Gary-Summer: Artist Palette

Showing posts with label Artist Palette. Show all posts

Thursday, February 20, 2025

February 20, 2025 - Car Fixed and Return to Fresno

Title: February 20, 2025 - Car Fixed and Return to Fresno
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals

Hike Info:

Type:Car

Borax Museum

Description:

Wow! Last night we had a couple wind events. Both Sherri and I woke up to things flying off of the table. But Sherri got ready first and secured things. Then a few more things were banging around and she went out again. This time it was the neighbors stuff which was flying. The wind was strong enough that I felt the floor of our tent lift up a bit, even with my body on it. In case you cannot tell, Sherri is the hero of this story.

Once things settled down we both fell asleep. I got up at 6:30 and walked our campground, talking with a couple from New York. This is their first time in Death Valley. When I plop down in my camp chair, Don comes walking up. Sherri gets up shortly afterwards.

This is our cue for getting breakfast going. It is a repeat of Tuesday mornings: French Toast and Turkey Sausage. Sherri makes the batter and I cook this morning. It feels good to have a spatula in my hand.

By 9, Steve has not shown up, so Don goes for a walk. Shortly afterwards, Steve shows up and starts to work on getting the car put back together again. We talk and he thinks he can get it together in a couple of hours. That would be great If that happens, then we will get camp broken and be able to go by noon.

Sherri and Don make lunch and get the food put away. I start to clear out the car and get things organized to go if it happens. Don had visited the Borax Museum at the Ranch area, so the two of them went down, while I babysat the situation and did some preparation for a possible departure.

Don shoting the Palette

I do not get much done between talking with the two Dave’s-our jumper friend and the campground host. Then Jim and Joe, our neighbors. I tell them all that it looks like things will get fixed and we are planning on leaving. I enjoyed talking with all of them.

By 11, Steve is putting the finishing touches on the car. I got some water for him, about a gallon, so he can top off the radiator. Then we start up the car and it works! I am amazed and thankful. We let it run for a few minutes and I start to break down the camp. Steve wants me to take the car down to the shop to put some coolant in. I meet Don and Sherri on the way up and let them know. Steve takes the car for a ten minute test drive and it passes. We are good to go!

When I get back to camp, Sherri and Don have gotten much of the camp broken down. I finished up on a few things.

One thing which we decided to leave out was a scorpion. It was under the ground cloth of our tent. Don saw it before it decided to seek shade someplace else.

We have the car packed and ready to go by noon. So we say goodbye to our campsite and head out.

But let's get one thing seen in Death Valley. We choose Artist Palette. This is about ten miles south of us. We quickly drive, within the speed limit, to the entrance. Artist Drive is a one way road. At the southern end, there is a women’s bicycle tour group. Sherri gives them a thumb’s up.

Rainbow Canyon

Don is suitably impressed by the terrain and with where Sherri and I have walked before. And we had not gotten to the Palette portion yet. When we do, Don goes and gets a closer view of the colorations. We stay at the parking area and talk with a couple of the women cyclists. When Don comes back, he is really jazzed by the assortment of colors. He starts spouting off about what makes the various colors. It is always good to see someone who is energized by the beauty of what they are seeing.

It is now time for us to start back to Fresno. We go through Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells. The car is holding up nicely. When we get to Panamint Springs, I decide to put five more gallons of gas into the tank, just in case, even though I think we would be able to make it to Bakersfield on this tank, but why chance it?

About 20 minutes later we get to Father Crowley’s Point. Here we have lunch before we continue on. But we were able to look into Rainbow Canyon. I do not really see the rainbow colors, but Don sees it. A couple asks us if any jets have come through? Not in the 20 minutes we have been here, but they did see a jet earlier on a practice run.

I am back in the driver's seat and we continue on our way. After leaving the Park, we go through some valleys where we see some small Joshua Trees. Then we break over a small hill and the peaks of the high Sierra Nevada start to show through. We are trying to pick out Whitney, but not sure that we are. That is until we got to a sign close to Owens Lake which pointed out where Whitney was.

At that stop, Sherri takes over driving. She guides us down 395 to 14 and into Tehachapi. There we stopped at Chipotle for dinner. It has been awhile since we have been there. Evidently it is Don’s favorite place. We come out of there full and content.

I drive down to Bakersfield and get filled up with gas at Costco. Then it is up 99 to Fresno. Thankfully this trip home is uneventful. Shortly before 9, we let Don off at his house, unloading his stuff. Here we do notice one causality from the trip. A syrup bottle must have tipped over and Don’s tent now has a certain sweetness to it. Then it is another three minutes to our house. We decided to just leave everything packed in the car until morning.

While the trip was shorter than anticipated, it certainly felt longer. I am also glad that if the car was to suffer a breakdown, it was where it did and not in the middle of the desert. Just feel gratitude that we were being watched over.

Places we planned on, but could not do:

ubehebe crater

old stovepipe wells

mesquite dunes

Trail Lesson: Gratitude is the response I should have at the end of each trip

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
French Toast/Turkey Sausage/syrup/jam	PB&Nutella or jelly Sandwich	Chipotle in Tehachapi	~~Clif Bar, GORP, Propel, CytoMax, Scratch, Coffee Candy, Jelly Belly~~

Extra Photo's

View of the Sierra

The Road

View to the south of Father Crowley Overlook

View to the east of Father Crowley Overlook

Rainbow Canyon

Wash close to Artist Palette

Don climbing up for a better look

Artist Palette

Borax Museum

Animals

Scorpion

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

February 18, 2025 - Death Valley-Vehicle on Life Support

Title: February 18, 2025 - Death Valley-Vehicle on Life Support
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals

Hike Info:

Type: Camping

Description:

I slept pretty well. There was a short time where the wind came up, but did not do any damage to our camp. I got up at 7. Don had gotten up before I did and returned from his walk. I walked over to a ravine on the other side of a hill to the north of our camp. There I discovered a path, but did not follow it.

I got back in time for Sherri to start our French Toast breakfast. Very satisfying. It is about 10 when we are finally ready to start our travels. The first place will be Badwater, the lowest place in the United States.

But then we had an intervention to our plans. The car would not start. A fellow camper was passing by-Dave from San Jose. He jumped our car and it started up. It then ran for 4 minutes and stopped and would not start again. There was enough power to give a series of messages: Brake System Not Working, AWS Not Functioning and Charging System Malfunction.

Don runs down to the service station while I work through “what do these error messages mean” and “what does the owner’s manual say?” None of which are particularly helpful. Don comes back with the news that the mechanic at the station is off today, but he has a phone number for us to call. Which would be helpful if we had a cell connection. That is spotty at best.

Sherri and I decided we needed to go down and make arrangements. Our campground neighbors, Jim and Joe from Colorado offered to take Don someplace close. Don wanted to go to Golden Canyon, about 2-3 miles away. So that is what happened.

Sherri and I go to The Ranch at Furnace Creek, we were able to use the cell phone. I called Ted at Snapps and ran through the symptoms. He suspects the alternator, but cannot confirm this unless some voltages can be taken. We walk over to Farabee Jeep Rentals which is where the mechanic works through. There we found out that the mechanic has three days worth of work already lined up, but another person from Pahrump could be arranged to work on the car.

But he will not be coming until tomorrow. But if things work out, he will bring an alternator with him. In the meantime, I need to trot back up to camp and get the VIN number for the Highlander. Sherri will at least explore the Visitor Center while I run this errand.

That process takes about 45 minutes. It is a little over a mile in each direction. The VIN is on an old insurance card, so I just brought that. Tyler says that they will have an answer in a couple of hours. So I go and find Sherri at the Visitor Center. I am ready to sit down for a while and there is no place in the Center, but some benches in the shade outside provide what we need. We sat down for a while talking and musing-nothing profound. Next to us there seems to be some sort of testing going on. I have not seen this many LE’s in one place at a National Park before. Hope iot is not connected with the layoffs our President is inflicting on the Parks.

We start to get hungry, so we start going back to camp. We go past Farabee’s, but Tyler is on break and will not be back for another hour. At camp, Sherri and I have our lunch. About when we finish, Don comes in after enjoying Golden Canyon. He has his lunch and then goes off exploring some more. For me? I am tuckered out and take a nap, waking up at 3:20, a lot more refreshed. Time to go back and see if we have any word yet on the plans for tomorrow.

I find Tyler at the gas station, filling up a jeep. They found an alternator and it will be coming with the mechanic in the morning. We then talk about the name Farabee. Sherri had seen a book by Butch Farabee at the Visitor Center-National Park Ranger. I was wondering what the connection was. Tyler notes that the Butch side went more north in New England while his relatives headed south to Florida. Eventually making their way to Moab where his great-grandfather inadvertently started into the Jeep rental business. Now the only Jeep rental by the Farabee’s is in Death Valley.

When I got back, I talked with Dave a bit. There was a discussion about the various places we both had been. While he did not know about Jensen Canyon, but when I mentioned the Mummy there, he knew what it was and had learned it to be Mummy Canyon.

Sherri made us dinner-skillet chicken, pasta and vegetables from Birds Eye. Pretty tasty and filling. Don, Sherri, and I all talked about the possibilities of what tomorrow held and when the repair would happen. When it got dark, we lit the fire from wood Don brought from his property near Pine Flat. Sherri and I, well maybe particularly I, usually do not have a campfire, so this is a good treat out in the desert. We burnt all the wood. Around 9:30, we wandered off to bed. A bit more tired than our exertion warranted.

The places we did not go today, which was on our list:

Visitor Center

Maybe Desolation Canyon-before Sherri gets up

Trail Lesson: Be prepared to change for the unexpected.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
French Toast/Turkey Sausage/syrup/jam	PB&Nutella or jelly Sandwich	Skillet dinner	~~Clif Bar, GORP, Propel, CytoMax, Scratch, Coffee Candy, Jelly Belly~~

Extra Photo's

Animal

Thursday, November 18, 2021

November 18, 2021 -Death Valley: Artist Dips

Title: November 18, 2021 -Death Valley: Artist Dips
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking
Trail: No Trail
Trail head: Artist Dip
Destination: Loop
Actual Destination: end of canyon and back.
Distance: 5.26 miles ¹
Start Time: 9:47
End Time: 2:27

Travel Time: 4:40 (1.13 mph)
Moving Time: 3:33 (1.48 mph)
Elevation Rise: 1,147'
Descent: 1,137‘
Maximum Elevation: 944'

GPS Tracks

¹There is about half of a mile where the GPS turned itself off. So there is a gap in the tracks.

Car Mileage: 40 miles

Description:

Sherri walking to Dip 1

I woke up to a glorious sunrise this morning. The time would be around 6:20. The sun rose with an array of colors lightening both the eastern and western skies. When Sherri got up, she makes pancakes and bacon.

Now we have not decided on what to hike today. We had talked about a hike called the Artist Dips^*. It is to the west of Artist Drive, going down one wash and coming back up another. But the concern here is the book’s^** description of this second wash: first a five foot dry waterfall, followed by a harder seven foot wall. Are we really up to this? After talking about other options, we decided this is the one we will do. We even leave camp a bit earlier than usual: 9:15.

Gary walking the wash

We get to the Dips at 9:55. The book says to go 0.4 miles beyond the first dip and park at a wide place in the road. We walk the road back to the first dip. Here we observe a pretty curious scene. A person is walking back down the middle of the road to his car. The car is parked right smack on the road where it will be hit if anybody comes along. Ever hear of the phrase, an accident waiting to happen?

We do not stick around, but neither do we hear the crunch of metal, so we assume nothing happened. We start out going down this first canyon. Within a hundred yards we hit the remains of the old road which must have been washed out by a flash flood. The book talk about how the road propagates erosion. But in my mind, it is how it inhibits it. We have to work around a 5’ shear wall of dirt being held together by asphalt. If the old road was not there, there would have been a decline several yards back.

Asphalt holding back erosion

Walls of the wasg

We continue our walk along the wash. The book gives several benchmarks about what we expect to see. The canyon did not disappoint. It slopes downward at a reasonable pace. The canyon walls turn colorful, maybe not as much as the hills of Artist Palette, but enough to satisfy with the greenish-blues, red, yellows and other colors in-between.

The canyon narrows a bit and changes colors to more shades of chocolate brown and tan-almost like a sundae. Looking at the tans, we realize this is where floods have thrown mud on the walls, in places going up 15-20’. If a flash flood happens, how do you escape that?

Mud on brown walls

The book says to do a sharp right turn when you see an expansive view of the Badwater valley floor. We start seeing a view of the floor and there is a promising canyon going to the right, but the view is more of a narrow V. The book warns not to be fooled by canyons which are too soon. So we continue on.

Besides, there are foot prints going further. Shortly afterwards we come out onto the alluvial fan of this wash. This is what I would call an expansive view. But not a sharp right turn, but we do go right around the bottom of a ridge. And then we keep on going. After about 20 minutes of this, we are trying to identify which draw to try to go up-none looks promising. We stop for a break-it is warm and no shade. I start trying to identify places on the GPS and am quickly coming to the conclusion we have gone too far. The footprints continue on, but we do not.

After resting and discussing, we start back the way we came. We are unsure if we want to go up the second canyon since we would still have to go over those two dry waterfalls or turn back around.

Wash's Walls

Shortly after re-entering the canyon, there is a promising wash we could go up. Looking at the
GPS, I think this one is the second dip canyon as it goes close to our starting place. There are no distinct footprints up this way, but the surface is pretty hard. We think it is good just to continue up the original canyon.

Gary heading past the wash opening

A little ways further, we come to some shade, so we stop for lunch and discuss our tactics. One thing which we are getting concerned about is which wash to go up. We are coming to several washes which looks promising. Coming down, we knew we just wanted to go down the main wash. But going up, it is a different story as there are splits in the washes with many of them look like they could be the main one. Fortunately we can make out tracks in the gravel on the one we are following and no tracks in the other washes. I need to understand a bit more how to navigate at the bottom of a canyon in the desert where I do not understand the geography as much as the Sierra. Also next time, make sure I bring topo maps of the area.

As we progress up our canyon, the colors are not as vivid as when we came down. The sun is more overhead, washing out the colors. It is harder going up the canyon as well. But we are doing good. I will confess that I am thinking that we should be coming to the end soon. But each bend gives us a new leg to continue our journey on.

Looking up the wash of Dip 2

Then around another turn, we spot the wall which the old road is built on. We get to it. Instead of continuing up the canyon, we follow the old road back to Artist Drive. Now it is only the third of a mile back to the car. This is a relief.

We take our time getting ready to move on. It is only 2:45, but we are pretty much pooped out. I guess we can do something if we can just drive to the place. A friend of ours talked about the Devil’s Golf Course as being an interesting place. We drive there. This is where salt has been raised gathering and forms tufts for as far as we can see. The tufts are covered by dirt, so there is a not a feeling of pristine white which you would expect from a plain of salt rather something which needs to be washed down. Still it is impressive just watching out across this wide expanse.

We got back to our campsite in time to relax for a little while. I read and watched my next door neighbor put up his tent. At first I thought this was the first time he had put up any tent-it is a gigantic tent. But he seemed to know what he was doing, just carefully following instructions.

Devil's Gold Course

Sherri fixes us a dinner of polish dogs topped with chili and cheese. While not high cuisine, it is filling and just what I needed for tonight’s meal. About the time I finish cleaning up, our next door neighbor comes over and we start talking. His name is Eric and he is a planner/communications person from Phoenix. In his spare time, he writes travel articles for various publications. We talk for over an hour, trading stories back and forth. He had a long drive and I had a long day. So about 8:30 we say good night and head our separate directions.

Trail Lesson: Pay attention to your surroundings, particularly when you are in unfamiliar territory.

Background

^*If you are looking for someplace on a map called Artist Dip, you will not find it. When you go along Artist Drive, you will now which is Dip 1 and Dip2, as long as you can count to two. They are obvious.

^**Best Easy Day Hikes Death Valley National Park. We went on a hike listed in this book on this day:

The "expansive view" of Badwater

Artist Dip. This is a hike which shows great promise, as long as you do not mind scrambling up two dry waterfalls. Also, there is not any recognizable trail, so do not expect any signs to say where you are going. The book tells you that. Having said that, there is a bit of interpretation issue when reading the book. It does say, If any junction tempts you, check where you can see the Badwater Valley floor ahead in the distance. If you don’t see it, don’t turn out of the main canyon yet. Fair enough. There are a lot of tempting washes coming into this canyon. It then goes on and says At 2 miles from Dip 1 you can finally see all of the Badwater Valley floor far below. … Here you take a sharp right turn to head back. Advice: pay attention to the 2 miles on your GPS. If you can see all of the Badwater Valley floor, you have gone too far.