Day 10 - Lake Mead to Phoenix

We didn't leave right away. In the morning we went to check out some view point on the lake Mead and verified that there are no constructions all around. It's beautiful and pristine!

On the way back we stopped at the Hemenway Harbor, and met people from the Audubon society of Las Vegas. In the harbor there were some giant carp swimming around. They were waiting for a hand out since they had their heads out of the water with open mouths. It was ridiculous. They seem to want to get out and start walking for a piece of bread.
Sure enough two young guys came over with bags, gingerly passing a sign that warned people not to feed the wild life.

Driving from Nevada into Arizona, the scenery changes from stark grey mountains with sporadic creosote and brittle bushes to red colored mesas accentuated by large saguaro cactus and mesquite trees.

At two third of the way to Phoenix, we reached an area covered in mature Joshua trees, larger than the one in Joshua Tree National Park in California. These were as big as small oak trees. I like Arizona! This desert is colorful.

Day 8 - Death Valley to Lake Mead

Today we cleaned the trailer and took off early. It was an uneventful day. The only excitement was the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. We saw a bunch of drones taking off and landing.

We are staying for a couple of days at Boulder Beach RV campground. It has beautiful views of Lake Mead and the area is peaceful. We had dinner on the outdoor table.

a nice location for our fifth wheel

Day 7 - Badwater Basin, Devil golf course, Golden Canyon

Resident Roadrunner

This Roadrunner has been foraging around our camp every morning. I love the way he moves the tail up and down, and ruffles up the feathers and the crest if I get too close.

This morning we got going late. We stopped at the ranger station in Furnace Creek, to make sure the road we are taking tomorrow is still open. On the way out, we were interviewed by the German Reuters TV journalists. They wanted to know how we felt about the longest government shutdown in US history. Bill went on a rant, and I was looking at him like he was from Mars. I had also a couple of off color comments. 

Anyways, if you want to see it, we are featured here. I am happy to see that most of it was edited out.

After so much excitement,  we drove to one of the main sites of Death Valley, the Badwater Basin

the house

Pretty cool uh? It's a massive crust of salt. I had to verify the saltiness...

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in Nort America, almost 300 ft below sea level. Water from rain accumulates in this valley but soon evaporates redepositing the salts into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.

We drove back to stop at the Devil's golf course. This is a miles large area made of crumbled up dirt encrusted with salt. I wander how the soil get so messed up as to rise in harden clods two three feet high. Then I realize that this is the result of scorching summer days, and it makes it even more scary to imagine getting lost in this environment.  

On the way to the Golden Canyon we encountered this beauty:

The Golden Canyon has to be seen in the last two hours before the sunset, when the gold yellow is more intense.

We hiked the 4 miles loop that goes through Grower Gulch. We did not take the trail to Zabrisky Point, since we had seen it in a previous trip. It was worth it. The colors were amazing. The Gulch was wider than the canyon, it was like a wash studded with blue rock and salts.

By the time we drove to Zabriskie point, the sun had already set.

Day 6 - Ubehebe crater and the racetrack

Today turned out to be a long epic adventure, with delayed gratification well worth the effort.
Horacio and Freddy found us right when we were about to seize the day. What a coincidence! They were renting a tent cabin in the same campground. We decided to hang out together for the rest of the day. Freddy really wanted to see the racetrack and we had in mind to check out the big crater. So we headed out 46 miles north toward Scotty's castle. The road to the castle has been closed since 2016 due to floods.

We drove up to the crater's rim. From the edge we could see the massive walls and the crater's floor.

Bighorn Sheep along the road to the crater

There is a trail that runs along the crater's edge. We decided not to do that, because we had a lot more road to cover to see the racetrack.

We exited the crater's loop and headed down on Racetrack road. This is a gruelling 25 miles of bumpy dirt road.

The views were incredible. Tall mountains flanked large valleys covered in creosote bush. After about 15 miles the bush gave way to a Joshua trees forest several miles long.

5 miles before the racetrack, we approached the teakettle intersection.

The road toward mount Hunter could take us back to Panamint springs and it would be a nice shortcut, but a tour guide told us that the road is very narrow and treacherous and our truck would not make it through.

We proceeded straight toward the racetrack. After more miles of bolders and holes, we arrived at the racetrack playa. 

This is a very flat area covered in mud that at times can be either wet or dried up and cracked in honey comb patterns. This area is so flat that the difference in level is at the most two inches. The name racetrack is due to the rocks that leave tracks as they move on the mud surface. Is it magical? Not really. When the mud is wet from the rain, it freezes, encasing the rocks. If the wind blows, the rocks slide because they are sitting on a slab of ice. Fascinating! 

We couldn't get enough. I took so many photos. Here's a small sample.

clothes iron

turn

race