An Arch, a Crater, and a Pupfish! Death Valley National Park

Monday, March 3, 2014


Tonight we are staying at a Nevada highway rest stop at 6,532', on Route 6 in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (no trees!) between Tonopah and Warm Springs at Saulsbury Wash. Just down the road is the Tonopah Test Range for the Sandia Laboratories of the Department of Energy. A bit farther down the road is the National Wildhorse Management Area. And further down the road “somewhere” is the infamous Area 51 rumored to be where the government keeps the remains of the crashed UFO and crew. We came through a few almost ghost towns from the last gold rush. Nellis Air Force Range and their Nevada Test Site are tucked back of the huge mountain ranges. We never see anything from the road. Oh, and we passed two for real brothels!

Forest Service Campsite east of Tacopah

Brothel

Junk or Sculpture - not much else in this almost ghost town

This is a crazy, barren, God-forsaken part of the country. The overcast skies and the threat of snow, there is already some on the highest mountains from the last Pacific storm, add to the sense of desolation. There are few cars on the highway. The ones that drive by are gone quickly since the speed limit is 75 mph. The rest stop is a large level gravel field with a pit toilet, trash cans and nicely laid out campsites with one bare tree apiece, a grill, and a picnic table. There is a fence around the whole area with a cattle guard in the road at the opening. We speculate to keep out wild burros or horses. Both are probably in the area. All we've seen is a lone coyote furtively crossing the road. It is eerily quiet and dark. The stars would be magnificent here, but the sky is overcast.

We left Death Valley National Park this afternoon, after two nights camping there. Saturday morning we drove from the rest area at Amargosa Valley north to Beatty and took that entry road into the park. We climbed up to Daylight Pass at 4,300' and then dropped into the valley. As we descended we could see what looked like lakes on the valley floor. Some did turn out to be shallow lakes left by the rain. The rest were the usual salt flats. The rain we experienced the night before also fell on Death Valley. We made the decision to go south into the park and check out the water. When we were there last winter, it was extremely dry. Death Valley averages only two inches of rain a year. This year we saw puddles on the side of the road and could see where the water had washed across roads.

We drove to Furnace Creek and picked a spot at Texas Spring Campground that looked down from a mesa to the town below. Then we went to the visitor center to find out how soon the wildflowers would bloom after the rain. To our disappointment we learned that the rain came too late in the winter for the seeds to germinate. So, we decided to stay two nights, do some hiking and head back into Nevada.

 Driving south in the park we went to Badwater, the lowest spot in North America at 282' below sea level. The immense salt flats were dramatic with the snow covered peaks behind them, and the clouds drifting over them from the Pacific storms. Nearby we hiked into a canyon with a natural bridge and a dry waterfall at the end. We drove back to Texas Spring and spent a quiet night listening to a few coyote howls and peering at the starry sky.

New Salt crystals growing as the rainwater evaporates

Natural Bridge

Dry waterfall in Natural Bridge Canyon

See the tiny people?

Looking back at Badwater from Natural Bridge Canyon

 

Sunday morning was overcast as we drove north in the park. We made a brief stop at Salt Creek to look for endangered pupfish. 10,000 years ago, Death Valley was a huge lake. As the climate dried up the pupfish had to adapt to living in the small sources of water found today. They survive in isolated springs up to 90 degrees and water five times as salty as the ocean. We walked out into the “marshy” area on a boardwalk and were able to see dozens of the tiny fish darting about in Salt Creek.

Salt Creek as it disappears onto the basin floor

Pupfish - a "BIG" one, maybe 2 inches long

Saltbush or Picklebush

After our walk we drove farther north in the park to the remote Mesquite Spring Campground. The mountain peak above us had snow on it, and we were 1,800' higher than at Texas Spring. It was cold, and overcast and we huddled in the rig for the rest of the day. It was a good day for books, napping, and hot tea. This morning we packed up and drove to the nearby Ubehebe Crater. We hiked up to the rim and back down last year. Today we hiked completely around the entire rim. It was only 1.5 miles, but it took us two hours with all the steep climbs. The hike had a few breaks of sunshine, but by the time we drove out of the park and back towards Beatty and then north, the overcast came back.

The tiny white dot on the far rim is the RV!

The trails down to the bottom. We stayed on the rim.

Shrub blooming on rim

1-foot wide trail

Using caution on the rim....

Driving north on 95 we gained elevation until we reached the 6,500' level where we are now. The higher we went, the bleaker it got. There were very few towns to break the high desert monotony. We pulled into the rest stop before dark, and here we are! Tomorrow we will drive south down the Extraterrestrial Highway, with one small town along it, and then work our way back over to Utah. The rest of Nevada will have to wait for warmer weather!

Back in the high, Great Basin Desert near Tonopah