Day 9: no bicycling! Instead, a drive to The Racetrack and Goldbelt Spring with Phil and Renée from Emigrant Campground
Phil and Renée, fellow campers at Emigrant Campground, invite me over for coffee, and then offer me bacon and eggs, which I can't refuse! Then, they invite me on a day drive with them through the western side of Death Valley (e.g. The Racetrack, Goldbelt Spring).
My right knee is telling me that a break from bicycling might be good, and I enjoyed Phil and Reneé's company at the campground yesterday. I'm still considering a solo hike across the fan from Emigrant Campground to over to Lemoigne Canyon, but Phil and Renée's invitation sounds more interesting.
It's also an opportunity to see some areas of Death Valley National Park that I had hoped to see by bicycle, but which I won't reach on this trip. We end up driving a long 160-mile day.
|
Date: April 26, 2007, 12h00
Size: 24 items
|
|
Our first stop is Ubehebe Crater, in northern Death Valley
If you look very closely, you might be able to discern the ant-like shapes of the many people who are walking around at the bottom of the crater.
Date: April 26, 2007, 13h00
Views: 84
|
On the way from Ubehebe Crater to The Racetrack is a particularly colourful area
Blooms of desert mallow, desert paintbrush and cactus decorate the rocky Joshua-tree-studded landscape.
Date: April 26, 2007, 13h30
Views: 90
|
No Death Valley backroad trip is complete without a photo of the tea kettles at Teakettle Junction
Teakettle Junction itself is nothing more than a junction of two narrow dirt roads far, far away from anything.
Date: April 26, 2007, 13h45
Views: 114
|
|
We drive 1/2 mile up a short steep road that we pass a couple of miles after Teakettle Junction
This appears to be the road to the old Ubehebe lead mine site.
Date: April 26, 2007, 14h00
Views: 71
|
There seems to be no mine up here on this hill
However, we see what looks like the roof of a sunken or collapsed shed way down in the canyon below.
Date: April 26, 2007, 13h45
Views: 63
|
Down at the collapsed building at the old Ubehebe Mine site
As soon as we get back down to Racetrack Valley Road, we see the real road to the Ubehebe Mine site just ahead, so we follow it to its end a short distance away.
Date: April 26, 2007, 14h15
Views: 79
|
|
Another important photo for any Death Valley travelogue
... one of the moving rocks on The Racetrack.
Date: April 26, 2007, 15h00
Views: 86
|
Phil walks out toward The Grandstand
The Grandstand is this large rock "island" out in the middle of The Racetrack playa.
Date: April 26, 2007, 15h00
Views: 79
|
Phil stands on "the beach" at The Grandstand, in the middle of The Racetrack playa
I would like to see what this looks like when there's water on the surface of The Racetrack after a rain.
Date: April 26, 2007, 15h00
Views: 75
|
|
I sit down on The Racetrack playa, like I might do at any other beach
This is as nice as any beach I've ever sat on, despite the absence of water here.
Date: April 26, 2007, 15h00
Views: 106
|
After our visit to The Racetrack, we head over to the old Lost Burro Mine site
Interesting old cabin in a site that's quite isolated in its own little mini-valley.
Date: April 26, 2007, 16h00
Views: 96
|
The Lost Burro Mine's cabin
... still standing a century later.
Date: April 26, 2007, 16h00
Views: 94
|
|
Inside the Lost Burro Mine's cabin.
There's even a little table inside with a few cans of food that people have left, in case a future visitor gets needy.
Date: April 26, 2007, 16h00
Views: 76
|
The "cold storage house" at Lost Burro Mine
... just outside the cabin.
Date: April 26, 2007, 16h00
Views: 67
|
We drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt Spring
An unusually dense, isolated stand of Mojave yuccas near Goldbelt Spring.
Date: April 26, 2007, 17h00
Views: 82
|
|
