Salt Creek, Mosaic Canyon & Mesquite Dunes
Death Valley, California: (WARNING: 29 photos
posted tonight! Sorry!) Another busy day in
Death Valley
National Park. Of course, we both went for jogs this morning. We run from
the campground, on a bike path, to the Borax Works (as in "20
Mule Team Borax"), and then up a road bull-dozed into the borax flats. I run
to the ruins of a stone building at the borax works every morning.
And then I turn around and limp back to the RV.
We had several places to visit today, so headed out with a picnic lunch.
Our first stop was to Salt Creek, where it is possible to see the
Salt Creek Pupfish (cyprinodon salinus). The pupfish are
endangered... but it was difficult to tell as we saw thousands of
them today. The park has built a very nice half-mile platform around
the creek and marshy area so the visitor can see the fish, yet leave
them mostly undisturbed.
Salt Creek Trail in Death Valley National Park
The water is so salty, only the rare creature can adapt
Many pupfish in the brackish water - they dart around constantly and are
about one inch long
Here is a close-up of a male pupfish (photo by DT)
These pupfish are mating... it is a side-by-side operation (photo by DT)
Beautiful Salt Creek... even the plants suffer from the salty water
Salt Creek
DT snapped this photo of a coyote at Salt Creek
This lizard is well camouflaged on the board walk
This Desert Spiney Lizard happily posed for me
Next we drove up to
Mosaic Canyon - a slot canyon above Stovepipe Wells - where for
thousands of years, flash floods and rain have eroded a narrow canyon
through the sandstone, limestone, etc., into a smooth-sided chasm.
The mouth of the canyon and the start of our hike. We were at 1000 ft.
elevation here.
Interesting to see all the sediment layers pushed from the earth and exposed by
water
Here the water crashes into the side of the canyon, and forms a
whirlpool before continuing!
Dave in Mosaic Canyon
Terry in Mosaic Canyon
Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley National Park
We enjoyed our picnic before continuing to our last stop
of the day -
Mesquite Dunes. Maybe I was tired (do you think?), but I thought the
sand dunes were... well, sand dunes.
Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park
DT at Mesquite Dunes
We had reservations for dinner at the
Furnace Creek Inn.
Here are the photos I took yesterday when we stopped to make our
reservation:
Furnace Creek Inn
Furnace Creek Inn
Furnace Creek Inn pool
Furnace Creek Inn gardens
Furnace Creek Inn gardens
I took this photo in black & white - the dining room is like stepping
back in time
We arrived early for our reservation as the policy of the
Furnace
Creek Inn is to reserve tables for hotel guests first... and if
hotel guests do not show-up, other diners may be seated. Our reservation
was for 8:15. We arrived at the hotel at 7p and were seated at 7:45. In
the meantime, we had a lovely cocktail prepared at the cozy bar by
Randy. Randy is very friendly and splits his time between Death Valley
National Park and Yellowstone National Park. What a life.
Randy makes a mean martini
We were seated at a very nice table and had a very professional server.
Thing is, Xanterra
still runs the food service at Our National Parks and it will just never
be more than mediocre. Over-priced and passable. Seriously - they DO
try... but it is still food service from a mega-corporation. So sad that
our country can't hire good regional chefs for our National Park classic
hotels.
Another black & white shot of the Furnace Creek dining room
In some sort of sick homage, DT ordered the "Ernie Kent" Duck special
Thank goodness my martini was perfect... because my fish was too salty
to eat
I am over. Too much exercise, too many hikes and too many boulder
scrambles today. Tomorrow I am taking the day off and will not run.
Instead, we will play 18 holes of golf.
Until my next update, I remain, your "if I have a stroke tonight, blame
Xanterra" correspondent.
RV Park:
Furnace Creek Campground. Large back-in site. No
hook-ups. Fresh water and a dump station available.
Flush toilets and hot showers. Store, visitor center
and restaurants within walking distance. Golf
course. $18 per night, plus reservation fee and park
entrance fee.