Death Valley @en
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Petroglyphs and sand of Death Valley…
1. Intense sunrise at Lookout City.
2. Softer colors over Panamint Valley.
3. Treasure of Death Valley, a waterfall going down Darwin Canyon.
4. End of the day near Hunter Mountain, in a beautiful forest of Joshua trees.
5. We discovered the Blackrock Canyon Well, a little-known petroglyph site.
6. This representation of wild sheep with her calf mouflon backs almost 3,000 years BC.
7. Shoshone Indians were admiring wild sheeps.
8. There are other representations which we don’t know the meaning on this site.
9. The change of patterns is amazing in some fifty petroglyphs we spoted.
10. Here is the largest of the canyon, near 10 feet high!
11. Likely a butterfly…
12. There are even some representations on detached blocks.
13. Jeff a little tense on the Road Linpincott…
14. We arrive at the top at sunset.
15. Stop near Eureka Dunes I had discovered with Jean-Luc last spring.
16. Wind pattern…
17. … and shadows…
18. Ripples…
19. Vegetal graphism on mineral.
20. Last sunrays lengthen the shadows…
21. Dune…
22. Sand waves…
This concludes the eight days spent with Jeff & Janet who continued their journey toward North. It was nice to share these few campfires and make them discover some hidden corners of this splendid Death valley.
Next of the journey coming soon… 😉
Death Valley
I went to join Jeff and Janet, an Alaskan couple who wanted discover some places of the Death Valley and preferred to do it in two vehicles. But before that, I installed the new compressor of VivaLaVida.
1. Beautiful sky over Arizona strip.
2. ARB was kind enough to replace the compressor with a new one, the previous being his fourth failure. Thanks to them.
3. To try to prevent this from happening again, I installed a “house made” air filter which should limit the amount of dust that it swallows…
4. On the road to Las Vegas Where I met my friend Christian for dinner, I heard a big “bang” and the back of VLV sagged while I was driving at 70 mph.
5. A tire suffered a carcass break, probably the result of fatigue of the carcass. Admittedly, these tires have rolled some 10,000 miles of trails at reduced pressure…
6. Met Jeff and Janet in Bed Springs Cabin, a pretty little miners cabin.
7. Saratoga Springs, south of Death Valley. There were a few ducks and a lot of frogs croaking! 😀
8. Arctictraveller going up to Black Magic Mine.
9. Wild donkeys or “burros”, presumably a mother and her young.
10. Late afternoon on the trail to Owlshead Mountains where we spent the night.
11. Diversity of mineral colors is pretty amazing in places.
12. One of the few stone cabinss, the Geologist Cabin.
13. Camp at about 4,000 feet above sea level, near the Striped Butte.
14. Raking light…
15. Striped Butte at sunset.
16. Twilight on this desert of rocks…
17. Jeff & Janet joined me in the night after going to fill Arctictraveller’s tank.
18. Jeff on Mengel Pass tral. It is not very experienced in offroading, I have therefore spoted him on tricky places…
19. There was quite a few steps!
20. And some quite off camber path to…
21. Panamint Valley.
22. Dusk from Lookout City, an old mining town over Panamint Valley.
And for a change, here are two videos of VLV in action. Thanksu to Jeff for having sent me. 😉
To be follwed in some days… 😉
Mono Lake, Bristlecone Pines & Death Valley…
Waiting on the flange that had to be replaced on Vivalavida, we rented a car and went to visit Mono Lake, about seventhy miles north of Bishop. This lake is unusual to see since it have calcareous concretions created by source, like kind of stalagmites visible today. This lake is also very salty, which limits the underwater life.
1. High country near Mono Lake.
2. Salt foam on the shore.
3. Concretions have surprising forms.
4. Vivid colors created by the minerals dissolved in water.
5. Nice cloud in the lake area…
The driveshaft of Vivalavida reinstalled, the next day we drove to the White Mountains to see the Bristlecone Pines, incredible trees since it is actually the oldest known form of life on the planet. Some of them are more than 5,000 years old and still alive!
6. Some roots are exposed, the erosion of loose soil is important here.
7. A section showing the trunk which growths only a few tenths of a millimeter each year. This dead tree lived more than 3,600 years.
8. Plateau at Shulman Grove.
9. Tormented but beautiful growth…
10. This ancestor has ceased to live…
11. Continuing our journey through Death Valley, we took a walk in the Titus Canyon…
12. … before joining the inevitable Zabriskie Point at sunset.
13. Sweetness of these eroded hills…
14. The sun disappears for an image a little different from this so much photographed spot.
15. We found a place to sleep in the wild near abandoned mines.
16. Track makes pretty curves…
17. The next morning, we went up Dante’s View, a spot overlooking Death Valley that FredW, a friend of mine, adviced me. What a panorama ! (stiched panoramic of 9 vertical images)
18. Drawings in Death Valley
That’s it for the Death Valley area. We then spent an afternoon in Las Vegas before taking the direction of the Grand Canyon. To Come soon…
PS: The trip map is up to date… 😉