death valley part 2 - day 4
This post is part 2 of the "dv-2006-09" series:
We prolly had the best night of sleep yet. We went to bed just after 9PM, and I slept through until about 5:45AM, and David woke up just after 6AM. We got out just after 7AM, and drove up to Rhyolite ghosttown, just over the Nevada border. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but overall it was somewhat disapointing. There were a few fairly intact buildings, but many smaller buildings which were in a more degraded state were spread out over a really wide area. The main road leading up and through the town was paved, however in the town itself there were many side & cross streets which were unpaved, yet actually had street signs. It was still a bit confusing finding all the buildings and how to reach them. I ended up just parking, and then we'd walk in a particular direction exploring any visible building remnants in the vacinity. I'd then drive a bit further up the road, and explore some more. There were prolly about 7 buildings that were available to look at, however all had large "Danger - DO NOT ENTER" signs posted on them. Interestingly, there were quite a few jack-rabbits running around the town, and David enjoyed watching them. There were also a few signs posted warning about rattlesnakes, however we never saw any. On the south end of town, there was this bizarre outdoor art/sculpture which included this 20ft tall steel profile of a miner with a penguin(??!) standing beside him, a ghostly creature holding a bike, and lego-like naked woman that was about 20 feet tall, and some kind of abstract chrome/metallic motorcycle parts thing.
After spending about an hour in Rhyolite we headed back west, and turned onto the Titus Canyon road, which is one way, westbound, leading back into Death Valley. This road is about 25 miles long, and is very very unpaved. There's also a sign at the beginning recommending both 4x4 & high clearance vehicles. I had inquired before this trip about whether the road is passable by a normal passenger car and I was assured that it should be as long as the car was in good condition. Before starting I estimated that we'd need roughly an hour to drive the entire length. We ended up needing over 2.5 hours. Driving the West Side road the previous day was a piece of cake in comparison to the Titus Canyon road. It started off fairly well, nice, level, & fairly smooth, however after the first mile or so, it started getting bumpier, hillier, and curvier. After about 3 miles, we started climbing into the Grapevine mountains, and that's where the fun really began. The road narrowed considerably, and got significantly more uneven, with larger rocks and even small boulders in some places. It was also getting very steep, with numerous switchbacks. I ended up needing to stop the car at a few points to remove large and/or pointy rocks from the road, just so that I could continue. David was pretty excited about watching me toss these rocks off the road, and off the sides of the cliff that were next to us. Just over an hour we covered about 13 miles, and reached the Leadfield ghosttown. This ghosttown existed for roughly 8 months in 1926. Today there are 3 buildings remaining off on the distant hillside, with a hiking trail leading off to them from the road. I decided to stop there, and make that our point for having lunch, especially since it was one of the very few points where the road had a turnoff or was wide enough for multiple cars to pass. We hiked out to two of the 3 buildings. They were primarily built from sheet metal, and were very badly rusting away. We also saw an odd concrete foundation-like structure with large bolts protruding out of it. While we ate lunch, the first vehicle of the day drove by. I'm not sure if these people were just uncomfortable driving off road (it was clearly a rental SUV), or were *really* taking their time, but I ended up catching up to them about a mile down the canyon, and passing them (they were driving roughly 10MPH on flat, relatively well graded road). I'd estimate that about 15 or 16 miles on the road is where Titus Canyon actually begins, with virtually vertical walls that are several hundred feet tall, resulting in the space between the base of the opposing walls 20ft or less. The odd thing is that the thing that Titus Canyon is most famous for (being a very narrow slot canyon), doesn't really start until the last 5 or 6 miles. However, once we reached that point, the entire drive was well worth it. The canyon truly narrowed to about 10ft, and got excessively curvy, making for some really great driving. The road was also fairly well graded at this point, so it was easy driving (especially compared to the steep, uneven portions earlier on). I really have to give alot of credit to people who do alot of offroad driving. Its so much more difficult than speeding down a paved highway. So much time is needed to watch the road carefully to decide whether to drive over or around a particular obstacle. Thankfully, my biggest concern, running into car damage/problems while off paved roads in an isolated location, never happened, and the car seems to be running fine. Its even got a nice coating of desert dust to prove that its been places that other wimpier cars can't go.
Once we completed the Titus Canyon road (which empties back into Death Valley proper), we continued north to Ubehebe Crater. I attempted to walk the entire perimeter of the crater the last time we were here, but gave up after going less than half way around. About the only other thing that I remembered from back then was that it was really windy up there. This time wasn't any different, with very strong gusts. The crator actually was alot bigger than I had remembered. Its odd that it doesn't look nearly as big in pictures, yet its HUGE. I'd guess that its at least a mile across, and several hundred feet deep. I convinced David that we'd hike down to the bottom, rather than attempting to walk the perimeter, since the wind was really annoying, and I was hoping that once we got below the top of the crator, the winds would be reduced. The walk down went fairly smoothly (other than getting alot of pebbles in our shoes), and took about 30 minutes. The bottom of the crator is incredibly dry & flat, although there are a few plants growing down there. It was also very quiet, and the sheer depth of the crator is fully apparent once we were looking back up to the top. At this point, my full stupidity for undertaking such a hike kicked in. It was actually quite hot in the early afternoon sun (around 93F), and the heat combined with the very steep climb out of the crator made for a hellish climb. Amazingly, David was completely unphased by it all, but I was dying. Thankfully, early on I worked out a system where we'd count between 10 & 16 steps and then stop to rest for a minute. David was fine with this, and it likely is what prevented him from getting exhausted & overheated (and needing me to carry him up). At no point was the trail less than a 20% grade, and I made the incredibly stupid decision of taking a 'shortcut' back up which was likely closer to a 50% grade. Because the trail was comprised primarily of volcanic gravel, it was basically like trying to walk up the steepest hill ever, made out of frozen peas. It took about 3 steps to move one foot, and it was utterly exhausting. Thankfully I had hiked with a decent amount of water, or I don't think we would have made it back up. I think the heat was very significant in wearing us down. Once we got back to the car, 90 minutes after we had left, I cranked up the AC all the way, and we drank alot more water. Looking back on it all, I'd probably do it again, but only if it was cooler (the temperature hit 101F on the drive back down to Stove Pipe Wells), and no shortcuts.
We both had a great time in Death Valley, and I'm already looking forward to our next trip out here in late December, when we'll be renting an SUV to explore more of the remote, off-road places like the Racetrack. I really have to praise David alot. He was exceptionally patient & well behaved in the car as I dragged him around to alot of places that he didn't care much about. He's also an amazingly strong hiker (I still can't believe that he had more energy than I did hiking out of the crator), so I'm looking forward to planning some longer hikes with him in the future.
Many more pictures and landscapes are posted.
This post is part 2 of the "dv-2006-09" series: