Sat-Sat, March 9-16, 1996: Death Valley, California

One of many trip reports under the SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie Grow.
Email me at ajs@frii.com.
Last update: November 10, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1995_0818-20_Leadville100.htm)

I took my favorite (only) daughter Megan Silverstein, age 12.5, for a week in the desert in one of my favorite places, Death Valley NP, California. I want to share the story, but once again it could be a long one, and I'm tired of writing long trip reports. So instead I'll just outline the trip and follow that with some "snapshots".

Outline: Highlights, hikes, and where we camped:

Mar 9 Sat	10 am Fort Collins; depart on Airport Express bus DIA; Megan's first visit, lots of time to tour 1425: DIA takeoff; nice scenery enroute Las Vegas 1830: Boston Station casino; great Mexican fast food The Strip at night -- dazzling Circus Circus, Grand Slam dome -- awesome Luxor casino Getting late, we're tired, where's the exit? (back to) KOA, east Las Vegas; $24; pool, hot tub!
Mar 10 Sun	Swimming, lotsa grocery shopping, finally head out at 1230 Lee Canyon bristlecones detour; too snowy, can't hike to them... Titus Canyon drive; 28 miles, 2:20, OK in a Cavalier with care! Texas Springs CG (Furnace Creek); $10; stars, no rainfly
Mar 11 Mon	Visitor Center; talk with rangers about Mars Hill 9 am: Mushroom Rock, Mars Hill, Badwater; walk 20 min out onto the flats; big hex plates, no ducks 1140: Natural Bridge; up left side, then to end of canyon next canyon south; 10 min in/up to dry fall; neat! Devils Golf Course; roam around the salt sculptures a little Artists Drive; four stops to explore hills, canyons, Artists Palette Sunset: West Side Road, Salt Creek crossing, Furnace Creek pool Swim/shower, $0; warm, pretty 7 pm: Geo-Oddities show at the Visitor Center -- cool! Texas Springs CG; $10; stars, no rainfly
Mar 12 Tue	Furnace Creek store Late start, Salt Creek Nature Trail; ~1 mi past boardwalk to lush badlands Stovepipe Wells; first of about four potty stops there Grotto Canyon; ~1 mi from 4WD point to Grotto; jets; rain starts Towne Pass; awesome clouds Panamint Valley; dry lakebed now in DVNP, closed (no surprise) Darwin Falls; 2.7 mi rough road + ~1 mi bushwhack to Eden Panamint Valley Road; long, pretty drive near sunset Wildrose Canyon to campground; $0; cold, wet, rained hard
Mar 13 Wed	Chilly out; heat milk for breakfast cereal! Charcoal Kilns; clouds, patchy wet snow on ground Mahogany Flat; can't reach it! too steep/deep for car After ~1.5 mi, Aguereberry Point; whiteout fog, light snow, wind, no view; sigh Emigrant Hill; down fast with Hooked On Classics! Stovepipe Wells; ugly looking weather, debate what's next... Tucki Mountain; drive back up several miles, study the canyons 1245-1700: Mosaic Canyon; 2nd dry fall, beyond, side canyon too Furnace Creek; swim/shower again, intermittent rain... Texas Springs CG; $10; cold and cloudy, rainfly tonight again
Mar 14 Thu	0900-1245 Zabriskie Point; to alcove, north ridge Manly Beacon, rain 20 Mule Team Canyon; on the way to... Dantes View; long lunch, cold/windy, swirling clouds, awesome! Near Ryan; hunt chalcedony outside park boundary; a fun hour 1715-1830: Texas Springs; finally find it, long hike up hill Texas Springs CG; $10; warmer, starry, no rainfly Comet Hyakutake; first look, spot it at midnight
Mar 15 Fri	Artists Drive; around again, late start, explore two more canyons 11 am: Visitor Center; video on 920216 floods in Titus, Mosaic Devils Golf Course; lunch, 35 min exploring for star pattern Exit south: Amargosa "River", Split Cone, Ashford Mill Shoshone KOA, East Las Vegas; $24 1830: Boston Station casino for Mexican food again Swim, hot tub, yum...
Mar 16 Sat	Pack, pack, pack, depart Long slow trip home, mellow... Total cost: $639 Miles driven: 813

Snapshots:

• No plans made for Saturday night. We check the cheap motels on the south end of the Strip, usually $30. What, $75-80? Forget it! We find the KOA instead, and it is great, a fine launching point for dinner and exploring some big casinos. Always mind-boggling -- their size, opulence, crowds... Dinner overlooks the gaming floor, a new experience for Megan. The Grand Slam in the dome at Circus Circus is phenomenal.

• An 18 mile side trip to the end of the Lee Canyon road on Mount Charleston... The little ski area up there is jam-packed. We park down the road a way and slog up through deep, wet snow toward the Bristlecone Loop before giving up. Entertaining, but somewhat a waste of time, oh well.

• An odd entrance to the Valley; my first time down Titus Canyon. I decide to finally chance it in a rental 2WD -- no real problems! Long and slow, reading aloud the guidebook at various stops, fun, and spectacular at the end; but I wish we had more time before dark...

• I roam into the visitor center and innocently ask the ranger on duty, "What can you tell me about Mars Hill?" (Which I proposed naming, in support of the Planetary Society, and it was approved 9506.) To my surprise she knows something about it, though not much. "It's on the new AAA map," she says. "You're kidding!" Naturally I have to buy a copy... Brand new, 1995 edition, shows the new park boundaries -- and Mars Hill is in the wrong place! Due to an error in the USGS Decision List 1995.

• It was nice to take my daughter up on Mars Hill and read to her the approval letter from the USGS ... It sure looks like Mars to me, through orange sunglasses!

• Megan's reaction to Badwater: Not sure she wants to bother walking out onto the salt flats. But coming back, she tells everyone how neat it is: "It's huge and it's dead quiet out there." I say, "You got it! That's what I brought you to experience." Meanwhile I study the ridges from Badwater up 5700' to Dantes View... I'm going to hike that... Someday... [And the very next year, I did!]

• Natural Bridge: Fun to get Megan up the scramble on one side of the bridge. She gets afraid of some new experiences, but handles this like a pro. From the bridge to the dry fall it's lots further than I recall, with more small dry falls to climb. Theme of the trip: It's all further than I remember; or maybe Megan's slowness just makes it seem that way; it doesn't matter, she comes to expect it. She "did good," but she was slow and pokey at times.

• We discover that the $1 shower building at Furnace Creek was condemned. But you can rent a shower and a swim at the ranch's pool for just two dollars! All these years, nobody told me that... Anyway currently the pool is free. Just park by the cabins, walk across the grassy field, use the very nice facilities. So we do, two different nights. In fact we swim four times during the week.

• Megan really needs a tickle fight and a giggle session in the tent to get started each morning... Sigh. And every night she gets zooey about 8 pm and loses her appetite; I eat most of the big dinners I cook.

• Salt Creek: Megan, funky, doesn't want to follow the trail a mile, but I cajole her along to see the sights. Megan, feisty, insists on taking a "shortcut" back, and steps ankle deep into smelly gray slime, which of course leaps to her hands and other body parts. It's a loooong squishy walk in her thongs back to the car... I am amused.

• Odd weather starts Tuesday afternoon. We have intermittent light rain, and up high, snow, for about 48 hours. It is a bit of a downer at points when we can't see the scenery or it is cold and wet, but on the whole it is no big deal.

• The drive down from Towne Pass to the floor of Panamint Valley is spectacular, breathtaking, under milling clouds.

• Darwin Falls: No idea how far it is, "it can't be much further"; well, it is. But worth dragging her along a mile to see it. Wet serpentine glistening green, a Garden of Eden at the falls themselves, gorgeous. It's drizzling but we don't care.

• Our best and longest hike: Mosaic Canyon when the weather looks crummy. It doesn't rain much though, it's just cool and damp. We get enough sun to dry everything out during lunch at the trailhead. Gorgeous wet polished marble on the way up. I always like this canyon. Megan is strong and happy today, chatting with people with whom we hike along.

• Above the second big dry fall, I get Megan up above the cactus to where the trail gets nasty (on the rougher part of the ridge), and that's as far as I can coax her. But it's OK , I'm satisfied. Some other time I will continue waaay up beyond this point. [And I did!]

• Down off the ridge, we explore the next side canyon on river left, just across from the ridge. A short way in, a bit of tough scramble up 20', then we go a ways further. Ultimately a huge chock rock requires real scrambling skills -- the end of our road. Coming back, we can each downclimb the fall OK , but I'm not comfortable that I can spot her down and catch her if she slips, so I lower our packs with parachute cord, then use it as a light hand line (wrapped around a wrist) for a little extra security.

• Finally sitting on the north ridge of Manly Beacon after dragging Megan up there. A thunderstorm to the north, some rain to the southeast suddenly turns toward us -- the wind gets fierce and it starts to rain hard, so we bug out back down to the floor of the badlands. Sigh, we can't sit around very long and enjoy the view. Muddy on the return to Zabriskie Point. Between the weather and a kid who can't wake up and charge ahead, not a chance of making the Red Cathedral Ridge loop... Some other time... [Yes, later!]

• Later that day, mellowed out at Dantes View, watching the weather come and go, no rush to go anywhere ourselves. Enya's new album, playing "Anywhere Is" (on cassette tape!) while holding Megan and looking over the vast panorama...

• About 50 excellent new info sheets are now available on request at the Visitor Center... I skim their master file and snag about 15 of them.

• Drag Megan on one more hike that is longer than expected, from the north end of Texas Springs CG to the springs themselves. Finally see them... I like the scenery, but Megan just wants to go home.

• I find a cool short sinuous slot canyon to a sort of grotto end, off the Artists Palette road. Megan prefers staying in the car, no complaints from her, too bad she doesn't see it, but I have fun and get a good fast workout too, half an hour round trip.

• Last day, heading out of the valley, Mars Hill disappearing in the rear view mirror... Sniff. Aw, I'm too mellow be bummed... Megan's happy heading home and I'm happy we have lots of time to get there. Lots of brief stops on the way back to Las Vegas to admire scenery and hunt rocks.

(Next trip report: 1996_0325_CometHyakutake.htm)