Part 2, December 2008 Land Cruise News

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We left Joshua Tree National Park and drove to Death Valley via 2 lane highways instead of freeways. The mountains along the way were as colorful as we had seen in the Grand Canyon.

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Snow in the desert? No, just salt deposits.

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At this point on our drive into Death Valley we were at the lowest elevation in the United States. Something like -386 feet. If you look close about mid point in this photo, you'll see a white thing on the face of the rock wall.

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This is what it says. The truck/camper was 386 feet below that sign.

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There are several "points of interest" in Death Valley. This 20 mule team wagon train took refined borax and 1200 gallons of water to Nevada, some 187 miles away. The entire load was 36 tons.

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This is part of the borax production "plant". The boiler is up in what is left of the building, and the boiling vats are to the right.

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Another interesting site in Death Valley is Scotty's Castle. We spent several hours on a tour of the castle's interior. HInt: The castle didn't' really belong to Scotty. Quite interesting. You'll have to go there to get the real story.

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When we arrived at Scotty's Castle, I could have sworn I saw a coyote in the brush. Turns out that coyotes hang around Scotty's Castle in hopes that some dumb tourist will feed them. (and they do) This coyote was just basking in the sunshine.

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The following photos were taken during the 3 days we spent in Death Valley.

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Yup, it's a long straight road.

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Another point of interest was a volcanic crater.

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It is half a mile across and 500 feet deep.

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The black crushed lava surrounding the crater was totally different than anything else we had seen in the Valley.

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The view looking back at the camper from the trail overlooking the crater.

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One of our favorite hikes in Death Valley was the Mosiac Canyon trail. It is about 2.5 miles one way,

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but the first 1/4 mile is a one person at a time pass.

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The different rock formations were really interesting.

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This is all fractured marble.

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We came to an opening in the canyon and were treated to this colorful display of rock.

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Slick rock afforded us an opportunity to slide down rather than fall.

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The risks associated with flash floods sure came as a brisk reminder while we were on this hike. This photo shows the dried mud from the last flood. The mud rushes down this canyon.

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Here is a choke point. One sure wouldn't want to be stuck here in a flash flood. It would be interesting to watch from up high though.

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There are several areas within Death Valley that have sand dunes. These dunes have trails leading to them. We didn't get a chance to go there but from what we understand, there are all kinds of animal tracks you can see early in the morning. Next time!!

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Our ride out of Death Valley was breathtaking.

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Mono Lake is always interesting.

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And so blue.

We continued on our trip to California and arrived in time to see all of our relatives and spend time with some of them on Christmas. We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!!

Happy New Year!!

Chris and Chuck