S: In a day-hike book, we've read about Desolation Narrows, a canyon just north of the Artists Drive. We find the parking area entirely empty. We climb over a few low hills to the main wash, and follow it up into the canyon. Nice stuff. In places, you can touch both walls at the same time. It's easy to follow the main flood-path up the narrows, till we get to impassable (for us) "falls." We take one branch up to the south, where we can supposedly get a view over the artists palette, but it's a steep climb on crumbly rock and sand, and we abandon the idea when it gets steeper and more crumbly still. It is, though, a nice alternative to Golden Canyon where you usually see five or six cars parked at the trailhead.
T: The contrasts in Death Valley are always amazing. While our Mosaic Canyon hike was all marble and rock, Desolation Narrows is mostly crumbling away beneath our feet. There are some rocky areas, but there's a lot of barren dirt, and bits of white powders and other pigments, the same that make up the colors of Artists Drive.
S: On the way in, weird little sand-cones, from one foot to four or more feet tall, sometimes overlapping each other in the narrower places, where sand has poured down from crevasses above.
T: On the way back we check out a fork in the road that leads back into an area that's much like the Artist's Palette itself, otherwise hidden from view. This might be a new road, and I wouldn't be surprised to find a sign for it on the next trip.
At the mouth of the canyon we find a really huge (and old) dog footprint. Most likely coyote, though perhaps someone had a dog back here.
S: We decide to get pictures at Badwater to duplicate those we took on our first visit here together some five years ago. So it's a walk out onto the flats, a quick pose or two, and back to the car.
On the way back, Terrie spots a dead snake in the road. It's a coachwhip, about three feet long, hit by a car. Terrie moves it off the road so whatever tries to eat it will not also get run over. It takes a while to shake the sadness, that animals must always be at odds with humans on this big stupid planet. We decide to check out what appears to be an oasis near Golden Canyon, where the coyotes were headed the morning of our wedding day. The swallows(?) are not particularly pleased to see us there, and the mesquite(?) is thorny, making it difficult to find a way in. We see a couple of the more common lizards.
T: More contrasts; this area is only a few miles from Desolation Narrows, yet it is full of life and signs of life. This seems like a good place to spend some quiet sitting time some morning or evening on a future trip. There must be an underground spring -- it's so strange to have this bit of greenery in the valley floor.
S: 20 Mule Team Canyon is an Evelyn Wood Drive-Thru Speed Tour. Kind of a fun drive, but not as spectacular as Artists Drive or the nearby Zabriskie Point.
Siesta time, yes?
T: Staying in the cabin next to us is an older couple, who have both become ill, they think from getting too much sun (and maybe too dehydrated) in Las Vegas and then the drive to here. Steve tells the woman of our morning-siesta-evening system, which gets us out of the harshest part of the day. She replies that this is "nice" -- and doesn't seem to understand that it's not a nice story, it's really sound advice.
This is not a place to visit if you don't want to pay attention and use good judgement. If you've heard our story of our Golden Canyon hike last year, you'll know that we were frustrated to feel a little bit of failure that we were not able to reach the summit. But it was hot -- at least 105 degrees, there was no shade, we were feeling worn out, and we were halfway through our water. So we turned back.
This year, we read in the park paper about Gerhard and Ingrid Jonas, who also tried the same Golden Canyon hike last year. Determined to do the hike, Gerhard set out with less than half a liter of water, while Ingrid drove to Zabriskie Point to meet him with the car.
When the rangers reached Gerhard five hours later, he was already dead.
As much as we love it, and for as full of life as it is, there's a reason this isn't called Skip-and-go-merrily Valley. It's not for everyone, and if you don't respect it, it's definitely not for you.
S: We try the dunes again at sunset. From a distance, it looks like they're boiling - the wind kicking up sand in a mobile fog above them. We decide to brave the sandstorm, and park and walk in. It's not really bad, and again, the low sun brings dune patterns into sharp relief. The wind kicks a fine spray of sand across the dune-tops - we stand on top of one dune looking into the west and it looks almost like ocean waves.
Dinner at Stovepipe is good -- better than at Furnace Creek but a bit more expensive. I have a nice chicken sort-of-Cordon-Bleu, and have to try the caramel apple cheesecake, which is pretty darn good.
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