Parks and Rec Trek - Ancient Pueblo Ruins

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde are spectacular, and we were lucky enough to have several days to enjoy them. While there are over 1200 ruins found, around 600 are dwellings (the others being storage facilities), and only a small handful can be visited. Most require a ranger-led tour, and we got tickets to all four of them - Long House, Balcony House, Cliff Palace, and Mug House. Cliff dwellings are primarily made up of sandstone, mortar, and wooden beams. The sandstone blocks were shaped by chipping at them with harder granite collected from river beds. Mortar was made with soil, water, and ash, and smaller stones were fitted into the gaps in the mortar to add stability to the walls.

Pithouses at Step House

On Friday, we got to the Long House lot early, so we quickly visited the Step House - the only self-guided tour. it's the smallest of the cliff dwellings, and has several reconstructed pit houses along with pueblos. It was interesting because there are two distinct occupations at the site - pithouses remain from a Modified Basketmaker site, dating to AD 626, and the remaining masonry pueblos are built on top of it from AD 1226.

Checkdam

We then visited Long House, the second largest dwelling in the park. Along the way, we saw the checkdams that the ancient Puebloans had built to help capture water and soil. Because they were practicing dry farming (where they relied solely on precipitation to water their crops), they needed to keep as much water in the soil as they could. Mesa Verde isn't a real 'mesa' - an elevated piece of land with a flat top - it's actually a cuesta - meaning it has a slight slope. This slope meant that water would reliably run down a specific direction, and the Puebloans could then build these checkdams in the right places to slow the water and allow it to seep deeper into the soil. Checkdams also allowed them to capture the rich runoff, giving them more fertile soil for their crops.

Hand and toe holds on the rock face

We also saw steep cliffs that had hand- and toe-holds carved into the rockface. You can only imagine how difficult it would be to navigate these cliffs while carrying baskets of water or heavy rocks.

Collecting water from a seep spring

Why did the ancestral Puebloans decide to move off the tops of the mesa and down into the cliff alcoves? The Mesa Verde area is a desert, and water is very scarce. Most likely the people were following the water. When the area was formed, it was under multiple iterations of inland seas. Layers of silt - sandstone - and organic matter - shale - built up over time. The sandstone soaks up rainwater, stopping only when it reaches a shale layer.  Years of continual freezing and defrosting weakens the sandstone until it finally erodes away against the shale layer, forming the alcoves. Also at these alcoves are seep springs, where water leeches out of the sandstone layer and can be collected in carved basins on the shale layer. This is the main source of water for the cliff dwellers.

Up the access ladder to Long House

The path to Petroglyph Pt

Squeezing through the path!

Immediately after our Long House tour, we drove to the Archaeological Museum to meet with Ranger Jill. She had prepared quite a bit of material for us, and spent almost 2 hours talking to us about her thoughts and experiences at Mesa Verde. Our final hike of the day was to Petroglyph Point - a really fun trail down the canyon to view petroglyphs, then back up to the rim to complete the loop. It was a great way to end the day!

Petroglyph Point

The balcony of Balcony House

The next morning, we left early (6:15AM) in order to get into the park for our Balcony House tour. Balcony House, a medium-sized dwelling, was constructed and occupied in the 13th century and named for the two small balconies that can be seen extending from two of existing rock walls. This was by far the most fun tour, with several tunnels, tight passageways, and ladders.

Tight squeeze!

Balcony House Obstacle Course

Example of chinking

How were the building in Mesa Verde made? The three main materials for all cliff dwellings were sandstone, mortar, and wooden beams. The sandstone was shaped into blocks using harder stones that had been gathered from riverbeds (far away) and brought to the sites. The mortar was a mixture of clay, water, and ash. By adding smaller stones into gaps in the mortar (called 'chinking'), walls could be made more stable. Over the walls were usually earthen plaster that could then be painted (but many of the plaster walls have since eroded away).




Immediately after the Balcony House tour, we had a Cliff Palace tour. This is the largest of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde (and in North America), with 150 room and 23 kivas for a population of around 100 people. (In contrast, most dwellings in the Park have between 1-5 rooms each, and many are single room storage units.)

Cliff Palace

We then visited the Mesa Top Drive sites to see examples of pithouses and early pueblo villages (from AD 600-900). From the drive we also had an excellent overlook at Sun Point View, which shows a dozen cliff dwellings in alcoves in two different canyons, including Cliff Palace.

How many cliff dwellings can you spot?

Sun Temple

The final stop of the day was to Sun Temple, a strange structure built with thick double walls and seemed to be unfinished. It was built in AD1250, and it is thought that it was perhaps built specifically for worship, and as a sacrifice to the gods since they were running out of natural resources and were in the midst of a prolonged drought.

On our final day, we took the Mug House tour - a backcountry hike to one of the lesser-visited cliff dwellings. It was a small group of only 10 visitors, and the trail was more scrambling over boulders and dodging rare endemic plants. Along the way, we passed by two other alcoves - one of which had a good example of a pictogram, a long zigzag that was compared to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. To me, it looked more like a mountain range... but I guess that's why I'm not an archaeologist...

Mug House

Mug House itself was named for the multiple mugs found there, and it's known for having some different architecture than some of the other cliff dwellings. Notably, there is an excellent example of a classic Mesa Verde Keyhole kiva, but there is also a kiva with 4 alcoves, and another with 8 alcoves. It's also one of the few alcoves that doesn't have an active seep spring - instead, nearby is a cistern that holds around 500 gallons.



CANYONS OF THE ANCIENTS NATIONAL MONUMENT

In the Lowry Pueblo kiva

We headed out of Colorado via Canyons of the Ancients - an unexpected detour that brought us to two pueblo ruin sites. The first was Lowry Kiva, a 40-ish room pueblo built in 1060AD. The best part was being able to go down into the large kiva, being able to see it from ground level rather than from above like every other kiva.

Figure built on the floor of the Great Kiva

The other structure on the site was the Great Kiva, a strange building with two huge stone figures built into the ground. Supposedly they represent summer and winter, though I thought they looked more like animals.





The next stop, which we did as a bit of an afterthought, was to Painted Hand Pueblo. This was an unexpected find down a bumpy dirt road, with a 13th century tower perched on a rock overlooking the canyon. Underneath was a small alcove, with several pictograph handprints painted on the back of the rock wall.

The eponymous Painted Hands

HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT
The final stop of the day was to Hovenweep, where we walked the Square Tower Loop. This cluster of ruins was the largest group of Hovenweep's groups, housing up to 500 people between 1200 - 1300CE. We walked around Little Ruin Canyon, stopping to see the many structures that were perched on the canyon rim, tucked into alcoves, or built on and around boulders.

A checkdam at the head of Little Ruin Canyon
provided water to the community

The Parks and Rec Trek- Arizona

LAS VEGAS
After driving for three days with no brake lights, we finally exchanged the car in Las Vegas. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare - we were told by the MV office that we should get it at the airport and that they would take care of it for us; they didn’t (and apparently the person helping us quit the night before); the airport only had pickup trucks, so we switched to a truck to drive to Henderson where we swapped again for a Nissan Armada. At least this new car is white instead of black!!

We also stopped at Best Buy to get a new Theta camera (mine slipped off the broken tripod and scratched a lens - it’s probably OK, but since the entire trip and project is based around getting 360 footage, I just wanted to be sure… We also picked up a new light tripod and Carrie took the broken one home to see if it could be fixed.

Hackberry General Store, Rte 66

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
After driving Carrie home, we set off into Arizona. We took a slight detour to drive Old Route 66, stopping to see the Hackberry General Store and getting lunch at Delgadillo’s Sno Cap in Seligman. Definitely had the charm and feel of old-time Rt 66!

We made it to GC in the afternoon, and it was CROWDED. At least the weather was nice - around 90°, which to us felt totally manageable. The Visitor’s Center doesn’t have too much info (but there are several different museums), so we picked up Jr Ranger books at the store and watched the film. When we went back to get our badges, the GC Association worker who checked us out gave us great tips on where to go, and after we explained our project, he told us about a little-known spot known as Shoshone Point. It was a sacred site for several Native American tribes, and still used for ceremonies, weddings, and other rituals.

We stopped first at the Yavapai Geology Museum (taking the shuttle all the way around since we got on the East instead of Westbound bus) and learned about the fascinating makeup of the canyon. We got our first glimpse of the canyon - no matter where you are along the rim, there’s going to be an amazing view, and each spot is different and unique. But each spot is also usually crowded, and for the most part you get a great panorama that spans about 180 degrees.

So it was a complete lucky surprise when we hiked out to Shoshone Point, a small promontory jutting out into the canyon. You can see the canyon at least 270° around you - maybe more. We hiked the 1.25 or so miles in, walking as fast as we could to try to catch the last bits of light - we’d just missed sunset, arriving about 15 minutes too late. But it was still light enough to truly appreciate what a great vantage we had. We stayed until after everyone else left, and had the dinner that we’d brought, before hiking out in the dark. Definitely a lucky and memorable spot!

Sunset over the Grand Canyon, from Shoshone Point

TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENT
It was a ridiculous day today - getting Jr ranger badges and going on short hikes at FIVE different sites! Granted, they are all small and in the Flagstaff area, but I’m still exhausted! The day started early by driving down to Tuzigoot, an ancient Sinagua pueblo ruin in the Verde Valley. The pueblo has 110 rooms, some 2- and 3-stories, all built of stone on a natural outcrop with a great view of the valley. It was most likely built between 1100 and 1400CE. It’s reconstructed, and it is amazing how they did so after seeing the pictures of the condition they found it in.

MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT
Near Tuzigoot is another pueblo, Montezuma Castle. This ruin is very different in feel - it’s 90 ft high on a cliff wall, built into an alcove, and most likely housed several different families much like a high-rise apartment.  Its location not only keeps it cool during hot summer months as well as protecting it from annual flooding. Access was from a series of ladders, that could be removed to keep it safe from intruders.



WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT

The "island" at Walnut Canyon

After driving back up through Flagstaff, we stopped at Walnut Canyon. This site also has cliff dwellings, but these are more horizontal than vertical, and span both sides of the canyon. The most interesting section is the Island, built on a limestone cliff on an oxbow of Walnut Creek.








The back walls and roofs of the dwellings are part of the cliff, and the view from the front is absolutely breathtaking. We walked down the 240 steps and around the Island, then back up to the visitor’s center.

SUNSET CRATER NATIONAL MONUMENT & WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT

Wupatki Ruins

North of Walnut Canyon is Sunset Crater. We stopped at the visitor’s center and talked to Ranger Case, who gave us some great information about the area and the people that lived here. Sunset Crater erupted about 1000 years ago, chasing away the people who lived here. But when it erupted, winds blew the ash to the northeast, depositing a rich layer on the ground that caused the soil to become fertile and trapped water underneath (which lasted for about 100 years). Because of this, Wupatki was settled between 1100 and 1225-ish. Essentially, Wupatki and Sunset Crater are intricately tied together; Wupatki wouldn’t exist without Sunset’s eruption.

Sunset Crater from the Lava Beds

Also… did you know: A bubble of magma that slowly rises and hardens without breaking the surface of the earth is called a pluton - it’s usually a much harder material than the earth around it, so the surrounding soil erodes away leaving these plutonic hills and mountains. On the other hand, if the magma bubble breaks the surface, magma turns to lava, and the resulting mound is a volcano. Plutons are named after PLUTO, Roman god of the underworld; Volcanoes are named after VULCAN, Roman god of fire.



PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK
We spent an entire day at Petrified Forest, a park that may be named for the petrified trees but is really remarkable because of its landscape. Half the park is known as the Painted Desert, and colorful mesas and ‘tepees’ abound. Ranger Rick, the Chief of Interpretation, has been helping me with navigating the NPS system and with connecting me to people, and he introduced me to Ian, an artist-in-residence at Petrified Forest who was working on a VR project. We just missed him by a few days, but he sent a great list of places to go for good 360 shots.

We stopped first at the Rainbow Forest Visitor’s Center, where we walked around the Giant Logs Trail to see up close a number of petrified logs. 225 million years ago, before the continent of Pangaea broke apart, the area of Petrified Forest was about 4° north of the Equator. It was a wet, tropical rainforest, covered in forests, lakes, and rivers. For millions of year, silt from those waters accumulated, setting the foundation for the layers found today. When logs from downed trees were covered by silt from periodic flooding, the process of petrification began. silica-rich water seeped into the wood, slowly replacing the organic matter with quartz. Mineral impurities in the quartz give the petrified logs their different colors. The various flood deposits also created the colorful layers in the rocks, which are now exposed due to water and wind erosion. We also saw several bright logs at the Crystal Forest trail.

The landscape at Blue Mesa and the Blue Trees Trail is absolutely otherworldly - with rich colors in the blue/purple/grey spectrum. Every time we'd walk past someone on the trail, we'd catch their eye and we'd all just shake our heads and murmur, "can you believe this?" in a reverent, disbelieving tone.

Blue Mesa Trail

Our next stop was Newspaper Rock, to see the petroglyphs. We could only see them from above, but there were some very clear figures that could be seen from the overlook. Petrified Forest is also interesting because of the beautiful landscape known as the Painted Desert. Old Route 66 ran straight through the park, and the Painted Desert Inn was built as a stopping point on the road for people to get food or spend the night. The inn is now a historic site, with a great overlook into the Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert

Our final stop was Puerco Pueblo, a prehistoric settlement on the Rio Puerco built by ancestral Puebloan people. More interestingly, there are lots of petroglyphs in the area, including one of the sun, which is illuminated by a ray of light from a crack between two rocks that aligns perfectly during the summer solstice. Did you know? There are two kinds of rock art: Petroglyphs are designs carved into rock; pictographs are painted on. 




HUBBELL TRADING POST NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
Hubbell Trading Post is an old Navajo trading site that was founded by JL Hubbell in 1878 after the Navajo people returned to the area following the Long Walk. During this stain on US History, the government forced the native people to leave their homelands and walk to exile in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. When they returned four years later, their homes were gone, their crops destroyed, and their livestock slaughtered. Hubbell helped the Navajo by supplying goods during their recovery. The trading post was run by the Hubbell family all the way through until it was sold to the NPS in 1960; it is still considered an active trading post.

CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT
Canyon de Chelly is remarkable in that is is one of the few NPS sites that has a large community of people living in it. The Navajo people still farm and ranch on the canyon floor, and aside from one trail, access into the canyon is by permission only. The park actually consists of two different canyons, that join together at the entrance of the park. Two rim drives give excellent overlooks; the South Rim looks over Canyon de Chelly, and the North Rim looks over Canyon del Muerto.

Spider Rock

We started at the Visitor's Center, where we talked to one of the Park Service police officers, Ranger William. He gave us his thoughts about the park, but really wanted us to talk to his brother, an interpretive ranger. So we set off to explore the park before coming back to meet him. We drove through the South Rim, stopping first at Tunnel View for our first glimpse into the canyon. It was surprising to see how green and lush the floor is; there are thriving farms there, because of a slowly meandering river as well as a layer of limestone (broken off from the surrounding cliffs) that trap moisture near the surface.

On our next stop, Tsegi Overlook, we decided on a picnic lunch. While there, we met a native Canyon de Chelly resident, Corey, who was just sitting under a tree, "waiting for a ride." We offered him some food and water, and eventually gave him a ride to his house. We drove to the end of the South Rim Drive, Spider Rock Overlook. According to Navajo legend, this is where Spider Woman lives and came down to teach humans how to weave. We also stopped at Face Rock Overlook and Junction Overlook before returning to the Visitor's Center to meet with Ranger Justin.

White House Ruins, from the canyon floor

Justin is also a Navajo who has lived in Canyon de Chelly his whole life. The Navajos actually asked the US Government to step in and help protect the area, which is how the Monument was created. The canyon floor is almost all closed to visitors unless you have special permission or go with a licensed guide. The only exception is the White House Ruin Trail, which goes down to an ancient Pueblo ruin on the valley floor. That night, we stayed in Chinle - forgetting it was July 4. Its a small town, and every restaurant we went to was closed... our choices ended up being Denny's or Churches Chicken. Chicken won.

White House Ruins, from the canyon rim

Mummy Cave Overlook

Devil's Backbone, leading to Ship Rock

The next morning, we left the park via the North Rim Drive, which follows Canyon del Muerto. There are only 3 overlooks - Antelope House, Mummy Cave, and Massacre Cave, but they are just as spectacular as the Southern overlooks and you get a closer look at the Pueblo ruins. We left Canyon de Chelly via Ship Rock, a monadnock that rises up in the desert of New Mexico like the prow of a ship, before heading out to Cortez, Colorado.

US National Parks and Rec Trek

Finally, the Parks and Rec Trek has begun!! It has been a crazy past three days, but we’re having an amazing experience and have gathered a ton of great info.

Packing for the trip was a huge endeavor, namely because I was super worried about the temperature inside the car. Leaving things like electronics or lotion might not be a great idea since the outside temperature in places like Death Valley can sometimes reach 120 - meaning a baking car temp of 150-170. We have an entire cooler just for electronics, and another specifically for medicines/extra sunscreens/etc. With the addition of three sleeping bags, there isn’t a ton of room in our enormous Beast of a GMC Yukon.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

We picked up Carrie, who is joining us for the first five nights, on our way out to Yosemite. Carrie is a middle school science teacher from Oakland, who I met a few years ago at a teacher conference. In exchange for crashing the trip, Carrie is going to help us with writing curriculum and coming up with lesson ideas. 

We drove straight through to Wawona, making it exactly on time for our 1:30 meeting with Ranger Alejandra. Alejandra gave us some great tips for places to go (some that we hadn’t thought of, like the top of Sentinal Dome) as well as telling us about moon bows.

Our first sightseeing stop was Mariposa Grove - the grove of giant sequoias that had been closed for 3 years for upgrades. It had opened the week before, so we were one of the first to enjoy the new trails. Did you know - a giant sequoia is considered “mature” only after is has reached 800 years of age? And in the Mariposa Grove, there are over 500 mature sequoias!!

The other interesting fact we learned was that almost the entire park used to be covered by glaciers… but not Mariposa Grove. So that’s why there are so many really old trees that still remain.

On top of Sentinel Dome

Mariposa Grove is in the Wawona area of the park, and we drove from there to Glacier Point for a nice overlook of the valley. The lighting unfortunately came out really hazy, and looking back maybe because of smoke from the nearby Lions Fire. Even so, we enjoyed the view and decided to take the time to hike up to the top of Sentinel Dome. 

It’s strange how many domes are in Yosemite - and it turns out, there are two types. One, like the one right outside Tuolumne Meadows, is formed by glaciers - usually gradually sloped on one side with a steeper dropoff on the other. This is caused when the glacier slowly shears the rock as it climbs up, then quickly falls off the back side. The other type is a exfoliation domes - like North or Half Dome. These were once covered with ice which went away, but seeped in and fractured the existing rock with then peeled away like an onion, leaving a dome. 

From the top of Sentinel, we could see all around the valley - from Vernal and Nevada Falls and Half Dome to the East, across to Yosemite Falls and El Capitan. 

We then drove down to the valley, stopping for a quick photo at Tunnel View. After checking in and having dinner, we went straight to Lower Yosemite Falls to see if we could catch the moonbow. 

You know that Sunlight + Rain (or moisture) = Rainbow…..

Moonbow at Lower Yosemite Falls

But did you know that Full (or nearly) Moon + Waterfall = MOONBOW???

You can’t see a moonbow w/ the naked eye unless you have near-perfect conditions (very bright moon, lots of water, and high winds) - which we did NOT have, but we caught it on camera with a long exposure. 

Didn’t get to sleep until around midnight, but it was overall a great day!

The next morning, woke up with the sounds of others in the tent cabins around us. We drove around the valley floor and found a picnic area at Cathedral Beach, where we had breakfast and worked on our junior ranger booklets. We drove around the valley looking for good places for 360 shots - it was difficult with a really bright sun, but we got some good views past Sentinel Bridge. Shows how wide the valley is, with fairly straight walls for sides. Usually, glacial valleys are “U” shaped and valleys formed by rivers are “V” shaped. The reason why Yosemite doesn’t have a curved bottom is because there is 1000(??) feet of sediment filling in the U, so there is a wide, flat meadow on the valley floor.

Our next stop was Tuolumne Meadows, so we drove up and out on Hwy 120. We stopped at Olmstead Point for a look down into the valley - it looks back on Half Dome, and a volunteer had set up a spotting scope to see the line of hikers climbing up the ropes. She also had pictures of the line from before the institution of the permit lottery, and it definitely seemed like the lottery made it much more manageable.

There was a short hike out to the overlook, on top of another dome, for a look back at the eastern entrance of the valley. 

From there we drove to the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, where we got our junior ranger badges and talked to Ranger Kaleb, who gave us some great info on the formation of the valley and domes.

We had lunch on the hike out to Soda Springs, where natural mineral water still seeps out of the ground. Even geologists  don’t know why these small spring are where they are. Its located by Parson’s Lodge, a meeting hall built by the Sierra Club. It’s also near the site where John Muir and his friend first discussed how to preserve and protect the area. A year later, Yosemite National Park was founded.

DEVIL’S POSTPILE NATIONAL MONUMENT

On the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas is Devil’s Postpile, a columnar basalt formation created almost 100,000 years ago. Glacial moraines had formed a dam that stopped a flow of hot lava, creating a 400-foot deep pool. When it cooled, cracks formed at the top and bottom of the pool to release built-up tension. The cracks turned into hexagons (because nature loves 120 degree angles), and traveled through the cooling lava until the columns were formed. But they were still hidden until the last ice age 20,000 years ago cam along and a glacier exposed the cliff. Along the top of the Postpile, you can see the striation marks caused by the carving glaciers.

Getting to the monument took a few tries - you have to take a shuttle from the Mammoth Ski Resort, and after getting some wrong information about where the visitor center was (there isn’t one), we barely made it onto the next bus up to the monument. We made it to the Ranger Station with about 20 minutes to spare, and got some great information from Ranger Monica. She was even nice enough to give us our Junior Ranger patches, even though we weren’t finished with our booklets, and the other ranger let us buy a pin and patch even though the store was technically closed.

On our way back on the shuttle, we chatted with a guy who was doing the Pacific Crest Trail and gave him a ride down into Mammoth Lakes. He started on the Mexico border on April 24 and still had about 5 months to go. He’d done the Appalachian Trail last year and was planning on tackling the Continental Divide next year… quite an interesting lifestyle!

MANZANAR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

After a morning of trying to fix our rental car (several calls to multiple Enterprise numbers, a visit to Firestone, a visit to Enterprise Bishop, more phone calls, and a promise of a call back) - resulting in us having a car with no brake lights for the next 3 days - we finally made it to Manzanar. We started in the visitor’s center, where we worked on our Junior Ranger badges, watched the film, and learned about individual stories.

Manzanar is a one-square mile “relocation center" that housed over 11,000 American citizens from March 21, 1942 until November 21, 1945, as a result of Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. Anyone with Japanese heritage living in Washington, Oregon, and California was required to relocate. People were divided into 36 Blocks; each block had 14 barracks divided into apartments, latrines, laundry room, ironing room, mess hall, and gardens.

Today, there are three original buildings left standing - after Manzanar closed, most of the structures were sold off by the US government. In Block 14, there are reconstructed barracks, a latrine, and mess hall where you can see the challenging lifestyle people had to endure. The rooms were stifling hot, and a constant wind blows dust and dirt through cracks and windows. In the latrine, communal toilets and showers meant absolutely no privacy; in the mess hall, food was cooked in bulk and not suited to Japanese tastes. 

We took the driving tour around the site, stopping first for lunch in some shade, then at Merritt Park to see the remnants of what was once a beautiful oasis with lawns, bridges, a pond, and flower gardens. Our final stop was at the shrine in the cemetery, where people have left hundreds of origami cranes. Some were faded to almost a colorless grey; others were vibrant and rainbow-hued. 

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

From Manzanar, we drove to Death Valley via Lone Pine. On the road in, we stopped at Father Crowley Vista, overlooking the western valley. As we were driving in, we could just see the mouth of what looked like a big hole - you couldn’t really see what the shape was or the depth, but you couldn’t see the bottom. From the vista, it became clear that it was the mouth of a huge gulley that wound down the side of the mountain, opening onto the valley floor. We stopped for a few pictures at the overlook and at the end, driving down a bumpy dirt road. Along the way there were three men sitting on camping chairs, looking like they were settled in for a day of fishing. On our way back we decided to stop and ask what they were looking for - and it turns out, they were airplane spotters - regulars who come all the time to take pictures of the jets. Some of the pilots even know them and will put messages into the cockpit that can be seen in zoomed-in photos.

I’d heard of this place (but forgotten it) - known as Star Wars Canyon, the military uses the area for low altitude maneuver training. It is always a hit or miss whether you’ll see a fighter jet - some days, there are none, but that day they had already seen 16 (the man I was talking to had been there since 5AM!!) We all doubted we’d see one, but it was so interesting talking to them - the fighter pilots call the maneuver into the canyon and out into the valley the “Jedi Transition,” and from the vantage point that we were standing, you could see almost the entire length of the route. We chatted for about 40 minutes and were just getting ready to leave, when suddenly Dave saw a speck in the horizon approaching - it was an F-18 Hornet fighter jet, coming in for a pass. 

Thanks, Bo, for the close-up pic of the F-18!

It zoomed into the canyon at around 500 mph, banking and swerving through the turns. It then went into the valley and swooped around for another pass, this time much slower (so I pulled out my cell phone and actually got some pictures!!). It then came around a third time, again even slower and higher, to the point where some of the pictures showed two helmeted figures in the cockpit. We’re sure they could see us all jumping and waving, and I’d like to think they slowed down just so we could have some good pictures. Bo (James Reeder), one of the ‘regulars’ sent us his pictures of the plane since he had huge cameras w/ telephoto zoom lenses.

That night, Dave and I tried to take a few pictures of the full moon, but failed spectacularly…

Meeting w/ Ranger Brandi

The next morning, we had a 9AM meeting with Ranger Brandi in the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center. We left at 7:30 and by the time we got to the VC it was already 104°. Brandi had good info - about the formation of the valley and why it stays so hot, as well as ideas on things to focus on (Badwater Basin and the salt flats was her “can’t miss” location, since it is unlike anywhere else in the world.)

We earned our junior ranger badges, then set out to explore the park.

First up was Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. We walked out into the salt flats and took a detour to get away from the crowds - found an area with new salt and lots of wet ground. Can easily see how the area is close to the level of the aquifer. The water was originally from Ice Age snow and rain that travelled hundreds of miles from central Nevada. The bedrock is a porous limestone, and the aquifer ends along a faultline at the base of the mountain at Badwater. Salts from old deposits combine and flow down, ending at the lowest elevation. When the water evaporates, it leaves the concentrated minerals. It’s named Badwater that because a prospector couldn’t get his mule to drink from the water, so he wrote on his map that the spring had “bad water.” 

Devil's Golf Course

Devil’s Golf Course was formed by crystallized salts, shaped by winds and rain. This area, along with Badwater, really show how many minerals are present in the area. 

Artist's Palette

Artist’s Drive/Artist’s Palette is maybe my favorite place in Death Valley. It truly is a palette of colors - pinks, oranges, yellows, and blues all on the same area of rock. The colors are formed by different minerals caused by variations in oxygen levels and elements present when volcanic eruptions 5 million years ago first deposited the ash and minerals that make up the mountain. The minerals include iron, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, as well as red hematite and green chlorite. Surprisingly, there is no copper here even though there is a greenish blue that looks just like that of a copper dome!

The Keane Wonder Mine was one of very few profitable gold mines in Death Valley, running from 1904 to 1917 and producing over a million dollars in gold. They even used some of the gold mined here to make coins to pay their employees!

Ubehebe Crater

The Ubehebe Crater is actually an explosion crater, formed when a superheated combo of steam and rock explodes to create a crater. It’s actually fairly new, at around 2,000 years old. Makes you wonder what kind of volcanic activity is going on under us right now, and whether anything else is getting ready to explode!

Golden Canyon at sunset

Since we were in the valley already anyway, we had dinner at the diner in Furnace Creek and went on an evening hike up Golden Canyon.

This is one of the most popular hikes in Death Valley; back in the day, it used to be paved and people could drive up to see the canyon; now, only some of the pavement remains. We started a little after 7pm, but is was still over 100° out. We hiked about half a mile in, having much of the hike to ourselves which made for some good 360 photos. 

On our way back, we saw both bats and a kit fox on the side of the road!

Sidewinder rattlesnake tracks

We got up early (5:45AM!) the next morning in order to pack up the car and be out as early as we could, to take advantage of the cooler weather. Our first stop was Mesquite Sand Dunes - our goal was to look for evidence of animal activity from the night before. It was before 7AM and there were a handful of cars already in the parking lot, so we wondered if we’d have to wander far to see undisturbed tracks. But not too far in, we found our number one wish - sidewinder tracks! We tracked it back a ways, where we could see where it slid headfirst down a slope and continued its way across the sand.

We also found what we think are tracks from a kangaroo rat, roadrunner, stink bug (or some other beetle), and kit fox (or other small canine). We also found the burrows of what we think are a kangaroo rat and a sidewinder (based on the number of tracks right outside.

Mosaic Canyon

After the sand dunes, we backtracked a bit to go into Mosaic Canyon, an area where a mix of several different rock types form colorful walls, shaped by major flash floods every few decades. We didn’t hike too far in (as it was nearing 100° and we weren’t wearing hiking shoes), but did go through all the fun parts at the beginning of the canyon.

We then stopped at Salt Creek (where, in the spring, you can find pupfish) - but it’s now dried up. Dozens of zebra lizards, very white to camoflage themselves on the dried creekbed, dart around or stand with their bodies far off the ground to stay of the hot hot sand. There were also giant Western horseflies - about 3/4 of an inch long, that bugged us (haha, see what I did there?) the whole time - one even bit Carrie through her shirt.

Harmony Borax Works

Near Furnace Creek is the Harmony Borax Works, built in 1882 for the borax found on the salt flats. They had to refine the borax first because of the prohibitive cost of transport, which consisted of 20-mule teams carting the borax 165 miles across the desert to the nearest train station.

Our next stop was Zabriskie Point, where we could see the colorful badlands down into the valley. The clay, sandstone, and siltstone buildup from a long-ago lake used to be flat, but seismic activity and pressure folded up the valley floor, and periodic rainstorms caused gullies in the eroded soft rocks. 

The view from Zabriskie Point

Badwater Basin from Dante's View

20 miles up from Zabriskie is Dante’s View, overlooking Badwater Basin and the rest of the valley. It was named purely as a PR move for tourism, but it is definitely a great panoramic overview of the entire Panamint Range. 

We’re now in Henderson/Las Vegas, and will be dropping off Carrie tomorrow before heading out into Arizona!