Around Again

Jackson Mountains from Jungo Road

Seems to have become a ritual, to wander out into the wilderness on the shortest day of the year.  Into the big empty.  

Jungo Flats on the Winter Solstace

Maybe this more accurately indicates today's low point.  Barren ground, black horizon, temperature dropping, darkness descending.

Found Iron

I recently found this big steam engine, the world's largest, in the rail yards in Rock Springs Wyoming.  It was in a viewing stop as part of the long excursion trip underway.

Union Pacific Railroad's Big Boy No. 4014 was brought back to life by the UPRR in it's shop in Cheyenne in order to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.

It's now on a long trip from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City, then on to Los Angeles, Tucson, El Paso, Houston, Kansas City, Denver then back to Cheyenne.  It is pulling a long train of vintage cars, including sleepers, observation, dining, and passenger cars. Viewing opportunities available at all points along the way.

I love big machines, and this one is special.  I was able to get up real close for inspection. It was dripping more 90wt oil than my Land Rover.  All the drive mechanisms are interconnected with lots of pins and bushings, and they all require plenty of lubrication.  My schedule didn't allow me to hang around and see it underway, but one day I will.

If you are interested, you should look the engine up on Wikipedia, lots of information there.  UP also has a great website on their heritage fleet, including timetables, along with many great photos and video.

The most up-to-date part of No. 4014 is that it Tweets!  You can follow along @UP_STEAM or here: https://twitter.com/UP_Steam

Kudos to the UP and all the employee's that put it back under steam! It's AWESOME!


 

Darwin Falls

March 2018 Exploration of the Panamint and Saline Valleys

This serene spot at the foot of Darwin Falls is hidden away deep in a canyon along the western boundary of Death Valley National Park. In a vast and seemingly barren landscape this little unexpected treasure would have provided life itself to those that knew of it's existence.  Lauren describes it:

"The trail threads its way through a tangled riparian woodland before reaching the cascade. Goodings willows spread their gracefully arching branches, shading the canyon from wall to wall.  The sound of falling water grows louder and you suddenly emerge from thick undergrowth arriving at the base of Darwin Falls.  The creek cascades over massive, polished boulders, forming two slender falls that plunge into a pool. Mosses and maidenhair ferns grown in spray-drenched pockets alongside the falls. This inviting setting beckons you to stay a while to breathe the cool, moist air and listen to the varied voices of water and songbirds in the trees. Near twilight the red-spotted toad may add its high-pitched trill to the chorus."

 

Stuart and I had just come down the wash in the Land Rover.  Lauren was along as our tour guide by way of her popular Death Valley and the Northern Mojave - A Visitors Guide.  A lovely book coauthored with William Tweed.

We were on a week long camping trip during which we camped at Panamint Springs and then made day trips to explore the valleys immediately west of Death Valley itself.  Mostly it was a way to help me get my feet back under me following the recent death of my wife.

While we were there huge storms were raging against the wall of the Sierra Nevada range just 40 miles to the west, dumping more than five feet of snow on the peaks around Mount Whitney.  From time to time it was real windy and a bit cold for tent camping in the Panamint Valley, but we witnessed some amazing clouds rolling overhead.

My friend Stuart was largely responsible for getting my Rover back in service after it had been sitting broke down in my garage for over ten years.  After we repaired the blown headgasket, hand ground the valves seats, and spent several days cleaning out the "shellac" that was at one time gasoline, he had started talking about how cool it would be to take it to Death Valley, and two years later here we were, living the dream.

 
   

Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

I thought I better get back to the blog before some machine decides it should disappear.

I recently had the chance to spend the weekend camping at the Page Springs campground, on the Blitzen River, with my friend Stuart. We've managed to explore much of the area around the Steens Mountains, and the whole area is just fascinating. If you are a lover of geology, volcanoes, glaciers, plate tectonics, birds, wild horses, wild game, hot springs, western history, big views, or quiet and secluded places, this area should be on your bucket list.

This is Big Indian canyon, one of several deep u-shaped valleys cut by glaciers about 1.6 million years ago during the Pleistocene ice ages.

Great Britian Trip Report

So, I woke up one October morning last year, looked out my window and there was Windsor Castle.  William the Conquer built the first fortress on this site north of London on the Thames River in 1166.  I had my iPhone in my pocket.  This is the view from my upstairs corner room at the Heart & Garter just across the street.

Windsor Castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in the decade after the Norman conquest of 1066.  William established a defensive ring of motte and bailey castles around London; each was a day's march – about 20 miles – from the city and from the next castle, allowing for easy reinforcements in a crisis.

Across the river, just over the footbridge, is the English town of Eton, the home of Eton College founded in 1440 by King Henry VI.  Princes William and Harry are Old Etonians.

to be cont......
 

NYC 2011

MacDougal Street
Greenwich Village

Gaslight Cafe

Coney Island
Ferris Wheel

World Trade Center

Bad Face Trail

If you look closely, you will see the light track of the trail constructed on Winnemucca Mountain to connect the city to the mountain top.  The communication towers near the peak mark the end of the trail.  I took this photo from the street in front of my house, on October 16, 2011.  The trail building crew's season was about over.  Halloween was the last day that crews were on the mountain.  It has been a long time coming. 

Forty Mile Desert

Low Point of the Year

Death Valley 2011
282 feet below sea level

Thirteen point seven billion years later, it is early evening, and Stuart and I are sitting on the table of camp space #11, looking across the road at #12, our annual Mesquite Springs campsite.

There is a Class B sitting there, and parked in front is a shiny new 1963 Volkswagen Beetle.  It was dark green with a British Columbia license plate.  There's no one around over there, but we know they are in, we can see the glow of their TV screen.

We're thinking that by using the right mind control technology we can urge them to pull up stakes and leave in the morning.  This might work because we did exactly the same thing last year.

Just before dark, this little German gentleman come's over and says, "we are leaving in the morning, and I'll come over and let you know so you can move to our spot. It's the best one here".

When the wind came up on our fourth day in the valley, it was a real reminder that Death Valley would be a very different place if you were traveling in a mule drawn wagon.  The rock above provides some indication of the wind's effects.  It had been moved several hundred yards in looping arcs and long straight skids, across the playa, leaving a 14 inch wide mark in it's wake.

The racetrack playa, in the Racetrack Valley, is the home of these mysterious rocks streaking across the ground. The trip to this remote valley is a 60 mile round trip of rough wash-boarded gravel road. 

Stuart on the Racetrack

While we were there, 10 to 12 other people visited the Racetrack, and I think I saw every one of them lay down flat on the playa.  Some did it right away, and others waited until they had done some roaming about.  I tried it flat on my back.  Seems to be some sort of primal urge. 

Stovepipe Wells

We did have an opportunity for a little downtime one evening.  We sat on the tailgate drinking coffee and eating crackers, and watched evening settle over Stovepipe Wells.  They seem to do a really good job keeping the light pollution to a minimum.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people staying within 1000 yards of us, and there was almost no sign of them. The only lights are the few around the Inn.

 

Death Valley 2011

Its been a long time since I posted anything here. This time the seven month delay was because I wanted to upload a video to YouTube and embed it here, but every time I tried to upload it I found that my internet connection was too slow. I would try to upload it at home, or at my office, and I would get a message that it was going to take 160 to 180 minutes. And then the upload would time out before it completed. The DSL connections I'm getting are very, very slow, so I'm doing something about that, but that's another story. I got the video uploaded by taking it to Great Basin College and using their fiber optic broadband connection. Took 6 minutes.

So, Stuart and I made another April trip to Death Valley, did some camping, some exploring, and had a great time. While we were up near the crest, on the eastern side of the valley in the Funeral Mountains, near the former site of Chloride City, this is what we across:

Based on the help provided by Sam Hipkins, in the comments below, we now believe these are Crotalus Stephensi - Panamint Rattlesnake

Winnemucca Pink House

 

 

This inactivity must come to an end.

This little gas station building, converted into a home, sits on the edge of the golf course.

I'm all lost in the supermarket

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stuart on a recent trip to the market.

 

Rice Grass

 

Eastern Sierra.

Creek Grass

 

Grass along Green Creek in the Eastern Sierra

Late June Wildflowers

 

Mule's Ears

 

 

Great Basin Garden

 

 

Lupins and Irisis

 

Some of the images from a June 27, 2010 trip over Hinkey Summit in the Santa Rosa Mountains. Much like the rest of the desert in the Great Basin, there is a beautiful but brief explosion of color each year.

How's That?

 

Sam, this is for you!
Shot and posted from the sidewalk with the iPhone.

Reconnaissance

 

 

Went back up to the Santa Rosa mountains over the weekend. This is a great time of the year in the northern part of the Great Basin. The roads have only been open a little while, the snow drifts and mud holes have pretty much given way. The main roads seemed to have been recently bladed.

Everywhere you look there is a little brook carrying away the cold, cold water. It's a big country, and it was completely empty.

 

 

Hardheads

I have much more to say on this topic, but not right now, it will have to wait.

Aquereberry Point

A view of Badwater, the lowest point in the United States, from Aquereberry Point.

Pete Aguereberry, the miner that built the trail to this spectacular viewpoint, was apparently one of the very few good guys that populated Death Valley in it's early mining days. Late in his life Pete built the trail to this "Grand View" of Death Valley with a wheel barrow and his hand tools, so he could share the view.

This is Bill, having a look:





Badwater
Close up, sort of.

This is the bottom of Death Valley, so people like to walk out and see for themselves. 282 feet below sea level.








Rhyolite Ghost Town














The train depot at Rhyolite badly needs structural repairs. Administrators with the BLM need to develop a new visitor experience. The chain link fence with the razor wire on top that surrounds the entire building makes it look more like a crime scene than a historic treasure.

Blue Mountain from the iphone

This is the second picture I took with my new phone. The first one was of my lap.