Death Valley 2022/23

[Beardilocks]

Well it's been an interesting week since my last posts.  Hunkered down in the main Valley without much for cell reception, trying to knock off a few targets before the heat descends.  Forecast is for something close to 100 coming up on Mon/Tues but then yet another cold front comes in to knock temps back into the upper 70s.  Crazy year to be in DV long term.  

But it has't all been unicorn farts and rainbows.  I got caught in a pretty nasty dust storm last Monday.  The morning started out as snow on the BLM outside of Beatty and then turned to this when I got up onto Trail Canyon to camp:





As the sun set it started to clear a bit.


The next morning we headed out to what I think is officially called Dinosaur Butte at the south end of Blackwater Wash.  We decided a day later from a high ridge near Golden Canyon that it looks nothing like a dinosaur or a butte, but more like a cooked duck.  So I re-christened it Peking Duck Hill.  

Brice needed to check the hill/butte off his peak bagger list and I was looking for what was listed in the archeological record as a DVI/II obsidian quarry.  

It was to be a bit of a long hike (~14mi round trip) but luckily the day was beautifully clear after the previous days dust and a lovely 65F.


First up was crossing the wettest spot on the salt pan, revisiting the old FC Ranch dump and the old Corduroy Bridge. 








It was hard day on my feet.  Between the sand on the FC side, the rough terrain across the salt pan (mini-devil's golf course), and then the cross-wash hike up the fan on the other side, my dogs were definitely barking at the end of the day.

The first thing we came across at the end of the butte was a rock circle.  Hard to say if it was a dead fall trap or served some there purpose. 


A very beautiful area in general and one that sees probably zero visitors on any given year.  


We spent quite a while searching the area the quarry was supposed to be.  We never found ANY good obsidian.  There was a fair amount of poor quality obsidian that was full of inclusions and impurities, but nothing you could make a point out of.  Which would explain why it was abandoned so long ago: they took all they could get.  

I did find a fair amount of light & dark rock that had been preliminarily worked, most likely just knocking off the ugly parts before being transported somewhere closer to a water source to be worked into points.  

Some in very interesting colors. 


And a lot of this nearly white rock.


Large pieces that have tool marks.


Afterwords I hiked around to a different area to get a better view.


Beautiful travertine like formation.


On the way back across the salt pan, we found this oddity.  This was btw the bridge and the east side of the salt pan.  Any one have any bloody idea what it is?




Numbers on the top and the east side.


It was nice to re-discover this, I'm guessing late teens/early 20's car in the mesquite that I remembered from my previous adventure hiking Aguereberry to Furnace.


It's always fun to take an adventure across the salt pan.  It's a DV experience that I think no one should miss.  A whole new perspective on everything you know and love in the valley.