot of the nation. It gets less than 2" of rain annually. And if you make it down to Badwater Basin, you will be standing 282 feet below sea level!
Scotty's Castle
Our first destination inside Death Valley was Scotty's Castle, a $2 million dollar mansion built out in the middle of nowhere! The initial construction of the castle began in 1922. To get there, we traveled thru Las Vegas up Hwy 95 to Scotty's Junction. The drive from Phoenix to Scotty's was about as visually stimulating as the one we took to Big Bend last May. The landscape along this route is a veritable wasteland. Much of it north of Vegas is a military testing site...bombed to oblivion!
About 9 miles inside the Park's boundaries, after spending many hours enduring visual boredom...you come across an oasis and a Castle!
The Tower
The Tower serves as a spiral staircase leading from the upper floors to ground level. The Upper Music Room is immediately adjacent to the Staircase on the second floor. The main feature of this room is the theater pipe organ.
Front Entry
The official name of the Castle is the Death Valley Ranch. It was built by Albert and Bessie Johnson; however, it was Walter Scott (Scotty) and his wild imagination and storytelling abilities that made the Castle famous.
Albert met Scotty in 1904. Scotty was able to convince Al that he was in possession of a lucrative gold mine "out west" and duped Al out of $2500 as a down payment for part interest in the gold mine that never existed. Johnson, being completely enamored with the wild west, decided to investigate first hand Scotty's mining operation and scheduled a visit to Death Valley on Feb 23rd, 1906.
To scare his investor out of the territory, Scotty staged a "hold up". He hired a couple of locals to shoot at his wagon as they approached the phantom mine site. Unfortunately, the phony bandits accidentally shot Scotty's brother in the groin. Consequently, Scotty's veil of deceit was lifted! Yet this did not discourage Albert from investing in the area and eventually building the Castle for his wife.
Rear View of Death Valley Ranch
In the winter of 1909, Johnson spent a month with Scotty in Death Valley. Johnson became enthralled with both Scotty and Death Valley. He purchased over 1500 acres of desert between 1915 and 1927. Johnson's wife Bessie frequently accompanied her husband out to the desert. It was not long before she demanded more than a tent in which to sleep. Shortly thereafter, construction of the Castle began!
Cargo Cart
To the immediate west of the Castle lies Tie Canyon Trail and a lovely self guided 2-mile interpretive trail. Along the trail, you will find the ruins of an old cart used to haul materials to the castle. Incredibly, the rubber tires have stood the test of time!
Tie City
To heat the Castle during the chilly winter nights, Albert Johnson purchased 100,000 rail road ties for $1,500 and had them hauled to the canyon just west of the Castle. The ties were stacked in squares with some stacks rising 230 feet high. Over the years, most of the ties had been burned for firewood, used for other purposes or stolen from the "City."
Now...we ride!
Tie City also served as the local junk yard and houses several rusting old jalopies along with discarded tin cans and bottles. It was cheaper to litter the desert with junk than it was to haul it out, consequently, Tie City is loaded with debris!
Deserted Dump Truck
In October , 1929, Scotty's Castle suffered from the same disaster that struck the nation. When the stock market crashed, virtually all construction on the Castle was abandoned with about 20% of the building left unfinished.
Not only was Johnson's fortune dwindling...he was soon to discover that the property he had purchased on which to build the Castle was actually owned by the Federal government. A surveyor's mistake! Johnson's land actually existed a mile north of the Castle location!
Dunes of Death Valley
As the local mountain ranges weather and erode, they produce billions of grains of sand that get blown across the desert floor. When the winds lose their steam, the sands are deposited on the valley floor producing dozens of drifting dunes.
The Babe of Badwater Basin
Lowest Point in the United States, Badwater Basin is perhaps the hottest place in the States with a recorded high temperature of 134°. Being the low point in the valley, it collects any precipitation that falls - which is typically less than 2" annually. Nonetheless, the water sits stagnating in the salty basin. When early miners attempted to drink the salty brine, they immediately spit the "bad water" back into the brackish pool...the name stuck!
Salt Flats
Once the bottom of a vast lake, the Badwater Basin area is covered with a surreal "saltscape." Today, temporary lakes will form whenever rare rains fall. The newly formed "lake" soon dries up leaving the crusty salt patterns as seen above. Truly a fascinating sight to see!
Slide Mountain!
Along one of our many hikes up the canyons of Death Valley, we happened upon this perfectly natural slide. Formed by wind and rain, this vertical chute is an amazing example of the magical power of erosion.
Devil's Golf Curse!
Salt deposits up to five feet deep make up the "fairways" at Devil's Golf Course located south of Furnace Creek. The "greens" aren't much smoother! There are no electric carts available on this course and you'll need at least 5 dozen balls should you choose to tackle these links!
A couple of thousand years ago, a lake covered this area. As it dried up, massive amounts of rock salt were deposited on the lake bed. Wind and rain has dissolved and sculpted the salty deposits forming the jagged pinnacles pictured.
Terry Treks Mars
This region is other-worldly. Because of the arid conditions, plant life is virtually nonexistent. Many of our hikes involved trekking up barren canyons such as this one. Although devoid of plant life, the geology is filled with color creating, as Terry called it - a "Napoleon Ice Cream" look. (I think she meant "neapolitan.")
Lonely on the Red Planet
More "Napoleon Ice Cream"
Big Wheel keeps on turnin'
The early 49'ers who accidentally happened upon Death Valley were originally seeking gold. This mineral proved to be elusive; however, borax became the regions "white gold" and the primary mining operation. It took massive steam and mule driven wagons to export the minerals to market.
Borax Wonder Wagon
Twenty mule team wagons were used to haul the Borax out of the Valley. Each wagon held 12 tons of "white gold".Most of the Borax mining ceased in the early '30's
Neapolitan colored Mountains
In the early morning light at Zabriski Point, the badlands of Death Valley become vividly alive with "napoleon color".
Giant Paws of Martian Creatures
The steeply eroded hills formed what appeared to Terry and I to be gigantic claws of massive creatures crawling out from within the mountains!
Manly Beacon
This peak which towers over the Furnace Creek Badlands was named after William Lewis Manly who hiked from Death Valley to Los Angeles - about 500 miles - to get help for stranded emigrants who lost their way while heading west to the gold fields of California.
Sun Scorched Hillocks
A surreal landscape, Zabriskie Point features sterile yellow hills carved with steep gullies and capped with dark clay which appears to have been overcooked by the summer's scorching sun.
What I originally believed to become one of my least favorite Parks, Death Vally turned out to be one of complete fascination. No animals. Not much vegetation. But incredible geology. Intriguing otherworldly natural beauty.
For our two day visit, we lodged at the Furnace Creek Inn...by far the fanciest digs in the Valley. We were assigned room 331. Ask for this one if you are looking for privacy. No adjoining rooms! Nice Jacuzzi tub. Very comfy king sized bed. Bring your own pillows as there were only two. also, bring lots of money...the joint ain't cheap! Food's ok. The Furnace Creek Egg's Benedict were terrific!
