California 04/2008 - Day 9

We overnited in Lone Pine and dinned at the local pizza parlor. XL Pepperoni with extra cheese and Pepperoni. Boy was it greasy. The plan was to head up the Mount Whitney Portal road and explore up there, stopping again where the snow covered the road. Once again, we had to pass the road closed barricade and stopped when the road was covered by snow.



We picked out a hike, but upon checking it out, it didn't seem to be up to our standards. We redirected our efforts and headed up the hill.



Wade lead us up some pretty scary and steep snow fields,



making our way up to one ridge,



then climbing even higher to another view point.



And then going even higher...



The views were great...


Here we are at the top, or at least as far up as we were going to go. We were quite pleased with ourselves for making it up as far as we had. Thanks to my friend Wade for getting me that far up the mountain. We left Mount Whitney, headed for LA, where Wade would meet Emiley and Linnea for their flight home. I would be making my way home on Northwest, which announced plans to merge with Delta during this trip.

California 04/2008 - Day 8

We decided to leave Death Valley a little earlier than planned and head back toward Mount Whitney, but wanted to stop at Darwin Falls on the way out of the Park. In many ways this was the highlight of the entire trip.

Uncharacteristically, we stopped at the Ranger Station and got some general information about the Darwin Falls area that was to prove very helpful later in the day.

We made our way to the Darwin Falls trail head, and it was pretty much like Marble Canyon that we had hiked up the day before. There was one difference though, there was a pipe that carried water from Darwin Falls all the way over to Panamint Springs. Darwin Falls is spring fed and flows year round. We knew there had to be water up there somewhere, but we didn't see much evidence of it at first.



As we progressed up the canyon, we began to see some greenery, the further up the canyon we got, the more and more green it got. Pretty soon, we saw actual running water. This is quite a treat in the desert. The green brush turned into cottonwood trees, and boy where there a lot of them.



In the course of less than a mile, we had gone from dry desert to a lush green oasis. We got to the first waterfall, and there was a nice deep pool there.






As we entered the canyon, we saw some folks who had appeared to have just been swimming. They must have taken the waters in this pool. We were confused because this waterfall did not look like the pictures we had seen of Darwin Falls.





The canyon was pretty much of a dead end at this first pool, so we pulled out the guide book and saw that it did continue on, but required some fairly serious rock scrambling and warned those who were uncomfortable with heights to stay away (that would be me).



Wade searched out the way and shamed me into to climbing up and around the falls on narrow ledges.





We got back to the canyon floor and soon came upon the second water fall. It had a deep pool that was very much an oasis in the desert.



We continued on up the canyon, making our way through, around and under the dense cottonwood trees, crossing the flowing creek many times.



A little further on we came to the third and fourth falls, with more inviting pools of water.

The canyon seemed to be blocked, and we wondered if we would ever see Darwin Falls, as this falls was not the one pictured in the guide book. We dug the book out again and found the secret way around the falls, up through a scree field and through an opening in the rock, and we had arrived at our destination - Darwin Falls.



Darwin Falls is about 100 feet high, and the water falls into a series of clear, deep pools.



After the usual photos were taken, we realized how hot and sweaty we were as a result of the hike up the canyon.



We mutually decided to take to the waters, so off with the clothes and into the cool, cool waters we went. A desert oasis it really was.





With a climb up a rock ledge, we took a little sun and worked on the tans. Being careful not to take too much sun (as we had done on an earlier trip), then we dressed and headed down the canyon and back to the H3. We found some side trails and explored them, which lead to this view point of Darwin Falls and the canyon.


Remember the tree at the top of the falls, as we will eventually make our way here from the top side.



We loaded up the H3 and proceeded on toward an area called the China Garden. The Ranger man told us about the gold fish pond and that we needed to keep taking right turns as we continued up toward the town of Darwin.

Back in my mind was the idea of finding the top of the canyon that feed Darwin Falls and hiking down to the top of the falls.

We found the China Garden and sure enough there was a spring fed pool there that was full of large gold fish.





This area had apparently been a mine at some point. We had lunch here and finished off our beer. I should digress here to decry the limited beer selections we were able to find in California. About the best we were able to find was Alaskan Amber, Fat Tire, and Sierra Nevada. One would think that California would just be loaded with good micro-brews, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

We began the second stage of our hike down a canyon that we believed to be the source of Darwin Falls. We started the hike much as before, down a very dry wash, absent of any greenery. We topped a hill and the entire valley floor was lush greenery, with scrubs and cottonwood trees. A little confused, we searched around a little and continued making our way down the canyon. It was so green with a running creek that we knew this had to be the place. Several times we thought we had reached the end of the trail, seemingly blocked by rock walls, etc. Wade was the true adventurer and always found a way up, around, over, and past the obstruction. We finally came to a spot that the Ranger had warned us about. It was drop off that would require some rock climbing equipment (skills) or additional assistance in order to get back up it on our return trip. We figured and looked and studied and finally decided that we could make it back up with each others assistance. We slid down the rock wall and continued down the canyon.

Finally, we reached the top of Darwin Falls.


Here's the view from the top of the falls looking down at one of the pools.





Took our photos, just as the camera battery seemed to start failing. Then we hiked on out of the canyon. The tricky spot was indeed tricky. Wade could have probably made it back up by himself, but I gave a little push from below and he made it up. Me on the other hand, had to have a good pull or two from Wade to get me up and over the obstruction. We hiked back to the H3, and decided to forego our drive on up to Darwin and head instead on to Lone Pine and pizza and beer.

California 04/2008 - Day 7

Arrived late at the Furnace Creek Ranch (not to be confused with the multi-star Furnace Creek Inn) in the heart of Death Valley.



Washed the trail dust off with a dip in the hot springs feed swimming pool and dined on wine, cheese and enjoyed a good smoke.

After a refreshing sleep, we chartered a course for the day. Our first stop was Marble Canyon, which is near Stovepipe Wells. Wade took the H3 through the rough road with little trouble.



At the end of the road, we began our hike and exploration of Marble Canyon. The canyon had several narrows.



Here is what is referred to as a dry falls. When it rains/floods, this is a water fall. When it is dry, it is a wall of rock, which effectively ends one's canyon hike, unless you are prepared for a serious rock climb with ropes, etc. This was a sad place for Wade, as we think he lost his knife scrambling around on the rocks in this area.



There was a choke stone blocking the canyon, which required a scramble up a scree field to get around the obstruction.



Had the canyon to ourselves.



Upon our return to the H3, we dined on sandwiches, potato chips, and a good, cold beer.

The next place on our list to visit was Chloride City and Chloride Cliffs. We took the somewhat challenging jeep trail up the mountain toward these spots.



Wade and the H3 did just fine, although there was one pretty step and scary spot, where I had to get out and make sure the way was clear and safe for us to press on. We found the remains of Chloride City and explored around some old mining sites a little.





Here is the grave of miner McKay.


Here is miner McKay's homestead. He didn't have much of a commute to work.


Just step out the back door and head into the mine shaft.

Next, we continued up the mountain to the Chloride Cliffs, which had a great view of Death Valley.



We read where this location was at one time considered to be the main tourist view point for the valley.



It lost out to Dante's Point, I suspect because of the difficult roads and terrain one would need to pass in order to get here. It was a majestic overlook.



Our next tourist stop was at Rhyolite City.


This is the Bottle House, an early example of green construction, i.e. a great use for empty beer bottles!

It is a ghost town, with the concrete frames of numerous buildings still standing. It was a boom town in the early 1900s, with a population of about 10,000. When the mining played out, the people left and the town site feel into ruin.


This is all that remains of the town's bank.


Looks like the town Brothel has been re-habed, probably with funds from a government subsidized program to assist working women. Not to worry though, they were not open when Wade and I stopped by.

We did have a treat in this area, as it is close to Beatty, NV and cell phone coverage. Wade was able to call his Verizon buddy and let him know that he couldn't hear him in Death Valley.



Decided for forgo the long road down Titus Canyon and headed back to the Motel. After a refreshing dip in the swimming pool, we had a steak at the restaurant at the Furnace Creek Ranch. Very average.


Here's the 20 Mule Team wagons and water tank used to carry borax out of Death Valley to be processed into soap. It was really 18 mules and 2 horses, as the drivers controlled the mule team while riding one of the horses. Although the TV and Movies would have one believe they were in use for a long time, they were actually only used about 5 years.