Canyons, Dunes and New Friends

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

We packed up and drove to Golden Canyon to hike up it to the red rock cathedral. It was a good three miles or so round trip, up a beautiful canyon to the red rock face at the end that looked like pillars. We were getting warm and thirsty by the time we returned to the camper.

We went a bit further south down the road and drove on the one way Artists Drive. It is not recommended for vehicles over 25', so at 24' Greg did fine. The drive goes past mountains and cliffs with a gorgeous variety of colors. One section that is particularly colorful is called Artist's Palette. Greg had fun negotiating the narrow hairpin turns and the steep ups and downs. I snapped photos the whole way.

We decided to try a campground in a different section of the park for one night. Since the park is the largest national park outside of Alaska, it makes sense to move to a different campground every night to explore a new area. We drove back through the Furnace Creek area where we stayed at Texas Spring campground and stopped at the Harmony Borax Works Interpretive Trail. We saw the remains of the facility where they processed the borax that they gathered from the valley floor. Then it was transported out of the area by the twenty mule team wagon trains. When we arrived back at the RV we ran into Bridget, Karl, Janice and her husband. They were leaving the park soon and heading to another hot springs near Bishop, CA before returning to British Columbia.

Just before we arrived at Stovepipe Wells Village we stopped at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and hiked out a ways over them. We continued on to Stovepipe Wells and picked a spot on the big gravel parking lot that passed for a campground. Again, no hookups, but we could fill up with water and dump our tanks. Close by was an Itasca Navion which is almost identical to our Winnebago View and also made by Winnebago. Dennis and Vicki greeted Greg as he was walking up to pay for the night. He took a while to get back after a long conversation. They are from Illinois and travel every winter to escape the cold. When Greg and I sat down outside after setting up, they strolled over and invited us to chat. I got to see the inside of their Navion and had a great talk with Vicki, while Greg hung out with Dennis. A fun and lively couple, we have an invite to camp in their driveway if we pass through Illinois. After dinner we had another Battlestar Gallactica marathon. The solar panels and driving are recharging the coach batteries, so we are able to watch DVDs. With no electrical hookup, no regular TV and an active day, we went to bed early!