Gator Alley

Old Dog has been sniffing around in Death Valley again. I sure hope these gators are not eating any of the endangered pup fish.

Death Valley, Water

Death Valley is not totally dry.  A small stream flows just south of Stovepipe Dunes due to underlying bed rock forcing it to the surface.  We stopped and explored the area walking on the board walks in search of the Death Valley Pupfish.  These tiny fish are the last water residents of when Death Valley was filled by a lake.  They can handle extremely hot and salty water. I was not allowed to fish, something about them being endangered species.  We didn't even see any. The water doesn't stay on the surface for very long.  Evaporation reigns over Death Valley.  

Death Valley, Mosaic Canyon

A short drive up a gravel road out of Stovepipe ends at the mouth of Mosaic Canyon.  The trail leads up to a narrow cut in the canyon that is lined with marble.  It is amazing to see the wave pattern of water recorded in beautiful marble.

This close up is for all the geologists out there.  Death Valley is truly a geologists dream.
The canyon opens up to a hanging valley after about 1/2 a mile.

Death Valley Sunset

On our way back to Beatty after visiting Marble Canyon we stopped at the Stovepipe Sand Dunes.  It was one of those 30 minutes of magic that happen around sun set sometimes.



Just after the sun disappeared off the distant clouds this cold wind rose up from the valley below, blowing sand and moisture.  We didn't hang around out in the dunes to see how much sand could be moved in a short time.  By the time we had driven through the sand storm and up to the 3500' pass leading to Beatty we were hit by a hail storm with lightning. A change from 70 degrees to 37 degrees. Such extremes in Death Valley.

Death Valley lends itself to a multitude of ways of looking.  I'm drawn to the great vistas and distances but at the same time flattened surfaces echo the same elements.

Driving down from Beatty to Stove Pipe Death Valley the highway travels down a massive alluvial fan.  Of course we had to go out and see what was over the next ridge.
From Stove Pipe we drove 15 miles on a rough sand and gravel road to Marble Canyon.  We walked through the massive cut in the rocks even though 4 wheelers could drive through.
The water had cut down to some spectacular layers of diorite.
This is looking back down toward the valley floor and beyond to the Funeral Mountains on the east side of Death Valley.

We stayed in Beatty NV for the first half of the week and explored places close. We found a less traveled entry into Death Valley on the Nevada Side.  The road dead ended at the Bullfrog mine about a half a mile in. 
Just out side of Beatty is the 1903 ghost town of Rhyolite.  This boom and bust gold mine town had a population of 10000 at is boom and the school was just finishing construction when the gold ran out and the population plummeted.  The town lasted only a few years. 
I keep getting attracted to the red barrel cactus.
Just above Rhyolite we adopted this little valley/canyon. Great place to hike and paint.  We climbed to the top of the valley and into the next on a well worn burro trail.  
Another beautiful sunset in Nevada just outside of Death Valley.