Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

So with it getting hot in Death Valley I decided to look for cooler temps at a higher altitude and headed for the Racetrack area.  I had a number of things that I wanted to check out and would team up with Brice for a couple of hikes since he would be in that area as well.  

First up I did some exploring out on the Racetrack proper.  There are loads of new tracks on the playa after the wet and cold winter.  When I was out there last month the playa was too wet to walk on.  Unfortunately, not everyone felt that way and a couple of morons walked out and all around the first set of sailing stones and completely ruined the whole area for everyone else.  A$$hats.

A bit further out on the playa there were a TON of tracks but no rocks.  After some deliberation I think this is due to the playa being absolutely saturated this winter and being a bit more delicate than usual.  Then the ice came in and the surface was very easy to mark up with just ice chunks alone.  That's my theory anyway.  





You can see how deeply some of the rocks sank into the delicate surface as well.


This track appears to have been made by a couple of sticks (and I'm sure ice chunks).


This one is just odd.


I walked over to the east shore and up towards the Sally Ann mine, but decided agains the 250ft climb it looked like I needed to make to get to what's left of it.  Great views though.  And I found what I think is yet another deadfall trap.




Obligatory classic Racetrack shot.