day 2 - down in the valley + speed trap!
This post is part 2 of the "trip-2006" series:
- day 1 - the long drive to vegas
- day 2 - down in the valley + speed trap!
- day 3 - the Racetrack !
- day 4 - us395 + the badwater road
- day 5 - crator then back to vegas
- day 6 - the long drive home
After an absolutely miserable night (the beds & pillows were horribly uncomfortable, plus the AC didn't really work at all, so the room was stuffy), we got up at 6AM. We went to Hash House a Go Go for breakfast. Wow. They make some amazing breakfasts, and the portions would make a lumberjack blush. The pancake on the kids breakfast is literally a foot across.
Following breakfast we made the two hour drive up to Death Valley, via US-95 and CA-190. Unfortunately, Titus Canyon had been closed since the previous weeekend due to snow (yes, Death Valley gets snow at its higher elevations), so our primary plan for the day was scrapped. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 50F's. We ended up driving in via Death Valley Junction to Furnace Creek, and then a brief stop at the visitor's center to learn whether there was any chance of Titus Canyon opening in the near future (there wasn't, all the snow needed to melt, then all the mud needed to dry, plus any road obstacles had to be cleared). Following that, we decided to check out the sites from our itinerary on the western side of the park. This meant, Aguereberry Point, the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, and Darwin Falls.
As in September, the park had more foreign tourists than Americans, but instead of Europeans this time, it was mostly Asians everywhere (driving their rental cars poorly too). Just north of Furnace Creek we came upon this caravan of rental cars, driving at least 20MPH below the 55MPH speed limit, and one of them was even driving on the road side of the road for no apparent reason. David rememebered his favorite attraction from September, the Stovepipe Wells sand dunes, and every time he saw them, he started begging for us to stop.
The actual dirt/gravel road out to Aguereberry Point wasn't too bad. There were a few bumpy portions, and a few north facing portions still had a bit of snow on them, but nothing too difficult for the Jeep. Once we made it to the summit, there was another couple with their car up there eating lunch. The view into the valley was pretty decent. There was a small trail that led a bit further north, but it only provided a better view looking northwest out to Panamint valley.
After driving back down, we continued further south to the charcoal kilns. There was actually a few inches of snow on the ground there, although it was packed into ice on the road surface. David was pretty excited by the kilns and the snow.
Following the kilns, we decided to head off to Darwin Falls, which is this waterfall (and stream/creek) in the desert. Its literally an oasis. The very beginning of the one mile Darwin Falls road was very bumpy & uneven, but after that it was the standard rock/gravel mixture that many of the unpaved park roads consist of. The trail out to the falls is not all that well marked for several stretches. At one point, we ended up going down the wrong side of the creek, ended up at a dead end which was impassible, and had to double back. The creek was never more than a few inches deep, although it was several feet wide at a few stretches. Running parallel to the creak is this 4" diameter water pipeline which is propped up along the side of the canyon with rocks, bungie cord, rope, wood planks, and more pipe at a 90 degree angle. It looked incredibly unstable. After hiking for nearly a half hour (and sunset approaching), we still hadn't made it to the actual falls, and we were at a point along the creek where there was a measurable risk of falling in (or at least David falling in) while attempting to cross. We decided to turn back, because we were in the midst of some sizble overgrowth, and couldn't see how much further we needed to hike, and didn't want to end up having to hike back in rapidly diminishing daylight (not to mention drive back in the dark).
At that point, we decided to drive to the motel in Beatty, Nevada, which was about 60 miles east. Driving within the park was fairly easy, as the roads were fairly empty (other than in the Stovepipe Wells - Furnace Creek corridor), so I was able to average about 80MPH. Sadly, once I left the park's eastern boundary, and was just coming down from Daylight Pass into the town of Beatty, I entered speed trap land, and got nailed. I'm still not even sure how the Nye County sheriff got me, as the first time that I saw him, he was already driving up the road towards me (and therefore couldn't have used his radar gun if he was already moving). As soon as he drove right past me in the opposite direction, he turned on his lights, and made a quick U-turn. He claims to have clocked me going 67MPH in a 25MPH zone. While I might have been doing 67MPH at the very top of the hill, I know that I wasn't in a 25MPH zone, as the first 25MPH sign that I saw was after he had already driven past me and made the u-turn. Its all a moot point, because I can't really contest the ticket in the Beatty traffic court on January 30 (my court date), and even if I could show up, its my word versus the cop, and he's going to win. After giving me this retarded speach about how children walk in the street, and animals stand in the middle of the street, he pretended like he was doing me a huge favor by only citing me for going 62MPH instead of 67MPH, since the fine for 67MPH in a 25MPH zone is \$300 rather than the \$221 I ended up with. I should have known better, but after flying around the park all day, I got careless, and forgot that any town that has a 25MPH speed limit has that speed limit solely to serve as a speed trap. So I'll pay the fine, and hopefully this won't come back to bite me too badly when its time for my auto insurance to renew in April. This was a crappy ending to a pretty decent day.
This post is part 2 of the "trip-2006" series: