Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

On to a pictograph shelter somewhere out there.  

A few petroglyphs are the first sign of anything out here.






I liked this one deep in a crack.



I got a little nervous as I approached the shelter.  There were medium-sized bones and scat around the entrance to the cave.  So I did some yelling on the approach and nothing killed me.  But it was eerie none the less.










Interestingly, one outcrop further down from this one the ground was absolutely carpeted with lithic scatter.  It sounded like walking on one of those beaches covered in tiny shells.  


Some even had the side notches cut in for securing to the arrow shaft.


Gorgeous day and gorgeous area.


I spent several hours exploring the area.  I found a few more shelters that had signs of habitation (lithic scatter, smoke residue) but no more artwork.

[Beardilocks]

Next up I took a hike out in the middle of Racetrack Valley.  I try to make a habit of this in places like this.  Places where tons of people drive through an NO one gets out.  Lest the valle de la muerte reap them as soon as they get more than 20ft from their car.  

Plus, I thought the geology was similar enough to another canyon not too too far away that had a lot of signs of ancient visitation.

It certainly looked cool.  A side-by-side double fall chock full of potholes.  And it looked like multiple slot canyons in the hanging valley above if I could get there.






To get up the first section I simply walked up the face of the rock next to the falls.  It was about 60deg in places but of that particularly grippy "elephant skin" dolomite.  After a quick (but exhausting) climb of 300 vertical feet in about 300 horizontal feet I hit a large grotto and set of much taller dryfalls that would have to be bypassed in a different manner.  


You ever have one of those days where everything is clicking and you have complete confidence in your body and in your split-second decision making skills., where climbing just feels right?  In the groove so to speak?  Yeah, this was not one of those days for me.  At all.  So I bailed on trying to get to the next level.  Maybe another time when I have back-up.

This is the northern of the twin dryfalls, looking into it from the ridge btw them.  Partway down the slope (or cliff) on the left in the photo you can see a dark spot.  That was a rather large looking cave/alcove I would have liked to explore.  But there was no easy way there coming from the south twin fall.  


Looking South.


I'm fairly certain that I might be able to get up to the next level by picking a route (via trail & error) through that craggy junk in the middle of the above photo.  It would be time consuming (and you would need sturdy gloves) but I think it's at least plausible.  

When I left, I saved my butt and my hands the shredding they would have gotten crab-walking down the dolomite I came up and instead carefully made my way down the gravel slope you can see there.  I used poles and managed to stay on my feet, although it was touch and go a couple of times.

[Daymoth]

Dude.

That metate.

No way!

Mind. Blown.

And those pictographs????? They are beyond beautiful.

Ah man we just got back home and all I can think of is exchanging the RAV for a Tacoma, telling my boss to shove it, and hoping us and the cats would actually enjoy the van life.

[Beardilocks]

Having read all the archeological reports on the caves in & around the area, I was keeping my eye out for any that those surveys may have missed.  And I found one on one of my walks.  Situated outside the purview of those studies but still in the region, I found this very cozy little (actually quite big by the standards out here) cave.  I'm not sure this one has been visited in historic times.  For one, it's pretty remote.  For another I saw zero signs of historic ... anything in the area.  No mines, trails, prospects, anything at all. These sorts of sites usually have some signs of more recent habitation, prospectors and all other types would happily use a shelter like this.  But everything seemed just as it was left when it's inhabitants moved on at the end of the season.

The interior of the cave measured approximately 15ft long, 10ft deep, and 9ft tall in the middle.  There was a fair amount of lithic scatter in the dirt outside the cave.  



It didn't look like much from the outside, but the floor was dug out quite a ways to give protection from the elements and more space inside.


Even has a nice window.



There was a stone circle in the back corner that was mostly buried.  Since any excavation is illegal on park land, I can only guess that it was maybe a storage pit, as the ceiling wasn't blackened above it.


Leaned up against the wall next to it, looking for all intents & purposes like a cutting board you would leave leaned against the wall on the countertop for use when preparing your next meal, was a pair of metates.  
(I'm also very curious as to why the rocks protruding from the wall here are worn clean.  None of the rest of the cave showed that kind of wear.)


One that would seem to be for cracking open tougher things.


And the other with a more concave grinding surface.  I could not tell if the red lines were part of the rock or drawn on.






I plan on reporting this to the park archeology team.  They are not very responsive.  Like at all.  But it at least needs to be reported.

[Beardilocks]

Dude.

That metate.

No way!

Mind. Blown.

And those pictographs????? They are beyond beautiful.

Ah man we just got back home and all I can think of is exchanging the RAV for a Tacoma, telling my boss to shove it,  and hoping us and the cats would actually enjoy the van life.

This was a more eventful trip than some out here.  70% research while riding out the pandemic & building my truck and 30% feeling the landscape as you're in it.  

Dirtbag life is a very mixed bag.  It gets pretty bloody lonely.  And very stinky.  But we only have a few trips around that fireball that... I assume is still up there beyond yet another rainstorm here today...  And I don't want to use up too many of them as a slave to make huge profits for someone else.  

4WD/HC is essential but there's loads you can see in something smaller.  Just ask the larger midwestern couple that flew by me at about 55mph on Racetrack Rd in a Subaru with highway tires.  Lol.  They must have prayed hard to the God of steel belted radials to make it at those speeds without having to get the donut spare out.  Hahaha.

[Kauri]

Next up I took a hike out in the middle of Racetrack Valley.  I try to make a habit of this in places like this.  Places where tons of people drive through an NO one gets out.  Lest the valle de la muerte reap them as soon as they get more than 20ft from their car.  

Plus, I thought the geology was similar enough to another canyon not too too far away that had a lot of signs of ancient visitation.

It certainly looked cool.  A side-by-side double fall chock full of potholes.  And it looked like multiple slot canyons in the hanging valley above if I could get there.

Nice!! I've been eyeing those canyons for a while, wondering the same thing. Glad you at least got a start on checking them out!

[Kauri]

Ah man we just got back home and all I can think of is exchanging the RAV for a Tacoma, telling my boss to shove it,  and hoping us and the cats would actually enjoy the van life.

4WD/HC is essential but there's loads you can see in something smaller.  Just ask the larger midwestern couple that flew by me at about 55mph on Racetrack Rd in a Subaru with highway tires.  Lol.  They must have prayed hard to the God of steel belted radials to make it at those speeds without having to get the donut spare out.  Hahaha.

And probably the God of shock absorbers as well. I've heard too many stories of people blowing out shocks on a sedan or crossover on the Racetrack road going too fast (maybe they think it's a rally track and not a backcountry road?) 

Daymoth, if you aren't already aware of this, there are lots of aftermarket accessories for modifying a RAV4 for better capability off-road. I have an older model RAV4 as a daily driver (and it goes on some trips with *less* off-road driving as well since it has better gas mileage) and I have upgraded shocks as well as installed a heavy-duty skid plate. And I've heard there are more options for the newer RAV4's. Dobinsons and/or Eibach for lift springs, Northwoods Performance for skid plates (they also have lift kits but let's just say I have some concerns about the longevity of their kits), Bilstein shocks, and I think Megan Racing or somewhere has some stronger control arms as well. Probably more I'm not even aware of. The RAV4World forums is a great resource for such things. Plus a roof-top tent and/or rear cargo area cooking and storage setup and/or sleeping platform is not at all unrealistic in a RAV4, I've heard of quite a few folks who do full-time traveling in a RAV4.

[Beardilocks]

Just when I thought my biggest adventures were behind me...

I have been wanting to hike the Virginia Dry Lakes off of Racetrack Rd... well, since I got my Nat Geo DV map 6-7yrs ago.  For one reason or another it's just never happened.  I was tired from many days in a row of hiking but decided to make a go of it anyway.  The hike is only a few miles one way up to the lakes but gains almost 1000ft from Racetrack Rd in that short distance.

My apologies for the lack of photos to go with this story, but it all unfolded very quickly.  I have a couple of crappy videos that I will try to upload.  

About halfway up the wash I was scrambling up to get to the first dry lake I spooked an owl out of the wash.  It landed in the rocks on the side of the wash.  Odd, I thought.  I've seen owls in the daytime in Death Valley but it's certainly not super common.


It was a light tan Great Horned Owl, fairly large.  I'd estimate it was btw 18-24" tall.  After staring at each other for a few moments it flew off.

I continued walking/scrambling up the wash and after a minute I could see another bird of prey in the sky up ahead.  It turned and did a pass lower over me, obviously checking me out.  It as a huge Golden Eagle.  "Wow", I thought, "There must be a fresh kill up ahead in the wash to have two birds of prey in the area.  Very strange."  And then I thought "man, I hope it's not a mountain lion kill with the lion still in the area."

As I scrambled up over the next pile off rocks in the wash I heard a commotion.  There, in the middle of the wash, was a SECOND Golden Eagle with a SECOND Great Horned Owl pinned to the ground.  I was frozen in shock.  Both species mate for life.  Both mates not involved in the fracas were watching on, the lighter of the two owls on some rocks a bit away and the other eagle circling above.  The eagle noticed me and flipped the owl up and body slammed it behind some rocks. I quickly got my phone out and started a video.  Which is of course terrible.  I have MUCH more respect for the crappy videos of Big Foot where you're cursing the redneck that can't hold the camera still on the blurry something in the distance.  My eyes caught everything so much better.  

I had no intention of getting involved.  Nature is being nature.  My name is Paul and this is between y'all.  I took one step to maybe get a better a view and the eagle flipped out from behind the rocks and body slammed the owl again before deciding that this human was maybe dangerous and flying straight at me and off down the mountain.  Bloody hell.  

I still had to continue up the damn wash at this point.  I could see... well now I could see nothing.  The mates that weren't in the fight had also flown off out of sight and the owl on the ground had... where the hell was it?  Jesus these things are perfectly camouflaged out here.  So I continued up the wash until I was past the owl on the ground (finally seeing its but not stopping to scare it) and took a short video of it trying to look big and tough so I wouldn't attack it.  Then I continued on my way.  I will say that it smelled... very strongly and odd near the fight scene.  I'm not sure which bird secreted what, but it was a very interesting smell that I have never experienced before.

That kind of tinted the rest of my hike a bit, which I will get on with shortly.  

About 45min later I summited a ridgeline to get a better view of the lakes and I could see at least one of the eagles flying low over the wash back in that direction.  I figured they had finished off the owl and were snacking on it.

About 2hrs later I was headed back out and was a bit concerned about what kind of carnage I would find in my path.  Or worse, that the eagles weren't done with dinner and might be displeased about seeing me a second time.  As I got closer to the spot I saw 3-4 what I call "snack birds" (those tiny 3" tall tiny birds of various species) flitting around the canyon and thought that if they were there, the eagles were gone.  So I relaxed.  I relaxed just in time to take about 4 more steps and then get the ever loving crap scared out of me by the owl.  Damned thing was hiding under a boulder nearby praying to its owl god that the eagles would think it was gone.  It flew away down the canyon looking completely normal, both wings working anyway.  I surveyed the area and couldn't find any traces of blood.  

No clue what the fight was about.  I know that Horned Owls will kill smaller raptors for food.  But these eagles were easily twice the size of the owls.  Predation the other way?  Or a territorial dispute?  I don't speak Bird so I couldn't ask.  

Anyway, here's my crappy videos.  




So....
Continuing up to the Dry Lakes with that all fresh in my mind.

It's a very idyllic spot and I can only imagine what these hanging valleys looked like when they had water in them.  In order for the water to spill down the deep wash that I climbed up, the lake would need to be about 20ft deep.  A very beautiful, quiet, area that feels completely cut off from the world.  And I was curious if any ancient peoples had thought so as well.  











On one end of the lake, at the mouth of a straight that connects it with the smaller dry lake, I found several pieces of lithic scatter.  They looked unusually old and weathered for DV.  One had a bit of that green sort of algae or mineralization that you see in fractured quartz in the area.  Which made me think that they may have flowed over to the straight back when this was actually a lake.  So I headed to the high end of the lake, and the large rock outcropping there.  BINGO.  As I got within 100ft of it I started to see lithic scatter in the lakebed, most of it partially buried.  The LS was mostly an opaque white stone I see frequently and obsidian.  And, whoa, lots of obsidian.  Dang.  


These 3 bits were all sitting like that.  Each was about 3/4".  Virtually all of the volcanic glass scatter that I've found in the park is pretty small flakes because its as all DV 3-4 in age (something like 0CE to historic times) and were used for hunting small game like birds and rabbits.  ie: Tiny arrowheads so you have tiny flakes.  

These were more larger chips in the area, NOT the kind of flakes you throw away when making small game points.  Not when it's a resource that's rare in the park and was often traded for at great distance.  (There is one small VG quarry in the park and I'm still waiting for the freaking weather to dry out enough for me to check it out.)  These kinds of scrap or cast off only make sense to me if you're making larger spear points. 

Either way, I could trace all the obsidian back to the exact spot where someone once sat, possibly on the beach at the edge of an ancient lake, and worked the glass into tools that would help feed their people.  

Interestingly, around the corner of the rock outcrop from this spot, was another spot where someone worked the white stone (along with more colorful varieties) into points.  Completely different spot with all the other material scrap leading to it.  I just thought that was kind of fascinating.

[Beardilocks]

Ah man we just got back home and all I can think of is exchanging the RAV for a Tacoma, telling my boss to shove it,  and hoping us and the cats would actually enjoy the van life.

And probably the God of shock absorbers as well. I've heard too many stories of people blowing out shocks on a sedan or crossover on the Racetrack road going too fast (maybe they think it's a rally track and not a backcountry road?) 

Daymoth, if you aren't already aware of this, there are lots of aftermarket accessories for modifying a RAV4 for better capability off-road. I have an older model RAV4 as a daily driver (and it goes on some trips with *less* off-road driving as well since it has better gas mileage) and I have upgraded shocks as well as installed a heavy-duty skid plate. And I've heard there are more options for the newer RAV4's. Dobinsons and/or Eibach for lift springs, Northwoods Performance for skid plates (they also have lift kits but let's just say I have some concerns about the longevity of their kits), Bilstein shocks, and I think Megan Racing or somewhere has some stronger control arms as well. Probably more I'm not even aware of. The RAV4World forums is a great resource for such things. Plus a roof-top tent and/or rear cargo area cooking and storage setup and/or sleeping platform is not at all unrealistic in a RAV4, I've heard of quite a few folks who do full-time traveling in a RAV4.

Hell, I met someone not that long ago in a pop-top Honda Element!  Crazy that someone makes a kit for that...

[Daymoth]

Ah man we just got back home and all I can think of is exchanging the RAV for a Tacoma, telling my boss to shove it,  and hoping us and the cats would actually enjoy the van life.

4WD/HC is essential but there's loads you can see in something smaller.  Just ask the larger midwestern couple that flew by me at about 55mph on Racetrack Rd in a Subaru with highway tires.  Lol.  They must have prayed hard to the God of steel belted radials to make it at those speeds without having to get the donut spare out.  Hahaha.

And probably the God of shock absorbers as well. I've heard too many stories of people blowing out shocks on a sedan or crossover on the Racetrack road going too fast (maybe they think it's a rally track and not a backcountry road?) 

Daymoth, if you aren't already aware of this, there are lots of aftermarket accessories for modifying a RAV4 for better capability off-road. I have an older model RAV4 as a daily driver (and it goes on some trips with *less* off-road driving as well since it has better gas mileage) and I have upgraded shocks as well as installed a heavy-duty skid plate. And I've heard there are more options for the newer RAV4's. Dobinsons and/or Eibach for lift springs, Northwoods Performance for skid plates (they also have lift kits but let's just say I have some concerns about the longevity of their kits), Bilstein shocks, and I think Megan Racing or somewhere has some stronger control arms as well. Probably more I'm not even aware of. The RAV4World forums is a great resource for such things. Plus a roof-top tent and/or rear cargo area cooking and storage setup and/or sleeping platform is not at all unrealistic in a RAV4, I've heard of quite a few folks who do full-time traveling in a RAV4.

I have 0 knowledge about cars. Nevermind hybrid black magic. I do want to get some beefier tires sooner rather than later.  Maybe a beefier suspension sometime. Ill start looking at that forum see if I can learn some. And probably end up emailing you for advice.  

But so far the RAV has opened a lot of dirt road options we didnt use to have and is way more confortable to sleep in it than our nissan versa. 

Although with our old beat up nissan we were way more wreckless lol, the RAV is my most expensive property - and the bank owns most of it- so I baby it more. 

My husband however is like the Subaru couple. He will pass the broncos and 4runners on gravel roads complaining about how slow they are while I yell about my suspension and tires....

The biggest thing would be that:
I want to work much less. For the same pay. HA.
And I want my cats to like being in a car. HAHAHA. NO CHANCE.