Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

I thought this was kinda cool.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAJhPjZyQrQ

It’s cool to see these 3D mine maps.

 

Headed up from Swansea to the salt tram. Road wasn't too bad but definitely worse than previous years this was the bad area
https://youtu.be/AXdNpy1B_rQ?si=hwZMIaPETR7B9QUF
https://youtu.be/HVh7iSlDljE?si=NRuZhhllCtuBGQ8v
https://youtube.com/shorts/qAxJ7LFsBCI?si=eeLkf90RfIgvWzD4

 

When will we ever just take the hint from god that he does not want us driving "there"?

 

Hey, what if we installed a tram instead?

 

Maybe god wants us to plop our fat asses down on the couch and be happy ...

 

I dunno, I feel like any towers in the valley would be a little prone to toppling-over.

Funny, I thought that section was not bad at all. It was the next section, where there's that exposure/drop off on the passenger side as you climb up the hillside, that had me a smidge uncomfortable. Overall though, was a really fun drive, and much better than I'd envisioned from trip reports.

 

The section you are talking about has always been that way, this is very doable, just alot worse than it used to be.

 

https://youtu.be/OsTH4kmtjRU?si=AKkAfQlLDTVALjPu

 

Very cool video. I especially enjoyed the footage of Camp Ryan and its narrow-gauge railroad -- my wife and I were able to take a tour of the place earlier this year. Of course all roads were dirt too (the way Gawd intended).

 

I've done that tour too. Can you imagine if they were able to do the train tour these days? That would be great.

 

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has 2 cool exhibits.

One is a replica of a coal mine, with an elevator that feels like descending several hundred feet (well, enough). Then you stoop over in the small tunnels.

The other is a U-boat from WWII. It is one of the U-boats captured in an all-out effort to capture "enigma" code books, that were usually destroyed by the crews or sunk by scuttling charges. This u-boat was boarded by insane Allied sailors who boarded a u-boat set with scuttling charges set and un-set the bombs. The code-books found were kept secret from German Navy because of the obvious advantage it gave the Allies. The u-boat was going to be sunk once its capture was no longer secret, but someone gathered up the money to haul it from either Europe or east coast all the way into Lake Michigan. If you go to see it, the answer to "How many men were on this u-boat?" is "About 65 at any time".

Sorry for the for going off-topic ...

 

I did this mine tour this past June. It did go down into the mine via the hoist elevator. It was really cool. I hope they're able to open for tours again after a recent accident and death.

https://www.goldminetours.com/





Nearby is Rita the rock pusher


And we stopped by Death Valley on the last leg of our trip.

 

Dude, I was looking for this video for hours and hours the other month. Thank you for finding it and helping convince me I'm not crazy (yet)!

That would be epic! Glad they keep their engine in running condition... holding out hope for mine tours someday!



EDIT: I too was bummed to hear of the tragedy in Colorado... haven't been to that one yet, but hope to someday.

I can't think of a good way to transition from that to this, but here it is:

If you are looking for a fantastic mine tour closer to home (and assuming 'home' for you is closer to DV than CO...)

Hit up Ross at Tecopa mines -- if you haven't yet.

Been there like four times, and never seen the same thing twice.

 

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci40964384/executive

 

Busy day. Six or seven between 2 and 4.5. Hmm...

 

The pup fish are probably getting sloshed around a bit.

 

I checked up Owens Valley way...nothing.

 

Amazing ice halos visible above Cima Dome yesterday -- in splendid weather no less -- by far the most-intense atmospheric halo phenomena I've ever seen:



I had to look these up... but in the above photo we have: A fairly complete 22° halo with upper and lower tangent arcs, a Parry arc above, and a parhelic circle spanning to the upper corners of the frame -- along which we see pronounced sun dogs just outside the primary halo. As the day progressed towards evening, the sun dogs became blindingly bright -- sometimes outshining the apparent solar disk itself -- but I didn't get any pictures of that.



During this mid-afternoon hike, though, the parhelic circle was at times fully complete, with two pairs of second-order 'dogs' visible opposite the sun -- one of which I think might be the 120° parhelia? In the above photo, we see one of each pair to the left (although the circle itself wasn't quite complete at this moment), plus a pronounced circumzenithal arc, portions of the supralateral arc, as well as two additional subtle achromatic arcs whose name/nature I couldn't immediately determine by browsing Wikipedia just now.

I wish I'd had time to focus more on photography -- or had at least been smart enough to set up a timelapse to capture the fun... but the fact was, I wasn't stumbling around on Cima Dome yesterday just to take pictures of the sky.

I was there to plant Joshua trees.


One of the ~1.3 million dead Joshua trees in this burn scar...



Which is actually the subject of this post: The fourth and final year of the Cima Dome Joshua Tree Volunteer Reforestation Program (or whatever it is actually called) is now underway at Mojave National Preserve!

That's right -- for the next 12 days, you can help replant the world's most spectacular Joshua tree forest, for future generations to enjoy. (The forest was sadly lost to a natural but tragically uncontested wildfire in 2020.)

You can cherish the rewarding camaraderie of volunteer stewardship of our public lands.

You can experience the bizarre and ephemeral scenery, as the apocalyptic destruction that ravaged this iconic landscape gives way to new life and hope for the future.

You can receive a super-awesome sticker to proudly affix to your bumper, windshield, or favorite pet cat.


I am attending only intermittently -- but if you see me there, mention this ad and I'll give you a FREE* can of Coors Light -- COLD AS THE ROCKIES®



(Just look for the moron wearing a cowboy hat, taking pictures constantly -- that's probably me.)

*Subject to rapidly dwindling but frequently replenished availability. Void where prohibited. Temperature equivalence with "the Rockies" cannot be guaranteed. Product will likely to range from 33-80 °F depending on ambient temperatures and whether or not I remembered to throw the product into my fridge first. Participants may instead request a can of RC Cola, subject to the same availability and temperature constraints. Offeror reserves the right to substitute an enthusiastic 'high-five' or similar gesture of gratitude if above-mentioned beverage offerings are not available at time of encounter. Participants must agree that offeror looks great in his cowboy hat, or at least, that his midlife crisis could have gone a whole lot worse than this.