Roger's Web Site | DEATH VALLEY 2020

ROGER'S WEB SITE | DEATH VALLEY 2020

Now is the dawning of the Age of Covid. Large segments of the population have lost their livelihoods or their lives due to Covid-19. Over 6,400 Arizonans are dead, many due to a failure of government at all levels. We are relatively lucky so far but have been in semi-isolation since March, unable to eat indoors anywhere, or visit friends and family. The summer of 2020 was the most brutally hot on record so we were mostly confined at home. Occasionally I could venture out on my bike at 5 or 6 a.m. when the thermometer showed 90F or less. Meanwhile, the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was noted at Death Valley, California (130F/54.4C but may be 128F after calibration and ratification by NOAA).

As autumn arrived much later than usual and Barbara's 80th birthday loomed on the horizon, what better than a jaunt to haunt Death Valley? We hoped that the grim reaper would be away from his usual patch and busy elsewhere, dealing with the second major wave of Covid-19 sweeping the nation. So we tentatively ventured out from our burrow, blinking in the sunlight, clutching packs of masks, sanitizer and wipes. I strapped my bike to the back of the car (right) and we headed northwest through Arizona, across a corner of Nevada, over the vast expanse of the Mohave desert in California and into the basin-and-range scenery surrounding Death Valley. We avoided the direct route via Las Vegas and stuck to a more scenic route, half an hour longer but well worth the detour. 450 miles of stunning desert and mountain scenery, very little traffic, a classic American road trip.

On day 1 (November 13th) we stopped at the Hasayampa river park (left) outside Wickenberg, a pretty spot with good facilities. Then north on US-93 (Joshua Tree Parkway), past Nothing (aptly named) to Kingman where we stopped overnight. US-93 is much improved since we moved here in 1982. It is the most direct route from Phoenix to Las Vegas and in the 80's was a mostly single-lane road clogged with trucks and bleary-eyed gamblers returning from Vegas. Now there are numerous passing lanes and stretches of divided highway. The scenery is pleasant but unspectacular Arizona desert, rising to mountainous high desert approaching Kingman. In Kingman we stayed at the Wayfarer's Inn, a Best Western Plus motel. Lately we have been disappointed in Best Western. They used to operate really nice hotels like Little America in Flagstaff but they have gone decidedly down-market in recent years. The Wayfarer's Inn exceeded our expectations. It is clean, modern and the service was fast and good. Covid-friendly attributes included well sanitized rooms, an excellent breakfast to-go served at a distance by masked staff and individual room aircon/heating. It's a no-frills motel but the rooms are huge and comfortable. The less said about the town of Kingman the better.
Photo by Barb

Next day we drove through Bullhead City, over the Colorado river past Laughlin, entering California on 164 at Nipton which is for sale (yes, the whole town for $2.75m), along a short stretch of I-15 then across the Mohave into the Badlands. The little towns of Valjean, Tocopa, and Shoshone disappeared in the rear view mirror as fast as they came. The closer we came to Death Valley the more rugged, mountainous and imposing the scenery became.

At Death Valley Junction sits the Amargosa Opera House. Once the home of the Grand Dame of Death Valley, Marta Becket, it

now looks forlorn and abandoned. We once saw her there on stage, well into her seventies, still tottering about dancing on pointe and performing the quirkiest show I have ever seen, accompanied by her bumbling consort, Wilget. That was 21 years ago. Marta sadly left us in 2017. Her ashes were mixed with wildflower seeds and scattered over the property. She was a multi-talented artist who also painted vibrant scenes from her life in a Baroque and slightly surreal style. The walls of the opera house are covered with her murals and I hope it will reopen post-Covid. She deserves recognition as a painter.

The Open Road Beckons

CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE

The Amargosa Opera House and Hotel
(currently closed)

The Interior of the Amargosa Opera House

Weird Sight we saw on the California Border.
The Ivanpah Solar Generating Station.
Giant mirrors focus the sun on to boilers.
The steam then drives turbines which generate
up to 392MW of electricity.

Soon we arrived at our hotel, the former Furnace Creek Inn, now stupidly and generically renamed as 'The Inn at Death Valley'. It is the only hotel in the National Park, about a mile from the sprawling motel complex at the Ranch. Both are managed for the National Park Service by Xanterra. Built in 1929 by the Pacific Coast Borax company to attract visitors to the region, the Inn is a classic, rambling 'lodge style' resort with Spanish Mission overtones. Barb secured us a comfortable, quiet room with a balcony offering fantastic views over the Valley. The buildings are surrounded by palm trees and little oases fed from the Furnace Creek Wash. The hotel had only recently reopened and was short-staffed. All the staff live on-site and have separate rooms to avoid pandemic infection, so that has limited the number of staff. They were all unfailingly cheerful and welcoming, however, which made up for a lack of alacrity. The vibe here is to chill, if not actually unto death but unto somnolence, somewhat like canal cruising.

The Inn at Death Valley

CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE

Balcony View. Photo by Barb

Barb on the Balcony

Balcony Panorama

Quiet Oasis by the Hotel. Photo by Barb

Covid Woman

For the next two days we explored the Valley, revisiting a few old haunts from the 1999 trip such as Zabriskie Point and Dante's View. We also meandered round the Artists Drive loop, descended to the Badwater salt pan at the bottom of the Valley, below sea level, and drove up a suspension-busting gravel road to Hanging Bridge. I was hoping to ride alongside Barb on the trails because I cannot do long hikes anymore on my arthritic ankle but, as we quickly discovered, bicycles are barred from the trails. I did better than we expected so my impediments did not really mar our enjoyment of the trip. I did manage one bike ride by myself, down to the ruins of the old Harmony Borax Works. Anyway, enough of the waffle, I will let the photos tell the tale.

Zabriskie Point Panorama (does not enlarge)

Barb at Zabriskie Point 2020	Barb at Zabriskie Point 1999	Entering the Badlands	Badlands Sculpture
Hanging Bridge Trail Artists Palette. Photo by Barb.	Hanging Bridge CLICK on any IMAGE to ENLARGE	Textbook Talus Slopes along the Range Photo by Barb	Covid Man Photo by Barb
Geologic Turbulence		Badwater Basin	Saltscape at Badwater
The Old Harmony Borax Works (closed 1888) Mule Train in Distance	20-Mule Teams Hauled 36 tons of Borax...	... out of Death Valley and over the Mohave	Part of a Mule Train

A Last Look at the Valley from Dante's View

The geology of Death Valley is way beyond my small brain to comprehend but I do understand a few things. The Amargosa River drains more territory than New Hampshire but the river dies in Death Valley, never reaching the sea. Flowing for hundreds of miles underground it occasionally surfaces and sometimes floods. In Death Valley it evaporates under the hot, dry conditions faster than the river can replenish the lake. The salt, bauxite and other minerals dry out upon the valley floor, as seen above. It was not always so, the prehistoric Lake Manly once covered the area to the depth of a hundred feet or more. The ancient shores of Manly can still be seen on the slopes of the Panamint range. In geologic terms, the topography is a fast moving cement mixer of change. Valleys are sinking and mountains are thrown up at an alarming geologic rate as the Pacific and American tectonic plates grind and move against each other far below the surface. Floods and frequent earthquakes are the only manifestation of this drama that we see in human time.

Overall, it was a great trip, spiritually liberating. As we drove across some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet I became convinced that the Earth is still bigger than we are. Climate change, overpopulation, pandemics and toxic governments will not destroy the Earth. SARS-Cov-2 is the Earth equivalent of our human immune system springing into action against the assault we have perpetrated upon the global biome. Humanity will no doubt suffer and be reduced in the short term, but we will survive in smaller, smarter numbers. The great experiment will march on but only if we learn from the experience. If not, we will go the way of the dinosaurs. Mass extinctions are always hardest upon the largest, brainiest creatures. When did you hear of extinct cockroaches? Meanwhile, I am glad I am still here to appreciate the majesty of Death Valley.