Red, white and black, Tues, 3/30/21

This has to be spring break week in Utah.  So many people, kids with parents and grandparents and maybe their Great Aunt Harriet, are Out and About.  We joined them, sorta, in Snow Canyon, for a day hike.  Our choice was made for us when we found an available parking space at the Lava Flow Trail.  Smartie zipped in to claim it.  We set off with everyone else, but Jimmy and I prefer solitude while on a trail, so as soon as we found the path less traveled, we took it.  And it proved to be a good one, scenic and quiet, among the scenic red, white and black geologic rocks of Snow Canyon.

This trail is rated as moderate, lots of uneven walking over sharp lava.  It took us through a jumbled lava field, to lava tubes and caves.

These lava caves are collapsed lava tubes.  No we didn't go in, but people were lined up at the cave below to get down into it.  You see someone in the cave below.  I couldn't get close enough to another cave (too crowded to photograph) that had even more people deep inside.  

The main trail led to an overlook, but that isn't us up at the top.  We left it for the kids!  They were having a great time, whooping and hollering up there.

A cute li'l village of rock people.

This is where we veered off on our own, aiming for the contoured red and white beehive-looking rocks behind me.  In fact, we ate our sandwiches sitting on flat black lava rocks where I've placed the blue check mark.  It is so much fun clambering over these rounded sandstone petrified dunes.  Not scary at all. 

Lunch time up there!

We kept going higher, finding footing, till we reached the white rock.  We wondered the how and why of this, and looked it up.  "Transported by wind more than 183 million years ago, tiny grains of quartzite sand covered much of what is now Utah.  These sand dunes, up to 2,500' thick, eventually cemented into stone.  Burnt orange to creamy white in color, Navajo sandstone, the predominant rock in the park, is what remains of the ancient desert sand sea.  Water cut and shaped sandstone to form canyons."  Throw in recent cinder cone eruptions, adding black basalt to the mix, and you get this rainbow of colors.

As sandstone breaks down, a seed falls and takes root.  Add water (or snow melt) and greenery appears in what would appear to be the most unlikely of places!

Up and down we went, over rocks and through bushes.  See the red x?  That's where we ate our lunch.  We finished up with about four-and-a-half miles on our fitbits.  All that up and down stuff gave us quite a workout!  Plus, very few others followed where we were.

Nope, we didn't climb this one.  In this area, we were looking for the Peregrine Falcon aerie, but didn't see any sign of it this year.  And so we made our way back uphill, where everyone else was, to our car.  Needless to say, the campground in Snow Canyon was full, too.

Snow Canyon is simply grand, a picturesque setting in SW Utah, with lots of trails to hike or bike.  This is our second time to visit here, and even with the crowd today, it did not disappoint.  Glad we stopped by again.  Really, it's not to be missed.  

A few for the road? 3/29/21

Traveling in the West offers many photo opportunities -- a person and a camera can see forever along the wide open road, whether under blue skies or billowing clouds.  Unless you take a picture of your shoe or the inside of your pocket, it's hard to go wrong out here.  Sometimes a smudge on the windshield may offer an extra dot, kinda like a tiny bug on a sandwich offers a wee spot of protein.  All that aside, we prefer taking back roads, 'cause a) the posted speed limit isn't 75, and therefore, b) you can be a slow poke. 😊

As we left Stovepipe Wells, heading east, we were faced with a long drawn uphill, the initial part of it was through the Muddy Mountains.

... till we finally reached Beatty, Nevada,

and then headed south.

Our hope was spending an overnight in the park, above, a place we'd never been to.  It took a bit of doing to get here, but we were out of luck.  (You can barely see the long line of cars waiting at the west entrance gate.)

We did enjoy driving through the park!

So much gorgeous red rock.  See Jimmy, top right?

And Tergel, bottom left?

We paused in the roadway to photo the big horned sheep beside the road.

Wow!

Since we couldn't get into Valley of Fire and we didn't want to join the masses baking in the sun outside the park (boondocking), we opted to go to the St George, Utah, Elks Lodge for a couple of nights, and, believe me, the drive into southwestern Utah is simply spectacular.  

... through the Virgin River Gorge and on toward St George.  Aha!  Snow Canyon St Pk, which we visited four years ago, is nearby.  Great hiking there!  Click here to see a post from our previous stay at Snow Canyon.

And even an old, unused corral adds charm.

Tomorrow I'll add a new post, probably showing some outstanding pics of Snow Canyon. The weather here is daytime warm, nighttime cool. Bright and sunny. Plus, windy. We've been lucky so far to have tail winds while driving -- may the wind always be at your back!

What's next? 3/26- 3/29

Where have we been, you wondered? In the boonies, without cell signal (how attached we've become to "being connected!").  Friday forenoon, Jimmy and I pulled into one of our favorite spots on earth, a wide-open wonder full of boulders, rocks, monsters, and movie stars: Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, CA, on Hwy 395. We knew to get there early to park Tergel in an optimum site (boondocking), 'cause the good ones would fill up fast. A giant chill wind was blowing and we wanted shelter, too -- so we backed up to a pile of rocks, tucked in snug-like. We spent two enchanting days here, though we were surprised (is that the word?) to see so many rigs, so many people, Out and About in March.

We clambered over boulders, hiked on trails, hopped across a snow-melt-running creek, and appreciated the absolute quiet while hiking alone alone on a trail.  If you're in the vicinity, stop by (day use is okay), it's really something to see.  Here are a few pics from Alabama Hills.  That's me in my pink parka playing peek-a-boo, above.  I also have a video to share, but not a strong enough signal to send it.

Jimmy, from our second day hiking along Rush Creek and into a deserted canyon, standing near a strange rock.  Alabama Hills IS made up of strange rocks!

From our site, we enjoyed a 360° view of mountains, the jagged peaks of snow-capped Sierra Nevada including Mt Whitney, and the "geologically complex" Inyo Mountains opposite.  Alabama Hills are a formation of rounded rocks and eroded hills set between these mountain ranges, with all kinds of crazy rock configurations.  Both geologic features were shaped by the same uplifting occurring 100 million years ago.  In case you've forgotten your geography, Mt Whitney is the tallest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505'.

No wildflowers were blooming yet, but we spied several patches of Cholla, whose wicked spikes can pierce anybody's hide!  Ask Jimmy.  He got speared at Organ Pipe a few years ago.

If you use your imagination, on the left you'll see an eagle or hawk's face (beak) and on the right is a horse's ass rump with tail.  Notice I said rump.  There are hundreds of rocks you can make into faces or animals or whatever you fancy.  I only have these pics to show you.  Somehow, and I don't know how, all my 300+ photos, except these collages, from two days at Alabama Hills and one day in Death Valley have disappeared off my computer.  Beautiful photos, gone.  Gone where?  Nether world?  Maybe they are still in the computer and can be found, but right now I have marginal internet connection and don't feel like fooling around with it.  Trust me, though, those pics showed some wonderful scenery.  But, so be it.

We moved on to Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley where we camped overnight on a plain large tarmac with 150 sites, many of them filled, and no hookups.  Ten sites with electric had been reserved.  I didn't know they were reservable, so we were SOL on using our A/C, though the temp rose to 87 that day.  No matter ... we went out exploring on Emigrant Road, pretty much by ourselves, the way we prefer it.  Out there we wandered around the historic Eureka Mine, Cashier Mill and a ghost town.  Lots of fun, lots of photos, fun remembered, photos gone.  Very enjoyable day.

Today, Monday, we decided to move on from Death Valley, and aimed for Valley of Fire St Pk near Las Vegas, arriving early afternoon -- where we joined a line of 25 cars and one RV at the entrance gate.  When we were close to the gate, we saw:  Campground Full.  Phooey.  We paid our ten bucks and drove through the park, reconnoitered at I-15, called the St George Elks Lodge, and came here.  Then I tried Zion, etc:  Full up.  Now we're beginning to see the light.  Times have changed.  If we want to continue RV'ing, we'll have to plan in advance, which goes against our grain, and reserve, like it or not.  Maybe tomorrow I'll see about more photos.

Stovepipe Wells, Sunday, 3/28/21

 

We're on an easterly track now, toward Florida, which is a very long way from here.  Looks like we won't make much headway today, driving from Alabama Hills to Stovepipe Wells -- only 86 miles!  The road stretched before us, a long yellow-striped slash in the sage that vanished into distant mountains.

Death Valley is a place we wanted to see again.  Though we've never stopped in Stovepipe Wells, we did dry camp in Furnace Creek in 2010.  This year, we hoped to snag one of the few electric sites at SW, but (after pulling into one) we discovered those sites are reservable and, in fact, had been reserved for as long ago as a year.  Phooey.  OK, we turned around and got a dry site on their 190-site "rustic campground" tarmac.  No A/C for us.  The temp peaked in the 80's, not too bad, but Tergel heats up quickly when it's parked on asphalt with no shade.  We managed, and the desert cools at night.  And it was only seven bucks with the Old Farts pass.

The two shots, above and below, were taken at Padre Crowley Point Overlook (the Desert Padre) -- a  vista point that presents a stunning view into colorfully-streaked Rainbow Canyon.  It also offers a glimpse of the valley beyond.  Wow!  The views!

Rainbow Canyon

I added this pic, to show our road snaking down the mountain,

from left to right, down-down we went.  See?

We basically had an entire day ahead of us to go exploring or hiking.  We'd passed Emigrant Canyon Road on our way to SW.  We decided to drive back to it and then see what we could find.  Some of the rock formations along the drive were so bizarre.

This one had an interesting-looking cave that we passed by, and we wanted to check into on our return ... and then couldn't find it!

Desert Dreams!  A guy named Roy Journigan acquired this site shortly after passage of the 1934 Gold Reserve Act caused the price of gold to jump from $20 to $35 an ounce.  His strategy was to operate a custom mill for local mines.  By acquiring water rights to four local springs to the southwest and piping water to the mill, he increased the mill's capacity and his profit margin.  He sold the mill in 1939 and it continued to operate under different owners till 1960.  The scattered remnants of Journigan's mill pay homage to the ingenuity needed to succeed in remote desert areas.  Some might say insanity!

Lots of remnants, some not identifiable.  Bottom left is the flooring for a house, and bottom right is li'l Smartie at the foot of the hill.

Next we drove a short distance on a dirt road to the Eureka Mine.  We had a blast exploring this place.  And we were the only folks around.  

We didn't go in far, not sure how safe it might be.  Also, we talk about keeping a flashlight in Smartie, yet can't remember to put one in the glove box.

Cashier Mill

We climbed all over this mine/mill.  And then on the other side of the hill we found more.

It was lots of fun exploring the entire area.

Aguereberry Camp, now a ghost town.  There's gold in them thar hills, and old-time prospector, Shorty Harris, and his greenhorn partner, Pete Aguereberry, discovered it in 1905.  Their discovery triggered a short-lived mining boom.  Of all the miners who toiled here, only Pete persisted, till his death in 1945.  What's left of his house still stands at the west edge of the ridge base. 

No way.  Not today!

Ah ha!  All it needs is a little work and voilà!

New wheels!

The adits came next.  They were barred, as you see, but we could look between the bars.  Lots of stuff 'n junk, all of it pertaining to mining.

We made our way back down to Smartie and continued on Emigrant Canyon Rd, spotting so many places we would've liked a closer look at, but ... time, you know?  The road is 21 miles long, and has a steep haul up to Emigrant Pass (5318'), and down to Wildrose Canyon Rd.  We turned around at that point.  A small c/g is available at Wildrose and as steep as the road is both coming and going from each direction, we saw two bicyclists with camping gear grinding up, aiming for the c/g.  Yikes!

The thing about a place like Death Valley is it covers soooo much territory, most of it unnavigable, especially for Smartie.  Sometimes I wish we had a jeep.  This place is named for death, yet it has its own wide-open beauty.  The lure of adventure and sweeping space, which we enjoyed on our explores today, can really be found here.  And if silence is the absence of noise, then heaven exists in Death Valley.  Just don't come in summer.

Tomorrow we'll continue east.

(This is the last post with the "lost photos."  In a week or so, I'll put them in order.)