THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Pahrump Nevada to Death Valley, California

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This drive was done on March 11, 2013.

In February of 1933, Death Valley was made a National Monument by President Herbert Hoover. In 1994, the area was re-designated as a National Park.  It covers an area of about 3,000 square miles.  According to the National Parks Service web site, "Death Valley is about 140 miles long, from the head of Last Chance Canyon in the north to where the Amargosa River makes its big bend near Saratoga Springs in the south."  We had 3 days and nights to see what we could, that is a LOT of territory to cover.  No, we did not see it all, but we sure gave it the ole college try!

On March 8, there had been rain in the Valley and in Pahrump and in points east and west.  Quite a bit of rain too. On Sunday March 10th I checked the National Park Death Valley web site and found that a number of the roads were closed due to flooding and debris on the roadways.  The main road through the park, 190, was not closed. We had reservations that could not be changed nor extended so we were going to the park, rain or no rain, and would see what we could and just deal with it.  We were also going into "no cell phone or internet" territory.  Below, my iPad GPS program, showing that I have NO connection whatsoever, and we were not even IN the park yet!

The light is harsh, bright, blinding in this area.  It is hard to get photos that are not washed out.  I have edited some of these photos, some cropping, some darkening, some contrast.  They are still lacking color, but, then, again, there is not a lot of color here, beige, whites, tans, now and then some dark almost black, but, for the most part, very little color.  And, very little vegetation.

We started out our drive from Pahrump to Death Valley at an elevation of about 2700 feet above sea level.  Before the day was over we climbed to about 2958 feet and drove some more till we were about 230 feet below sea level.  We will drive about 90 miles from Pahrump to Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley.  Stovepipe Wells (basically at sea level) is located somewhat in the middle of the park, and will give us good access to the areas of the park we are interested in visiting.

As always, in this part of the USA, we find a variety of interesting land forms, like this HUGE mesa.

No trees, sparse vegetation, slabs of rock at strange angles, and a long, long road.

Well, what have we here?  Yes, indeedy, some wild flowers blooming at the side of the road, yellow and wonderful!  No place to pull over to take a photo, so this 55 MPH one will have to do.

Look at the striking white and almost black in these land forms.

There seems to be a tiny bit of red up there in those hills.  And, look at the subtle designs, almost like sand art we do with our children at the local fairs.

The road goes down further and further in elevation, as the land forms continue to amaze, here on the left almost black round rocks, on the right, a much smoother surface on the hills.

Maybe a wee bit of red in there, in the background.  Mid photo, look at the lighter forms, looking like sand dunes, and in front of the "sand dunes" rocks protruding out of the top of darker sections.  My head was spinning in delight.

The "white" hills in the front are not soft sand.  If you investigate (as in touch) you will discover they are rock hard, they just look "soft".  As always, the contrasts are the story!

Cleaning up the road after the rain fall from March 8th.

Sea level!!  Death Valley floor and beyond, mountains covered in snow!  One of those peaks goes to about 11,000 feet!

The sign says, Flooded.

I suppose it was on March 8th during the storm, but, by Monday about noon, this was all that was left. That said, this was about the only place we would see water standing/running on the roadways during our visit.  The park had many roads closed/blocked when we arrived, but they did not stay closed long.  The park service does a wonderful job at getting the roads cleared of debris and sand and washouts.

Miles and miles of desolate roadway.  Note, there is almost no vegetation here.  Just beige and road and heat and flat and sand and - - - can you imagine traversing this on horseback, in 100 degree heat?  I cannot!

Tana, Jolly, our campsite at Stovepipe Wells.  There are only 12 full hookup sites here, we were so lucky to have snagged one.  The temperature would reach over 90 degrees before we left Death Valley (in mid-March)!  Yes, I do so love my air conditioning!

I will continue to bring you posts from all the sights of Death Valley.  Yes, I took hundreds of photos, ok, I took well over 1,200 photos in 3 days.  I actually stopped counting!  So, come on back and I'll share more of Death Valley with you.  No, NOT all 1,200 photos!  Just a few - -




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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Near Las Vegas Nevada

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

We visited March 6, 2013.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area has hiking, a nice visitors center and a 13 mile one-way scenic drive.  We had the fur kids with us, so there would be no hiking.  We managed one or two very short walks from the truck that were no more than 5 or 10 minutes.  After our stop at Bonney Springs where we shared a great burger, we continued our driving in the north(ish) direction to the conservation area.  And, there is the red rock, be still my beiged out, red deprived soul!

There are a few people that enjoyed the hiking trails. Most trails were significant in distance and looked a bit "hilly".  And, isn't this stunning, the way the "grooves" are so deep in the rock and go in different directions?  Just like an artist brush painted them there.

And, there are massive land forms, just in "white".

This one takes my breath away!

And, how bout this?  A little designer rock??  I mean, really, the forces to form these beautiful structures, mind boggling!

This area must have a few tortoises, sadly, we did not see one in the wild.

From the highest point we stopped at, it was so windy you could barely stand. But, wow, what a view.  We had a picnic lunch with us, so we sat in Jolly and ate here, listening to the howling whistling wind.

Not all land forms here are red.

Yes, that thin strip is roadway, kinda shows you how vast this area is and how tall those "hills" are.

After a delightful day we made our way back to camp at Pahrump and were treated to a sorta "reddish" sunset.  I felt someone revived, all that color from the day, feeding my color deprived soul. Yep, red is great!

This beautiful area of Nevada should not be missed if you are near Las Vegas.  Step away from the tables, get a vehicle, go for a ride.  If you do Vegas in the summer, might be wise to check the temps first!  The desert can be brutal.  So, go in the fall, winter or spring!  On the east side of Vegas you might also be interested in the Valley of Fire.  We did not visit this trip as we had been many years ago.  Maybe next time through, as that is another do not miss.



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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Red Rock Canyon Nevada, Just Getting There, AHHH

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The official name of this area is Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, it is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

One day during our week at Pahrump Nevada the winds were blowing.  The slide toppers were flapping, the noise was annoying.  So, we decided to take a day trip/ride back towards Las Vegas and take in Red Rock Canyon.  It was on the "hit", err, bucket list, and we decided we would rather be IN the wind than listening to it.  Have to say, for the most part, the wind was not an issue, even tho the sign indicated it could be.

The ride over gave me the opportunity to view some of the beautiful land forms from another angle, going east, vs the westerly view I had arriving at Pahrump. The land forms did not disappoint:

This one was very high up, that "divot" was interesting.  Divot?? More like a cave, eh??

Way off in the distance, yes, that is Las Vegas.  Glimering in the sun, wonder who won that day??  Or who lost??  Or is that a figment of our imagination??  It is rather misty, isn't it??

Back to nature's wonders, I could look at this all day long!

Entering the Red Rock Canyon National Preserve area:

Before we went on the 13 mile scenic drive we stopped at Bonney Springs, another ghost town.  Ghost towns are abundant out here, and so far, we have not tired of them.  We stopped for a few minutes, decided to split a burger (nomma nomma good), have a quick walk around and stretch our legs.  And, here is how I keep track of all of you while we are out and about.  (Geesh, Man, you could have tried to get me looking just a LITTLE bit more serious, don't you think??)

OK, the photographer in me is a sap for the touristy staged western theme:

Bonney Springs is where I captured the Turtle Tripod and the interesting signage for the, mmm, rest rooms:

After our short stop in Bonney Springs, there are those gorgeous mountains again.  I lost count of how many photos of these I actually took of these beautiful striped land forms, each mile we drove gave a different vantage point, the views always changing.

Next, I'll show you some of the canyon, lots of RED, I joked later, that my lungs were probably all red from the deep breathing of awe and delight!




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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Pahrump Valley Museum, Pahrump Nevada

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

We enjoy visiting the local museums while we travel, these small towns have great museums.  Kudos to the local residents for preserving your heritage and history.  We find they are passionate about their towns and their collections.

This museum (according to the information from one of the staff) was gifted with a collection of sculptures, this is just one, of many, something a bit different.

I took no photos inside the museum.  They do have one of the most impressive collections of Lincoln (as in President Abe Lincoln) memorabilia I believe I have ever seen. They also have a very impressive display, including videos and photos and more about the Nevada Test Site, aka Nevada National Security Site.  There is no way I understood most of the display, but, it was a recent addition to the museum and was well displayed, roomy, techy.

The museum has a very nice collection of buildings, old ones, taken from locations around Nye County, dismantled in some instances log by log and rebuilt at the museum site.

One of the buildings is the Raycroft Railroad Tie Cottage, built in 1947 as a vacation cottage for Ida and Jim Raycraft.  It was built from railroad ties from the Tonopah & Tidewater Rail Road (note: they don't need to use creosote on the ties in this dry climate, they just do not rot away.)  Here is a room from the Raycroft cottage:

Lots of mining was done in this area, the museum has buildings and equipment that were rescued from old mines.  Here is Man gaining entrance to a "Miner's Cabin".  The information we were provided with during our walk around of the grounds tells us that these structures (shacks as they called them in the literature) built for housing were easy to dismantle if they wished to move it on to another mine or cheap enough to just abandon.

Inside, cook stove and some kitchen necessities:

And, in the other corner, a bed (I hear all the ewwwwwwwwwwwww's, I said them too, shudder, shudder).   

Little Red Schoolhouse, in use as late as 1945, it is from Clay Camp, Amargosa.

Inside the one room school house, and yes, in that back left corner, there is a dunce hat and chair.

Some more of the unusual but, oh, so interesting, buildings would be the grain silos, two of them in fact.  They were built before 1957 at the Pahrump Ranch, and are built of redwood.

We gained some appreciation and understanding of the area by visiting the Pahrump Valley Museum.

By the way if you are on FB (the blue social media site) type in the name Pahrump Valley Museum in the search engine at FB.  They have a page and some neat history about  the Little Red School House, arriving at the museum in 2006 and the rehab of it.  They also list upcoming programs and speakers and such.

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