Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Yep, we hiked up from the relay station (basically). Then camped on the platform once we got back.

As for the bombing range - we may have wandered over to an old epsom salt mine in the area, so we know the aircraft range, jeeps on the lake bed, and monorail lines well.

 

So I've been wondering about this. From what I can find online, NPS periodically culls the teakettles from the sign. Presumably they throw them away, just like the TSA supposedly does every time I accidentally leave high-quality hand-tools in my work bag before arriving for a flight. Does anybody here know otherwise? Do they distribute them to struggling miners instead?

I have just retired a teakettle and am tempted to turn it into an art piece to hang from this sign on my next pilgrimage. Would it be distasteful or sacrilegious to swap said teakettle for another of my choosing, thus conserving the number of teakettles hanging from the sign, while obtaining a new and uniquely cherished teakettle to hang in my garage (or perhaps mutilate in a future art project)?

I'd hate to be the guy who self-righteously desecrates a public shrine, but I also seek to avoid problematic accumulation of sentimental tokens. Curious to hear what others think.

You're always a step ahead! Hoping to trace at least some of the monorail route next year.

Exploring near bombing ranges makes me think of this documentary ("SCRAPPER"), which was brought to my attention on this thread earlier this year. A fascinating watch if you have the time. And although it's a bit further of a drive from the PNW, SoCal's Colorado Desert is an utterly beautiful place to explore -- Anza Borrego is just the tip of the iceberg. And don't worry, the documentary overplays the danger of homicidal meth-brewing scrappers. I blunder around there several times a year, constantly lost, and have never been murdered, not even slightly.

 

I’ve heard there’s a warehouse full of them. Idk if that’s really true or not but other monuments catalog stuff that gets left and it’s saved somewhere.

I’d feel a little guilty about leave a kettle; take a kettle thing. What if the owner of the kettle you take believes their special message will be preserved in perpetuity?

 

The teakettles aren’t removed “every now and then” anymore. in fact they are they are removed more and more frequently as park visitation increases. I was through the junction twice in a month last year, and the first time through I wasn’t able to find a kettle older than six weeks. The next time through, there was nothing older than 2 weeks.

I don’t know for sure that that is normal, but I assume it is.

—-

Only a very little bit of the monorail is not on the NWC, so there’s not too much of the route to explore.

 

spent a few days out there this past weekend. Roads and passes were all in pretty good shape.

 

Nice! Prius Overlanding!

 

I’m reading through a book on the Bristlecone Pine. Fun fact: They’ve dated a fossilized cone at 46 million years old.

It’s amazing they’ve found these trees in Clear Lake, CA and as far north as Oregon. They range east to Colorado. I never knew they went that far east. I knew they were up near Great Basin National Park but that’s as far as I thought they’d been.

Gonna be a fascinating book.

 

that thing had a winch in the hood!

 

Title?

 

The Bristlecone Pine

 

Hiker died on Mesquite Dunes on Saturday:

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2021/11/death-valleys-sand-dunes-claim-hiker

 

Seems odd.
Experienced hiker, 1.5 miles from her car.

 

I thought the same thing but then circumstances being what they are, maybe she passed due to natural causes.

 

Odd indeed especially for someone so young at 27 and experienced, and during the Fall season. Sad stuff.

 

The valley's undue namesake strikes again.

Will be curious to hear what we can learn from this unfortunate case.

Checking in from Europe today, best wishes y'all!



Edit, to make this thread-relevant, here's a photo taken inside the above building. The National Museum in Prague...

 

Debating to take the 395 all the way up to Tahoe from leaving DV . Any places I should pull over? Beside visiting @Hobbs

 

Mammoth Lakes and then Mono lake are my two picks.

 

booty pitched damage

 

Aside from what’s been mentioned, Bodie and maybe the backroad to Bridgeport.