Our USA Adventure - Days 75 to 78 - Palm Springs, Tecopa, Death Valley, Beatty & Rhyolite

Artist's Palette in Death Valley

Only a couple of days since the last blog, and possibly not much to say, BUT lots of pictures, if he can work out how to make them look like what we saw.

A long drive for us from Palm Springs, just over 4 hours got us to Tecopa, a tiny little place, Delight's Hot Spring Resort, but about all that was left on Bookings.com

Delight's Hot Spring Resort where you can swim in naturally heated spring waters of 40 C even when it's cool and windy

It wouldn’t have been our first choice, no WiFi, no showers in the room and once booked a note that said bring lots of drinking water and a full fuel tank. So we stopped at Baker for a bite of lunch and to fill with fuel. We also took the opportunity to look at the world’s largest thermometer and the Alien Jerky store. No, we don’t know why either! We then headed north, through desert, for what seemed like hours. This was not setting Death Valley, a big desert, up well but it was too late now. After lots of miles of nothing, as we approached our destination some very pretty striped, multicoloured mountains hove into view. OK, this might not be so bad. We checked in and having had a nose around decided we would go in the open air pool, despite the really cold wind. We didn’t fancy the private baths, though they were infinitely better than the ones we’d seen, right at the beginning of the trip, in Truth or Consequences. 

Or in your own indoor pool - just like the Roman's used to do

The main pool was 101 degrees, with the little satellite pools being 104 degrees, obviously this is Fahrenheit, but translates as 38 and 40 degrees centigrade. We lounged around in the hot mineral pools with an amazing view of the mountains till the sun set. The showers in the private bathhouses were the same temperature and mineral content, but without the chlorine that they add to the pools, so we could shower, before walking to the brewery and BBQ house at the end of the property! Bev and Iain, you’d love it! Oh, and there was WiFi, it claimed to be only in the lobby but it made it into our bedroom, though admittedly it wasn’t the best, it was good enough for us. We were glad we’d heeded the note about bringing water though as the only water they have is the hot mineral spring water. It’s very weird when you touch the toilet cistern and find it hot!

Heading to Death Valley in rain and overcast skies. Extreme heat is not going to be a problem today  

Woke the next morning to pictures of snow in the U.K., looked out to what looked like snow with us, that was salt on the ground, but the mist wasn’t what were expecting. Not sure what to expect we headed towards Death Valley, driving through rain, which certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. As we drove a little bit further the rain stopped, though the temperature was still in single figures, the mist cleared and the scenery just blew us away. We did not expect the colours in the rocks, orange and grey maybe, but black and white, lilac and green? Wow.

On the way, after it had stopped raining, Jackie spotted this Red Tailed Hawk on a rock. 'Stop' she said, 'reverse back' and there it was. This is at full zoom on my camera so not that sharp, but isn't he fabulous

We met a lad who told us we had come in the ‘quiet way’ which was certainly true. He recommended a couple of stops, which added to the recommendations we’d got from a lovely group of people at the oasis in PS led to a full day out. Badwater basin, The Devils golf course, the Artists Pallet, Golden Canyon, will all be so much better in the pictures than I could describe. We weren’t doing too badly until I put Dante’s viewpoint into the sat nav and discovered that was adding an hour and a half to our day, but it had to be done. In theory from there, we would be able to see across Bad Water, one of the lowest places on earth 282’ below sea level, with a sign way up on the cliffs marking where sea level is, to Mount Whitney, the highest place in the contiguous USA. This was accorded to the book, though no mention was made on the signs, a lady today said you can definitely see Mt Whitney from the park, if you know where you are looking! It was freezing, about 4 degrees centigrade and very windy, so we jogged to the viewpoint. It was so worth it though. We even got to see sunset on the rocks as we drove out to Beatty in Nevada our stop for the night, the Exchange Club Motel.

I went to take another photo just as he decided to fly off and I just happened to catch him. I know it's not very clear, but he hasn't raised his legs yet and look at the size of his wings. Fabulous bird

We had only been planning one night in Beatty, but hadn’t managed to see any of its sights, so we immediately booked another night. Although it is a small town, it is very close to the ghost town of Rhyolite which was well worth exploring. Rhyolite promised so much, it was founded in 1905 when gold was found in Bullfrog Mining District. Two years later there were between 8000 and 10000 residents, not just living in tents, but three story buildings, indoor plumbing and electricity, an opera house, churches, banks, schools, a stock exchange and 3 railways. However when in 1911 the most profitable mine, which had only made $2 million, closed the town went bust. Some buildings were moved, and some have just vanished completely. The railroad station they are trying to preserve, but you sort of have to wonder why.

We took photo after photo as the rocks are such vivid colours, so I'm going to have to be really selective on which one's I put on

To get to the buildings you have to pass the Goldwell Open Air Museum, more an art installation which began with “The Last Supper” by Belgian Albert Szukalski. Live models were wrapped in fabric soaked in wet plaster and posed. Once the plaster had set the models could slip out. The rigid shroud was the. Coated in fibreglass making it weatherproof. There are other pieces here, but that is the most impressive.

Jackie just picked these few stones up off the ground to show what  varied colours they are

We stopped by the museum on our way back in to town, very eclectic, but full of information. We were given information on how to get to the mud mound , where fossils abound apparently. We set off, along a dirt track, in very good condition as there is a lot of surveying going on so big trucks and lorries did keep appearing driving very fast. We wimped out however when we hit the snow line, and it was apparent that this wasn’t part of the well maintained road, and anyway who wants to look for fossils under the snow? So here we are, another blog, and I might even book our last 4 nights accommodation so it’ll be done!

Our first proper stop was at Badwater Basin. You can see there's a short boardwalk and then a long trek over salt plains to a broad expanse of salt about 1km out. As you can see, it's 282 feet (85.5m) below sea level and a mark on the rocks shows where the sea level would be. It's not, however the lowest point of dry land on earth, that belongs to the Dead Sea in the Middle East which is a whopping 1360 feet (414m) below sea level

This was out on the broad salt flat. By this time is was about 21 C but a very strong wind, as you can see from the angle we're standing. It was a weird sensation walking on this as it looked just like snow and ice, which is very slippery. Salt flats on the other hand are quite grippy, so your mind was telling you one thing, but feet told you something else

The Devil's Golf Course, another 13 miles further on is crystallised salt in jagged formations that could do you serious damage if you fell on them. The ground is very uneven and they are very hard and sharp edged. The area it occupies is immense, it covers most of the salt flats. The  whole valley is about 140 miles long and between 5 and 15 miles wide

Driving towards Artist's Palette from the Devils Golf Course the scenery is stunning. Photos can never capture the real beauty, but hopefully these photos give some idea of just how fabulous this place is

The Artist's Palette drive is a 9 mile loop with lots of stopping off point and it is absolutely not to be missed. Now I know these photos haven't really captured it, you're just going to have to visit yourself to have the colours all around you

From this higher pint we could see out to the salt flats beyond

This was another stopping off point, the same place the first photo was taken from. We're standing on a lilac rock and there's green, yellow, red and black rocks around us

Our next stop, about 42 miles from entering Death Valley was here at Golden Canyon. We just did a mile hike up to a junction then turned round and came back, as time was already getting on. There are many hikes from here, some up to high points, it's also possible to do a circular 4.3 mile hike. Incidentally, we were told that some scenes from the first Star Wars film were shot here and, apparently, it's not unknown for people to turn up dressed as Star Wars characters. I did a short Relive video of our walk through the canyon, it has a lot more photos on than those posted here. You can view it by clicking here

This was as far as we got. Red Cathedral is straight on, to the right is the circular hike

On our return leg in Golden Canyon

We then had a 26 mile drive out of Death Valley and then back in to Dante's Viewpoint high over the valley. It was a long drive but very worthwhile. The wind was still very strong and, being high, the temperature much lower. it was about 4 C at the top! We didn't stay that long, but look at this jaw dropping view! 

There were other people up there too, so we got them to take a photos of us in exchange for us taking one of them

Today's visit was to Rhyolite, a crumbling ghost town and this is the outdoor sculptures placed there. We did a short Relive video with more photos. You can see it by clicking here

A bit more of the outdoor sculptures before we went on to the ruined town proper

The first ruined shack and an old abandoned vehicle. Behind is Bazooka Mountain and you can see some of the old mine workings. Apparently you can go and explore them, but we didn't. We did meet a gung-ho chap about 40 years old who was taking two younger people on a mine tour. He hadn't explored them before and we just felt a bit worried for them. We told them to take care in old mines, they can be dangerous. He smiled, thanked us and set off energetically with his two youngsters trailing behind

More ruined buildings

Tom Kelly's Bottle House. Wood is scarce in these parts so people built from whatever materials were available

The old school, built in 1908 with a £20,000 loan that was only fully paid back in the 1970's. The school was only open for two years before the town went bust and everyone left 

The old Porter Brothers store. Built in 1906 on what was then a bustling High Street for $10,000. It closed in 1910 after most people moved away

This is still an impressive building, but was magnificent in its day with marble floors, electric light and plumbing. It was the Cool Bank building with a Post Office in it's basement. A financial crisis in 1907 caused a lot of banks across the country to go bankrupt and this beautiful building was closed in 1910. It has been used in quite a few films, none of which we've seen. The information board listed them as: The Air Mail, The Arrogant, Cherry 2000, The Island, Delusion, Ramona!, The Reward, Wanderer of the Wasteland, Six-String Samurai, Rough Riders' Round Up, Bone Dry, Ultraviolet and more 

The Overbury Building. Another beautiful old building, sadly taken apart to build other buildings elsewhere. 

Here's how it used to look

This is the old train depot another magnificent building built with no expense spared. Apparently this town was so important that three railways came here. A town is important if it has one railway, to have three was unheard of

This wagon didn't make it though

Another sculpture. This is the Tribute to Shorty Harris, a legendary prospector in Rhyolite. The penguin companion is supposed to represent the artist who always felt out of place in the desert

The signs on entering Beatty warn you to look out for free roaming donkeys. They are the descendants of donkeys used by the miners and were set free when they left. We hadn't seen any in the morning and, after visiting the museum and Jackie complaining she hadn't seen any to the lady working there, one walked past... 

Later however we were inundated with them. There must have been a dozen or more surrounding the car with heads in through the window. Jackie got out to stroke some, bad mistake! they were trying to get in through the open door and she had a big job getting back in without any of them. They were very friendly, just wanting strokes