Driving north into Death Valley we pass a number of stark alluvial fans.
Into southern California for Death Valley Nat. Park…the lowest and hottest point in the USA. A large inland lake dried up at the end of the last ice age, leaving today’s Death Valley. Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level and summer temperatures hit 125 degrees regularly. We have visited the park previously and had fond memories. This March was rougher: windy and/or cloudy. We cut the visit short, but not without seeing a few of the many scenic wonders we missed before.
We met some friends who are very familiar with Death Valley. They introduced us to the Ubehebe Crater in the northern area of the park. This crater was formed by a magma explosion only 2000 years ago. The explosion spread debris over a six square mile area. The crater itself is a half mile wide and 500 feet deep. There are a few auxiliary craters around the main one.
The crater is a half mile wide and 500 feet deep. It’s impressive.
Auxiliary crater next to the big one.
We stopped in at spring fed Salt Creek to see desert pupfish. They are endemic to this area and endangered. When the inland lake dried up ages ago, the pupfish managed to hold on in two locations in Death Valley and a couple other locations outside the park. These little fish are true survivors. They can live in conditions hostile to other aquatic life…saline concentrations four times that of the oceans, and water temperatures as high as 110 F and as low as 32 degrees F. They live only one year if they are lucky, so need to start breeding quickly.
Salt Creek trail view.
Male pupfish.
Female pupfish.
Pupfish congregation to give idea of size. They are only about 2 inches long.
American Pipit…one of several reasons pupfish don’t live very long.
Wildlife at Salt Creek.
Mesquite dunes near the Stovepipe Wells campground, the night’s destination.
Mesquite dunes are the most extensive in a park with many dune fields.
Awoke to a morning of high winds, blowing dust and dark skies so we abandoned plans for more exploration of the park.
Drove south out of the park through the lower end of Death Valley. Skies cleared but the wind was brutal.
Colorful rift in rock walls off the valley floor.
Next stop, Valley of Fire Nevada State Park. This was an unexpected bonus. It was getting late and we needed to camp, so we “boondocked” just outside the boundary. Next day we drove through a magnificent park of red rocks and petrified wood. It’s like a mini-Zion without the hordes. The area was formed 150 million years ago during the age of the dinosaurs; the Jurassic. An inland ocean floor rose and fell causing great shifting of sand on the bottom. Eventually the sea dried and the sandstone left behind was scoured by winds into colorful layers and shapes. The Park is 46,000 acres of red sandstone outcrops in gray and tan limestone mountains.
Valley of Fire scenery.
Rainbow Valley.
White Domes picnic area. A circular trail leaves from here.
One of a few arches in the park.
Red rocks with limestone mountains behind.
Wind textured rock. It reminds me of elephant hide.
More rock texture.
Hike along the Mouse’s Tank trail and you will find many petroglyphs; signs of previous inhabitants of the area. When Mormons moved into the area around 1865, they found Paiutes living here. But before that, there was a Basket culture around 2000 to 1450 years ago followed by the early Puebloans from 1500 to 850 years ago. All left rock art to mark their passing.
Petroglyphs on Mouse’s Tank trail.
Petroglyph ram on Mouse’s Tank trail.
Group selfie-time on the trail. People are so entertaining.
Blasted through Zion NP without stopping. The weather was miserable and the crowds daunting. Capital Reef Nat. Park was not crowded and a delight to drive through, even though the weather wasn’t co-operating. We camped outside the park on the east side before continuing on.
Capital Reef National Park weather on the west side.
Thought about camping at Goblin Valley Utah State Park, but they now want $20 to enter or $35 to enter and camp at the campground. We’ve been there several times before so passed on that. Found out later that if one drives farther in on the Goblin Valley turn-off road there is a petroglyph trail hike into Horseshoe Canyon. The trail is 7 miles round trip, and looks like a real find for spring or fall hiking.
Leaving the Goblins, Hwy. 24 has some lovely scenery.
We stopped instead at another favorite spot just off I70 (exit 187) at Thompson Springs. Drive north to the Sego Canyon petroglyph and pictograph site. It’s not very far. There used to be interpretive signs but they’ve been defaced. Fortunately, the art itself, although defaced a bit, is still mostly intact.
Thompson Springs fixer-uppers.
The Barrier style panel of pictographs (painted designs) were drawn by archaic people before the Fremont culture or the Puebloans. They lived in the area from 2000 to 8000 years ago.
The whole panel of Barrier style pictographs.
A detail of the strange otherworldly looking paintings.
The next group of petroglyphs (pecked into the rock) were from the Fremont culture dating from 300AD to 1250. They were mostly scattered groups of hunters and some farmers, either displaced by, or absorbed into the early Puebloan cultures.
Again the whole panel, followed by a detail.
Sego Canyon petroglyphs.
More recent ones showing a shield, buffalo and white men were probably made by the Utes.
More recent rock art.
If you want to camp in the Book Cliffs area, keep driving on the BLM roads until you find a nice site. The old coal town of Sego still has a few visible ruins.
A most exciting find this trip was Rabbit Valley Recreation area. The turnoff is just 2 miles east of the Utah/Colorado border. Apparently, the BLM area extends into both states. People have not treated the area with the respect it deserves, so the dispersed camping rules have been tightened.
The Colorado River runs south through a pristine canyon. Well sort of pristine. The Union Pacific tracks also run through the canyon.
Sphinx Rock…my name for it anyway.
Campground view.
Rim on opposite side of the river.
Storm lighting over Rabbit Valley.
We obviously aren’t the first to discover this area. They allow ORVs, horses, and mountain biking with marked trails for all. The best news for us, though, is it’s only a 6-hour drive home from there.
Weather looks pretty good driving through Glenwood Canyon
But then we get to Vail Pass. Remember, this is the end of March!
This spring has been lovely for us on the Front Range of the Rockies. We have had a number of up-slope rain showers and the flowers are spectacular. The very bad, not-so-good news, is that the rest of the west is suffering from one of the worst droughts in recorded history. Temperatures here are soaring now too, just before the summer solstice, so our temporary respite from the drought may be at an end. I copied this map from the New York Times to illustrate the severity of the drought.
Climate change is real and accelerating.
Thanks for reading: Adios until the next adventure.