Rhyolite and Day 1 in Death Valley

Monday, November 2, 2015

We want to share a little background information. On October 18, 2015, Death Valley had a 1 in 1000 year storm. A famous landmark, Scotty's Castle, was seriously damaged, closing it for months into the future and many roads throughout the park were destroyed. We discovered this on Wednesday before we left. We considered canceling the trip and then decided it would be an adventure. How many people get to see water in Death Valley? We had wanted to visit Death Valley for a long time, but had no idea how much hiking there was until we were exploring a “Road Scholar hiking in Death Valley” trip. We considered booking with them, but decided to do it on our own this time. We are going to raft the Grand Canyon with them in May. So thank you Road Scholar for introducing us to the opportunities in Death Valley.

We woke up before dawn and packed the car to take off into the park. We had looked at Death Valley's Facebook page and discovered that the road to Titus Canyon and also the road to Badwater Basin had reopened! Great news. Before entering the park we decided to head to Rhyolite upon the recommendation of Jenna from the Sourdough Saloon, where she currently lives without running water nor electricity. Rhyolite is a ghost town, 4 miles outside of Beatty on the way into the park. Rhyolite was born in 1905 when samples of gold-laced rock were found in the Bullfrog Mining District. It boasted a population of nearly 10,000 people during its peak between 1905-1911 and had 3 railway lines. At that time it had 2 churches, 50 saloons, 18 stores, 2 undertakers, 19 lodging houses, 8 doctors, 2 dentists, a stock exchange, a school and an opera. All were complete with plumbing, electricity and telephone service. A more recent feature of Rhyolite is the Goldwell Open Air Museum including a ghostly rendition of the Last Supper and bike rider.

Wild burros

Last supper Rhyolite

After leaving Rhyolite we headed to Titus Canyon and Falls Canyon trailhead. We saw 3 people today until the very tail end of our hike into Titus Canyon when a few 4 wheel drive, high clearance vehicles came through the long one way road. The first person we met was a man from New York City who lived in the city and stored his truck in a storage unit somewhere around here. He flies in, and spends time in the wilderness away from the hustle and bustle of the city. He keeps all his camping gear and mountain bike in the truck. Interestingly enough, his youngest daughter had recently graduated from Gonzaga as a Civil Engineer and is a water engineer in Austin, Texas. Our daughter also is a water civil engineer from Gonzaga. Small world. We headed out toward Falls Canyon, completely missing the trail and ended up scrambling up and over instead of around the mountain. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Oh well it was a crazy adventure and we did end up finding the Canyon which was beautiful. We saw and heard the steps up above as a Bighorn Sheep scrambled by with ease. So beautiful. He disappeared before I could change the lens on my camera so we just enjoyed him instead. The canyon ends at a dry falls which we decided not to try to climb. Remind me next time how crazy it is to climb up and down on the scree. Yikes! The rock handholds are so jagged and rough here, Jack ended up with a bloody hand. Hard to figure why we think this is fun! After getting back to the car, we walked a couple miles up Titus Canyon which was also very cool. It was great to walk on the road instead of the rocks!

Note the alluvial fans at the base of the mountains

Falls canyon

Dry falls of Falls Canyon

Evidence of recent rain and storms

How did we end up here?  We were supposed to hike along the base.  Oops

We headed south toward Furnace Creek and the wind had seriously picked up with sand blowing across the road and impairing vision. We checked in to Furnace Creek Ranch which is a lovely place in Death Valley. It is on oasis due to an underwater spring which even supports a green golf course. The wind was very fierce. The girl at the desk said it is only this windy once or twice a year. The cable and phones were out. We were so tired after our hikes that we ate a rotisserie chicken and salad we had purchased in Reno and went to bed fairly early. We wanted to go to the ranger talk on astronomy but were too tired and did not even want to head over to the visitor center which is very close due to the crazy wind.

All in all a great first day in Death Valley! We are so glad we came.

Wind is kicking up