The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Exploring the Mojave National Preserve with "Diet Taco"



I had a rare chance to meet up with Ken, @DVexile mid-week in the Mojave Desert. I had to negotiate at home, and shuffle some things at work for release time, and I made it happen. It was a one night camp, and return home the next day. The Mojave is about a 4-hour drive from my home. And getting away mid-week even for one night in the desert was exciting. The real treat for me was getting to meet Ken, check out his amazing "Diet Taco" build, while exploring select parts of the Preserve that I had never visited before. A great winning adventure combination!

It was November 8th... Election night. It was a strange time to be traveling. There was talk about the U.S.A. not going to make it through the night. lol

My travel to Baker, CA was mostly uneventful. Standard 4-hour interstate travel in SoCal on a Tuesday afternoon. I was able to depart work after putting in a half day which made things much easier on me. I coordinated with Ken on my arrival time and we met in Baker after sunset for a quick dinner. I was thrilled upon arrival, even in the dark, his Super-White Tacoma looked awesome!

After dinner we launched off into the Mojave, Ken led south to where the pavement ended and we picked up Old Gov. Road, where we decided to air down our tires. The temperature was mild, there was a gentle breeze. I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, and shorts It was right at that time, it hit me, I was in the desert again. I could hear and feel the gentle breeze. I looked up at the stars, the black sky, and the moon above. I reflected how much I love the desert. It is truly a magnificent place.

We continued on now on the Mojave Road (a very famous and popular desert trail), rounded Seventine Mile Point. Seventeen Mile Point is a mountain at the north end of the Old Dad Mountains in San Bernardino County, California. Its summit is at an altitude of 2,500 feet. We were looking for a suitable place to make camp, and after a short discussion I suggested we explore a spur that looked like it led up into the hills. Ken checked out a topo map and said that it led to some old mine sites that we were exploring the next day. So up the spur we went, Ken first and I followed, through a small gate until it ended at a large flat spot nestled up in the hills.

After quickly surveying the site, I remarked that I thought the site was truly excellent!

There was a nice metal fire ring that was recessed into the ground. There was ample firewood at this site, so we borrowed a little. Ken produced a one-match fire! I exclaimed how nice it was to have a real wood fire again! I've been using propane for a long time now. I very much enjoyed talking with Ken over the camp fire. The weather was absolutely wonderful, I never found it necessary to wear a jacket, as the wind picked up, and temperature lowered a little bit, I just leaned into that blazing hot fire. So nice!

After the fire died down, we retired for the night in our respective trucks. I sort of laughed at myself a little bit, because I didn't have time to pull my kids car seats out before the trip. So I pull the kids car seats, toss them in the back. I then pull my newly installed @crazy joker quick release hitch pins and my rear seat bottom cushions fly out, and I tossed those into the back of the truck as well. So in 10 minutes I converted the cab from "family travel mode" to "solo mode" and my sleeping platform was all set up. It is so nice when a vehicle mod saves precious time.

I had a very restful quiet night.

It is now Wednesday morning. I moved the truck to make some shade for myself and begin making some quick breakfast. Coffee, and a sandwich, and some fruit. This was the first trip with the new bumper, swing gate, and fold down table. I very much enjoyed the table!

Simple demonstration of table on gate.


Ken wanted to explore some mines in the area and we would do it in a loop trail. I donned on my day pack with food, water, camera, 10-essentials, etc. and we were off.

This area enjoyed a very rich mining history and artifacts are plentiful. I found an old ore cart, some truck axles, a truck cab a few truck beds with working tailgates! And other odds and ends one would expect to find at old mine sites.



Some of the mines had rather large vertical shafts that could swallow a Tacoma whole!

The National Park Service has elected to install these large metal grates to prevent persons from throwing themselves down the shafts. The bars you see welded on the right of the photo below are called "bat bars" they allow bats to traverse back in forth of the mine shafts. They live in there, sleep during the day and come out to eat bugs at night. Virtually every mine shaft we found that was welded shut had these bat bars.

I hope everyone reading this post, makes time to read Ken's trip report over here. He is more thorough in his writings than I am.

I agree with his sentiments that if you try to logically evaluate what the park service has done to keep people out of the shafts, it doesn't always make sense. Sometimes, it's just plain nuts. For example, some very remote, hard to reach shafts, requiring a lot of hiking had extensive steel lattice structures installed, the steel was probably delivered by helicopter. And other shafts, which were more accessible to foot traffic had no protection at all.

Two large vertical shafts


Ken and I visited numerous mine sites, and most of our hiking was cross-country and we found our own routes. The varied terrain was welcome. I very much like hiking in varied terrain, lots of it was class-2 scrambling, with one or two sections of class-3 sprinkled in. Temperatures on this day were around 75° and full sun.

We took a break from exploring and shelter from the sun in one of the adits of the Pay-master mine. It's interesting to me how much food tastes better after physical exertion.

What's also interesting to me is how much life there is in the desert. Some say that desert is a vast wasteland. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is so much life in the desert it's amazing. There was this unnamed canyon where we stopped for another break and I was stunned by how many butterflies were circling a particular plant.

There were about a dozen on this one plant alone.





After our hiking adventure, we returned to camp for lunch. We ate lunch in the shade of Diet Taco. I had 1/2 of a subway sandwich waiting for me in the fridge, and some gapes, and cold Ice tea. It was great!

Hooray for shade! Earlier that morning, Ken had showed me many of the modifications he had made to his truck. He demonstrated the awning attached to the passenger side of the flippac for me which I was grateful for.

I will say that I am thoroughly impressed with Kens work and attention to detail. Diet Taco is true to it's guiding principal, carrying weight where it counts. I very much liked how efficient the storage area is under the platform in the bed. Everything had its place, it meshed together in a near seamless fashion and appeared to function very well.



I think we broke camp at 3:00 pm.

It was time for me to begin to leave the preserve, Ken suggested that we travel West on the Mojave Road and part near Soda Dry Lake. That was the direction I needed to go, so great idea to me!

We traveled the Mojave Road trail and stopped short of Soda Dry Lake.

If you have ever driven this section of the trail, you will know there is all kinds of obstacles, like whoops, ramps, bumps, and all kinds of go-fast fun! What was really neat was watching Ken disappear in front of me, Diet Taco can really move! I like to stay out of dust clouds if I can, and getting some distance between us was ideal. I chased his truck and it was really fun. We had a pair of UHF radios to communicate, Ken would call out obstacles as they came.

Regrettably I had a little too much speed (because fun!), when I hit the first obstacle, a rather large bump leading up to some whoops, I think I caught a little air, and I remember praying a lightening prayer to the truck gods before landing , that I didn't bend anything in the front end. Fortunately, I did not, as the truck aligned good a few days later.

Our last stop before Soda Dry Lake.




We talked in the shadow of the mountain and passed time as the sun lowered in the sky.

It was now time for me to press on and begin the journey home.

I said farewell to Ken and wished him well on the rest of his trip and I began the trek across the dry lake bed.

I stopped at the Travelers Monument for this photo op.


And this beautiful sunset.


I pressed on and exited the Mojave National Preserve without incident.

When I stopped to air up at pavement, I opened the back of the truck and it looked like a bomb went off!

I had forgotten to secure the clasp on the ARB fridge lid, so it was just loose, only gravity holding it down, and the rear hinge.

The lid had completely detached itself from the fridge and was thrown to the other side of the truck, it's final resting place, upside down. Some of the contents in the lower fridge compartment had bounced their way "upstairs" to the diary shelf. The stuff in the dairy shelf was ejected, now scattered randomly in the back of the truck. I had also forgotten to lash down my "dry goods food bin". The contents of that bin were shotgunned all over the place. The full extent of which wouldn't be known until the truck was fully unloaded at home. lol The back of the truck was like a glorified dice shaker cup, and everything back there food related was all shook up!

I know nobody else has had this happen to them.

All I could do was laugh at myself, and my new mess. I reattached the fridge lid to it's hinge, and put perishable food back in the fridge and closed it properly.

Everything that was strapped down was still in it's rightful place.

Hooray for straps!

Anyways, what a wonderful day it was!

Many thanks to Ken for the invitation to join in on one of his adventures!

Thanks Ken!

 

Looks like a great time!

 

Great report, Nick! It was awesome spending the day exploring with you and seeing your legendary build in person. Well, now that you've posted your report I have to hurry up and do part 2 of mine!

 

It was! Thanks.

Welcome and thank you. The feeling is mutual. I look forward to part 2. I always enjoy your trip reports. They are top notch, IMO.

 

Best part about this thread are the trip reports. Thanks!

 

An addendum to the quoted report.



As stated the section of the Mojave road from Seventeen mile point to Soda Dry Lake has many fun obstacles to drive on. Here is a testament to how rambunctious and fun it was for me. lol

When I stopped to air up at pavement, I opened the back of the truck and it looked like a bomb went off!

I had forgotten to secure the clasp on the ARB fridge lid, so it was just loose, only gravity holding it down, and the rear hinge.

The lid had completely detached itself from the fridge and was thrown to the other side of the truck, it's final resting place, upside down. Some of the contents in the lower fridge compartment had bounced their way "upstairs" to the diary shelf. The stuff in the dairy shelf was ejected, now scattered randomly in the back of the truck. I had also forgotten to lash down my "dry goods food bin". The contents of that bin were shotgunned all over the place. The full extent of which wouldn't be known until the truck was fully unloaded at home. lol The back of the truck was like a glorified dice shaker cup, and everything back there food related was all shook up!

I know nobody else has had this happen to them.

All I could do was laugh at myself, and my new mess. I reattached the fridge lid to it's hinge, and put perishable food back in the fridge and closed it properly.

Everything that was strapped down was still in it's rightful place.

Hooray for straps!

 

Nix!!

 

Thanks.

Got some more coming. I was able to take my family to Death Valley National Park last week.

Next to my home, it is my favorite place.

 

All in fun Nick! Thanks again for sharing your Awesome Trips of the West with Us!!

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Part 1

After much planning, I succeeded in taking my wife and kids to Death Valley National Park. I've been before many times, solo. The park is massive; its total area is listed at 5,270 sq. miles!

The morbid name "Death Valley", comes from an unknown 1849'er who was trapped in the region for over a month waiting for rescue in the winter of 1849. When they were rescued, and on their way out, they remarked "Goodbye, Death Valley". Please see this article on the Lost '49ers for more reading.

Death Valley as its named, is a geological wonderland, the result of a rift valley formed by the ripping apart of earths crust, and the sinking of the bedrock. It is surrounded by steep rugged mountain ranges to the west and east.

Death Valley National Park straddles eastern California and Nevada. It’s known for Titus Canyon, with a ghost town and colorful rocks, and Badwater Basin’s salt flats, North America's lowest point. Above, Telescope Peak Trail weaves past pine trees. North of the spiky salt mounds known as the Devil’s Golf Course, Sand Dunes. Near Nevada is the Spanish-style mansion Scotty’s Castle.

There are also numerous sand dune complexes, extensive mine ruins, dry lake beds (playa), canyons, mountains, springs, geology galore, and vast open spaces.

My description is not complete, voluminous books have been written dedicated to various sections of the park.

The following quote is from Wikipedia,

Death Valley National Park is a national park in the United States. Straddling the border of California and Nevada, located east of the Sierra Nevada, it occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts in the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It is the largest national park in the lower 48 states and has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve. Approximately 95% of the park is a designated wilderness area.[4] It is the hottest and driest of the national parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, a survivor of much wetter times.

A series of Native American groups inhabited the area from as early as 7000 BC, most recently the Timbisha around 1000 AD who migrated between winter camps in the valleys and summer grounds in the mountains. A group of European-Americans that became stuck in the valley in 1849 while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism blossomed in the 1920s, when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994.[2]

The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley itself is actually a graben. The oldest rocks are extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old.[5] Ancient, warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. This uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.

In 2013, Death Valley National Park was designated as a dark sky park by the International Dark-Sky Association. -Wikipedia
​

I had planned on tent camping four nights for this trip. However a few things made me rethink that, and I scored a three night stay at Furnace Creek Ranch resort, two nights before our departure! This was an insurance policy. I wanted my family to have premium fixed shelter against the elements. All the amenities that come from staying at a place like this were a bonus. After all, this was their first time in the park, and I wanted it to be a good, if not a great time! Even though I had reservations at the hotel, I still kept the truck provisioned for tent camping, so we could do one night out, if we wanted. I swapped some provisions in the truck to make things lighter and carry only what we would need for a one night camp. This enabled me to pack the truck in a slightly different configuration. The main difference, was that I had the tent, and all related camping gear packed in forward tiers, so that when it was time to cook, I didn't have to unload anything unnecessary. I was quite pleased with how this turned out.

We left San Diego on a Saturday morning, packing food provisions for 4-nights, 5-days. We motored up I-15, to Baker, CA. Where I topped off the gas tank, and filled the reserve fuel can, now living in the basket attached to the new swing gate. A ratchet strap held the gas can firm.

Our route to enter the park would be from the south, and would be dirt. It's Saratoga Spring Road. It lies 30 miles to the north from Baker and intersects pavement, CA-127.

At this intersection there is a bronze / brass / metal plaque installed in a concrete pedestal for all travelers to note.

It bears the following inscription:

HARRY WADE EXIT ROUTE

Some 100 Wagons found themselves in Salt Lake City too late to cross the Sierra Nevada. They banded together under the name of Sand Walking* Company. And started for the Gold fields of California over the Old Spanish Trail. After being in Death Valley with the ill-fated 1849 Caravan, Harry Wade Found this Exit route for his Ox-drawn wagon, thereby saving his life and those of his wife and children. At this point the Wade party came upon the known Spanish Trail to Cajon Pass.

California Historical Landmark No. 622

Originally
registered October 9, 1957. Plaque provided by the Descendants of Harry Wade, dedicated by the Death Valley '49'ers in cooperation with the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and the California State Parks Commission November 8, 1957. New Plaque provided and dedicated by the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, November 13, 1999.

*I have determined that plaque contains one misquoted name. It's not Sand Walking Company, rather it's San Joaquin Company. --Nick
​

My wife read this plaque to our children as I aired down the tires. Elevation at this location is about 450' above sea level. Skies were clouded all day, a fall storm in the region, temperature was in the mid-to-high 50's F.

With the tires aired down, I drove the route to Saratoga Spring. Right where HWR intersects the road to the springs, we found two persons from Wisconsin with a tent pitched in the dirt about 30' from the trail. While I am an obvious fan of camping in the dirt, this particular location was just awful. All the dust from passing vehicles envelops everything nearby. These poor people from Wisconsin, and their car. SMH. I reduced speed, and took the turn, waving as we passed. Five miles later and we arrived at Saratoga Spring.

We adventured around the springs. My wife was able to make an approach to touch one of the large pools of water. My kids enjoyed a good scramble on the rocks. We also took time to examine some ruins of one of the rock houses near the area. It was a chore for me to keep explaining that we can't collect interesting rocks that they found because it was a National Park.

Our adventure rig, pictured at the Springs Trail head
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From this point we had about 30 miles of dirt to travel before a trail junction where I could take 36 miles of more dirt (West side trail) + 11 miles pavement, or 47 miles pavement via Badwater Rd. to Furnace Creek Ranch. And we still had the Amargosa river to cross. It was also late in the day. We left the springs at 5:20pm.

Ibex Sand Dunes
​

There are five (5) sand dune complexes in the park, collectively I believe they're less than 1% of the total area of the park. So they are somewhat rare given the vast space. The Ibex dunes are wilderness and persons wanting to visit must hike in, minimum one mile easy hike from dirt trail. I've been before and it was pretty great. I believe the summit of the highest major dune is somewhere around 700' in elevation, total climb to the top is about 300' gain. I believe the mountains in the background are the last southern bits of the Amargosa Mountain Range.

We lost daylight on a calm section of Harry Wade Road trail. I pulled over and captured various images of a glorious sunset over the rarely visited, and mysterious Owlshead Mountains.

​

Continuing on, we finally encountered the Amargosa river crossing. Fortunately for us it was mostly dry. I've crossed this river before when it was wet, and it has a high salinity content. We all know what happens to Toyotas' mixed with salt water!

The Harry Wade Trail terminates at a 3-way junction with pavement, with Badwater road going to the North, and Jubilee Pass leading to the East. I aired up the tires and we proceeded North on pavement. I had also made my decision to take the 47 miles of pavement to the hotel. The pavement is smooth, but it twists and turns as it tightly follows the contours of the harsh and treacherous Black Mountains, officially classified as the Amargosa Chaos.

Badwater Road that night had very few travelers. I think I only passed one vehicle the entire stretch! I stopped the truck about 10-miles short of Furnace Creek and we got out to view the night sky. My kids were ecstatic! I had talked this moment up with them, and it was delightful! Never before had they seen the night sky like this. The stars were brilliantly bright! We gazed for 10-minutes before continuing on. We would have stayed longer, alas we were hungry!!!

Upon arrival, it was decided that I would get us checked in, I was lucky and requested a ground floor room and got the last one! My wife secured us a table at the Forty Niner Cafe for dinner. Dinner was good. With our bellies full, I parked near the room. We carried our bags in and we made ourselves at home!

​

 

First thing my daughter asks these days when we are out: "Is this a desert where we can take rocks?"

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

Too funny!

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Part 2

Upon awaking my wife and I decided it was best to cook breakfast out on the trail. So we prepared ourselves for our daily adventure, and headed out. I drove to a nearby canyon worthy of exploration, and setup breakfast camp.

This was the first time I got to test the new fold down table with our camp stove. Luckily for us, it worked wonderfully!

Breakfast Camp​

After eating, I offered to my daughters to help me with airing down. My youngest said "yes!" She is 4-years old now. I broke the caps loose, and let her remove them all the way. The first cap she dropped on the ground, and I thought it was lost for good being that the ground was so varied with rocks, many of them grey in appearance. Luckily I found it! I encouraged her to finish the other three tires and I left her alone, and watched from a distance. What she did next was really cool. She devised a system to help herself. She used a toy baby blanket to "catch" the valve caps as they fell loose. It worked! lol As she finished one side of the truck I came back through and attached the tire deflators. I had her turn one of them to engage it, and she ran away! She doesn't like the sound of the air escaping. I don't blame her. I finished that part, and all was good.

She looks so small next to the tire!

In action!​

We then hopped back in the truck and I drove deeper into the canyon and we began to explore the geology that was begging for examination. This is a place that has been severely tortured, geologically speaking. It has sustained at least four major deformational events It doesn't take a scientist to figure this out. The variation in the rocks in this localized area, is like no other. To my eyes there seems to be evidence of past marine activity. (not pictured)

Looks like Venom


Tortured metamorphic rock?​

​

After exploring for a few hours, we broke for lunch. The skies were dark and it began to rain. It wasn't a hard rain, but it was enough to get everything wet! I was delighted! It was great to be there in the rain. I loved every minute of it.

​

After lunch we enjoyed some scrambling up hills and continued to find amazing rocks. My oldest daughter while climbing got nabbed by some spined plant. Its leaves also had some secreted sap or something where if you try to remove it, it spreads to your other body parts. Fortunately it wasn't like cholla cactus, rather they were hair like spines that were more of an annoyance rather than a serious health risk. I helped her carefully remove the spines from her hand and leg and she was fine.

We made our way back to pavement where I aired up the truck. It was nice to wheel and not make any dust, thank you rain!

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Part 3

From the canyon I took pavement to Dante's View. Dante's Viewpoint is a terrace situated at 5,476' just North of Coffin Peak in the Black Mountains. It offers dramatic panoramic views of Death Valley and the Panamint Mountains to the West, the high point being Telescope Peak, 11,043′. What you see below in the photo is Death Valley proper.

Dante's View, Death Valley, before sunrise by Jean-Pierre Lavoie​

There is a parking lot at this location and the temperature is cold and it's windy. Unfortunately, I didn't have the girls' performance wear jackets with us, so I wrapped them in their truck blankets and they were reasonably comfortable, albeit looking a little like refugees. lol

Precipitous cliff​

I used this place as an opportunity to show my daughters how to combat the elements, the cold and wind. There is a small network of trails to the south which lead down ridge, to yet another viewpoint. We traveled them for a short distance and then went off trail, leading down the mountain, just a bit. The goal was to find a suitable place off the ridge to shelter from the wind. We found a great spot without too much trouble. It was still a scary place to be, and we stuck close together, situational awareness was paramount. Once we were situated I began to explain what I knew about how Death Valley was formed. I pointed out Badwater road down below on the outskirts of an alluvial fan, just shy of the salt pan, and explained that, that was the road we came in on last night, and that is where we stopped to gaze the stars. It's such a fascinating plate. Badwater Basin, at -282' below sea level, the lowest point in North America, lies in the afternoon shadow of Telescope Peak (11,043′). Anyone up for a hike? Here is a fascinating factoid. Below the salt pan pictured below lies more than 11,000 feet of accumulated sediment and salts! If you dug it out, and started at the bottom, you could hike +22,000' to summit Telescope peak! How is that for prominence?

​

In our sheltered spot, we stayed longer than most to appreciate the view. My kids in an earshot of pedestrians passing, laughed hysterically at some guys pants flapping non-stop in the wind. Kids are so funny, difficult to predict what they'll find amusing! We returned back to the truck, piled in, and my wife distributed some afternoon snacks to all.

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Part 4

Ryan, CA​

More than anything I wish to explore this place. It lies on the doorstep of the NPS boundary. It's private land, under the jurisdiction of a non-profit Conservancy group, that took control in 2013. It has historical significance. At least two of my friends have been recipients of guided tours of the camp. @ETAV8R I hope to one day have the same experience.

The photo above was taken by me from the public street on Furnace Creek Rd. As we passed, I explained what it was as best I could remember.

 

For the plant sap, I find 70% Isopropyl tends to clean that up nicely, but with scratches/open wounds is not the most kid friendly. behind that would be the gojo orange pumice hand cleaner. that tends would work really well and won't burn

 

While sitting here at work in a surgery case I'm enjoying your report and photographs. Living vicariously and missing Death Valley. The descriptions of your girls make me laugh. They will never look back at their lives and say they've not been on great adventures.

Ryan is a time capsule and not to be missed. I consider myself fortunate to have done the tour. You'll get there and if the cronies aren't with you and your family we will all look forward to reading your perspective on it.

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Part 5 - Zabriskie Point

Passing Camp Ryan, I drove a few minutes on Furnace Creek Rd. to a major tourist spot in the park known as Zabriskie Point. I pulled in and parked in the dirt, because we love dirt. You can see our rig in the photos below parked to the right of everyone else. Most everyone who comes here will park, and walk up the paved surface to the NPS provided vantage point where millions of photos are taken. We would do that too. First I wanted my family to understand some of the geological forces that helped shape this place.

If you look at the photo below, you'll notice a canyon in the right side of the photo, that canyon was formed by water flowing parallel to the road makes an abrupt 90* turn. I don't know exactly why it does this, I suspect a change in soil density, but it does, and the effects are truly amazing.

A retrospective view, the road, erosion, and the canyon




Pictured below is the stunning erosion that runs parallel to the road in the photo above. A completely different perspective, can be had by simply hiking on flat ground about 200' away. I explored the near hidden canyon and it descends rapidly down a series of waterfalls passing the base of Zabriskie point.

Major erosion
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Zabriskie Point and my two daughters.

Here is a link to a panoramic view of the site

It's difficult to understand scale in my photo above, so I will tell you that you can hike on ribs of the mounds in the photo.

From here, we returned to the ranch, and we setup our kitchen outside our room in the grass and my wife made us some dinner. My kids ran around in the grass as the sun went down. At least one other group of guests had the same idea and popped open their door to their room and cooked on the grass and enjoyed outside dining. It was great!​

 

Death Valley Nov. 2016 a Family Adventure Day 3, part 1

On the third day I cooked up some yummy breakfast outside our room. My kids desperately wanted to play on the playground equipment that was located on the property. My wife took them over there while I got everything cleaned up, then I joined them. They had much fun. I think they played for about 30 minutes or so. I had to pry them away which I didn't really feel good about, but it was a good compromise I thought.

Warning sign at playground


Play structure

Our next stop was the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Mesquite Flat San Dunes and the Grapevine Mountains.

We stayed at this location for what seemed like hours.

By far, the most fun my kids had on this trip were the dunes. I was asked repeatedly later in the day, and the next, to return here.
My wife enjoyed a nice walk alone far out into the dune complex. I had brought with me a sling-shot-nerf like missile toy that a friend had gifted to my kids. I don't know the name of it, but man, that thing was fun! I shot it up 50' in the air, and it whistles as it returns to the earth. My kids chased it endlessly. It was a lot of fun!

After our fun we returned to the truck where I used the ARB air compressor and air hose to blow out all the sand from clothing and shoes. It worked very well! So happy for it.

Next stop was Nevada...
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