Nearly a Personal Record

[GowerGulch42]

It's been a difficult year. That's not strange by itself, and seems to be the rule rather than the exception, but I've been sort of able to fall back on an old source of solace in Death Valley. In the past 12 months, I've had five trips. I did that once before, back in 2013-14, when I lived a mere 4 hours away. I live in Portland, OR, mind you, so that's not terribly easy to do! Of those trips, two were for fun and three were for "work". I led two geology field trips, one for the Geological Society of America annual conference out of Anaheim (September) and one for a science enthusiasts' group which began and ended in Vegas (October). For those two trips, I visited in August, my first time in the height of summer. Lastly, I visited this last week to introduce my wife to DV. To my great relief, she loved it and can't wait to go back! Here are some highlights:


February

• Lake Manly
  
• Extraordinary high wind
  
• Geology exploring around Towne Pass
  
• First time to the top of the Mesquite Flat dunes
  
• Saw the "new" Ash Meadows visitor center, since I hadn't been there since 2010!
  
• Had strep throat the whole time
  

August

• Low altitude looking for geological (earthquake-related) features
  
• "Dead-Bird Canyon"
  
• Flew to LV and rented a sedan
  

September

• First time I got to visit with other geologists! I learned a lot from them, though not as much as they learned from visiting!
  
• Returned to the Trona Pinnacles, first time in probably 15 years?
  

October

• Arrived in DV a day early for some time to myself
  
• Spent an extra day in central NV for some interesting things
  
• Two rock art sites
  
• First time sleeping at Mesquite Spring
  
• Explored around Emigrant Springs
  
• Wandered around Devils Cornfield
  
• First DV bighorn sheep sighting, seen from Beatty Cutoff about a mile above the turnoff for Keane Wonder Mine
  

February

• Hunted for (and found) some of the salt pools on the Golfcourse
  
• Visited Natural Bridge for the first time in 15-20(?) years. I forgot how impressive it really is.
  
• Sunset Titus Canyon hike
  
• New moon, truly exceptional night sky
  
• Flew to LV and rented sedan
  

I took a lot of pictures. I'm working on actually getting good as a landscape photographer, so I'll post them as I'm ready. There's also a lot of big panoramas. I have more words and thoughts to share, but I'll get to that… eventually. It turns out that flying to LV, renting a car, and staying at SPW or Beatty does not cost too much more than driving, especially with my '01 Cherokee, so I'm probably going to do that more in the future.

[MojaveGeek]

I hope that whatever has been stressing you in your normal life passes.

When I got divorced, I did not really start to heal until I did a solo trip to DV, and realized that I could still be whole and centered and do what I loved all on my own.

But then a handful of years later I had met my current wife, Kathy, and as we were getting closer and closer I took her on a trip to DV, wondering if it would be a deal breaker if she did not like it.

Now you take your wife to DV *after* you got married. 1) You've been going there so many years, this might be a relatively new marriage for you? and 2) what would have happened if she didn't like it? !!!

On that first trip with Kathy, as we were driving north from FC on 190 on arrival I remarked that there were a lot of desert gold, in that area where we tend to find them. She thought i was being sarcastic. Over time she realized that if you see more than one or two, that was a lot Fortunately we were both there, along with our then 5 year old son, when the entire landscape there was yellow.

Yes the desert can cure what ails you, if you're the right kind of person.

[DAW89446]

When I got married in April, 1976, my bride and I honeymooned for three days in Death Valley National Monument in my parents 1971 VW Westfalia camper van. I don’t remember many details. The main thing I recall is becoming sick in the middle of the night in our camp below the Lippincott mill at Bonnie Claire. With a terrible stomach ache, we drove over to Big Pine. By then I felt like I was going to explode. I remember being on the toilet at the Triangle Park for more than an hour. We spent the last couple nights around the southern Owens Valley exploring the remains of the narrow guage railroad.

[GowerGulch42]

But then a handful of years later I had met my current wife, Kathy, and as we were getting closer and closer I took her on a trip to DV, wondering if it would be a deal breaker if she did not like it.

Now you take your wife to DV *after* you got married. 1) You've been going there so many years, this might be a relatively new marriage for you? and 2) what would have happened if she didn't like it? !!!

She's never been a super outdoorsy person. She has trouble sometimes with sun and heat so I was happy to continue doing what I'd already been doing, going out and about with other people. In the last year or so, she's gotten motivated to do and try more things and push her own boundaries in part because I've been down there so much! It wouldn't have been a deal breaker, but it would have made me sad. I'm lucky to have other people to go with! We've been married a little over two years now.

DAW, I've had a similar experience - luckily, we were camped at Lemoigne so it was a short jaunt to Stovepipe to use their comfort station!