Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley part 3

 The next day began with a trip to Zabriskie Point

The view here is amazing, across the badlands and Death Valley to the Panamint range.

Mom hiked down into the the badlands

She saw few people on this quiet and other worldly trail.  There is a unique beauty in this rugged landscape, one sees the very bones of the earth.

In the afternoon we hiked up Golden Canyon

There had once been a road up the canyon and you can still see remnants of it here on the right.

Looking up a side canyon we saw more of the spectacular colors as we saw on Artists Drive.

Farther up the trail we get a good view of  the red cathedral formation

 Instead of going up to red cathedral we could have taken the trail up around Manly Beacon here and up to Zabriskie point.  Maybe another time.

We left Golden Canyon and the next day left Death Valley a day earlier than planned. Another strong winter storm was forecast and there was concern that the way home would be snowy and icy. 

Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley part 2

After our visit to Badwater we took the Artists drive.  

The amazing colors here sent Mom to a geology book which said the formation owed its color to the presence of iron

Our next stop was Harmony Borax Works

The borax works only operated from 1884 to 1888 and produced 3 tons of borax daily except during the heat of summer.

Getting the borax out of the valley was no easy feat in those days and required the effort of teams of 20 mules hence the phrase "20 mule team borax"  Glad to see that much of the weight they pulled was water.

One of the reasons Mom wanted to visit here was that she was hoping to photograph star trails and this was said to be a great spot for night photography.  When we arrived at night we encountered two problems.  There were clouds to the north and a ranger was giving a star talk.  We enjoyed the talk but gave up on the photography.  Next time.

Mom has found that you can get decent star trails even in suburban Lincoln.

  We don't know what the artifact on the right is, perhaps a homemade rocked?  The trail fades as it rises so it went up rather than down like a meteor.

  We will continue to seek out dark skies.  The family is considering a trip to Zion in the fall, we'll see what happens.

Ranger Duckie goes to Death Valley: part 1

 Hi! I'm Ranger Duckie.  I'm kind of like a Junior Ranger except I'm a rubber duck.  Mom got me several years ago in Yosemite but she never took me traveling.  Recently she decided I would be good company and, besides, I am very photogenic and like all good rangers I'm adventurous.

It's a long drive from our home in Lincoln, CA and we drove through some much colder territory.  We stopped at the Mono Lake Overlook and looked over a very white scene.  Brr!

Our first stop was at the mesquite sand dunes.

 Later that day we went down to Bad Water.

Everywhere I looked, salt and the geologist say it is one to six feet thick.  That's a lot of salt!  The weather was pleasant, in the 60's when we were there but it can get up to 130 in the summer!  I might melt!

Well, that's it for now, next time Harmony Borax works, the badlands and Golden Canyon.