Spring Mt snow

November 20, 2010

It rained in Pahrump, NV...really hard...all day...and it snowed over the mountain. When we first came to Pahrump, there was a snow cap on Charleston Peak - the highest point in the Spring Mountain range over 11, 000 ft...and after a few days, it all but melted away.

How beautiful it became when it again snowed...the snow in the mountains covered the whole range. It was amazing to watch the clouds just hang over the mountains...we just knew that they would be snow covered when the clouds moved on.

And the desert below.

We went to Henderson, NV on Monday the 22nd...and Charleston Peak looked just as lovely from the other side. :-)

Death Valley

November 13, 2010 (continued)

We finally arrived at Death Valley...had lunch at the Furnace Creek Hotel...and continued on to the "Bad Water Basin" a point which is 282 feet BELOW sea level. The lowest point in the United States.

There is a sign on the rocky hill which states "Sea Level" If you double click on the rocks, you can get an enlarged picture which shows the sign.

It's not hard to imagine (in pic#2 and #3) how the settlers thought they were arriving at "water." The shiny bits are just dried salt. What a disappointment. There's not much water...and the little bit of moisture there is on the ground is highly saturated with salt. Much like Utah's great salt lake (except that the great salt lake has a whole lot of water.)

We walked out about 1/2 mile into the shiny mirage...no water...just dried mud and salt.



The salt was like snow...the salt flats were miles wide. Such a hardship to cross that area. Average rainfall is 1.5 inches per year. Highest temp recorded was 134 degrees. Over 3.3 million acres in this desolate land.

On the way to Death Valley

November 13, 2010

Oh, the scenery was stark. And we were just "on the way." We were several miles from Death Valley. NOTHING GROWING...can't imagine what the settlers thought when they got to this place.

The mountain and hill formations were strange. Almost like being on another planet.

We saw bits of dried salt on the way...and more odd formations of rock.

I think they called this the chocolate sundae. Such unique beauty.

Scenes from Zabriskie point...still on the way to Death Valley.



This was the 2nd place we saw evidence of the "Twenty mule team" Borax mining. (The first was on our way from Baker, CA to Pahrump, NV)

People actually hiked through these areas. Looked like a bit of a challenge for "footing" to us.

Park of the Sierra's

November 4-10, 2010

The park of the Sierra's was a very unique park. Located about 25 miles from the entrance to Yosemite National park, we chose it, because it was a park sponsored by the Escapees (They call them SKP parks). Very friendly people here...many stay year round...and most "own" their plot. The park itself is built into a hillside and is surrounded by wilderness. You won't find two RV's next to each other - as is the usual case. We didn't get pics of the actual sites (tsk tsk)...but in the last pic, you can catch site of one of the RV's from the perimeter of the park. Ron was enthralled with the area surrounding the park...so that's where his camera went.

Escapees who own a plot will throw their lot into a rental pool when they go off to travel for a month or two - which is how we got a slot to stay in. We have not bought into a plot...but are members of the group, and can therefore reside for a week, a month, or more if there is space, as a guest. Outsiders (non-members of escapees) are seldom allowed to stay at a SKP park.

All in all...a great place to stay. We may do it again, if we come this way.

The trip to Pahrump

November 11, 2010

Leaving from Coarsgold, CA (The location of the Park of the Sierra's) we headed south on the "99" and stayed overnight at Mojave, CA. If we say there was nothing there...you can believe us. There was nothing there...nor in California City, which was the next town close by. We ALWAYS adventure out...and we ALWAYS find something. Oh, Oh...we forgot. We did find a "parking lot" for airplanes that are out of service...temporarily...while a new route is established...etc. on the edge of Mohave.

There were areas of roads that looked like they went on forever! And they looked as though they just ran into a hill...not until the last second could you see where it might turn. This stretch (Pic 1) clocked out at about 9-1/2 miles from where we took the pic to where there seems to be a line on the horizon below the hills.


As we traveled through desert area, there was not much vegetation. Once we passed the Joshua trees in the Bakersfield area...there weren't even any cactus. Just a few brambles growing the the sandy soil.

Caught some views of the dunes near Shoshone (still in CA)...Not nearly as wide and long as the dunes along the shores of Oregon. Several campers "boondock" out on the sands - bring their ATV's and enjoy the day.

As we arrived at Pahrump, the most impressive site was Charleston Peak in the Spring Mountains which lie between Pahrump and Las Vegas. Just a bit of snow on the cap. It hasn't been cloudy enough to have snow in the mountains...but, we may see an increase on the peak before we leave.

Treasures in Yosemite Park

November 5, 2010

We thought we were seeing big trees when we were weaving in and out of the groves of redwoods, but the Mariposa sequoias are HUGE!

The largest living sequoia has a diameter of 30 some feet...and almost a 100 ft circumference. Not too far from that was the California tunnel tree. Not quite big enough for most cars. The larger tree that can be driven through was another 2 miles back into the grove. Since it was about a mile "uphill" to get to the first tunnel tree, we chose not to do the extended tour to the larger one. It became a "walking" tour on November 1st. Trolley's stopped on Oct 31st. Darn!!!

As you can see, the root structure on this fallen tree is gigantic. You almost miss the folks standing to the left. They're so tiny.

From there we went to the Tunnel view up into the park and caught pictures of the El Capitan, Half Dome, Sentinal Rock, Cathedral Rocks, and Bridalveil Falls...(left to right on the pic).

The falls is in the dark section on the first pic. 3rd pic shows it better.

The pic of us in front of this view almost looks like we had it done in a studio with a mural backdrop.

Another of those views that are so breathtaking, it's difficult to describe. "Ya gotta be there."