Death Valley, gummy bears, and REALLY big trees

Dang!  I'm so far behind.  Death Valley was close to a month ago.  Catching up.

Note:  It's a good thing we have Sundays and the regular going-to-church thing because it kind of zeros out my weeks, like an odometer in a car, so that I can count back and figure out what day it is at the moment.  Time really blurs when you're not in a routine-ruled lifestyle.

Husband, hoping for dark skies and photos, was more interested in Death Valley than I was.   I usually don't really care where we go and just follow along.   (My motto:  "Wherever. Whatever. Just don't scare me.")  We camped unhooked and unplugged for four nights there and it was surprisingly awesome.  The second day we were there, I think the park received at least half its annual rainfall, so flash floods abounded.

Tip:  If you plan to visit this unique park, bring your own groceries.  A quart of milk in their little store runs about $4.  The cheapest meal at the cafe was a $15 hamburger which tasted quite good, as hamburgers go.

We had planned to stay two days, but stretched it to four, so we utilized an 80-mile round-trip drive to tiny Beatty, NV, just outside the park, to do more sightseeing, find a grocery store, and to stop and see a ghost town (called Rhyolite) along the way.  I can't explain the reason for its odd name (which sounds like an energy drink) but we learned the town sprang to life due to a gold and silver mine in the early 1900s and died not long thereafter, leaving ghostly shells of buildings once filled with life and hope.

Beatty, being a typical Nevada town, sported a big, flashy casino, even though the town's only grocery store consisted of a few aisles in the Family Dollar store.  But it had an enormous nut and candy store unlike anything I have ever seen.   (Enter at your own risk.)  I chose the almond coconut brittle and Husband went with gummy bears and fudge.

Back in Death Valley.

Lowest elevation on the continent.  Not the prettiest spot, just worth noting.  There's a LOT of salt mixed into that sandy grit behind me.

We also did an exhausting five mile hike into Golden Canyon (in Death Valley) that awarded us with indescribable views.  We hiked out via Gower Gulch, which had been inaccessible just two days prior due to raging floods.  Who knew such a barren wasteland could be so stunningly beautiful?

I did not enhance the colors in this picture.  This is what it was and explains its name.

From a viewpoint called Dante's Point.  See the distant snowy mountains in the clouds?

Since Death Valley's elevation is so low, exiting it requires driving up through mountain passes which is slow-going in a multi-ton vehicle.   (Our apologies to the parade of cars behind us.  Husband does his best to pull over whenever possible.)  We went through some extremely remote countryside in central California before civilization finally began to reappear.

We did another Walmart night in Bakersfield, CA, before arriving at a campground near Sequoia National Park, in trees and next to a raging little river.  (Note: Before you pay extra for that riverfront site, think about how loud water can be.)

Those white things on the river bank were sandbags.  This formerly parched state was quite waterlogged.  Dare we hope the drought is over?

As we entered the park, we immediately begin to wind up into the mountains and ended up in deep snow.  The snowplow machines had cut through and piled the snow so high that it was like tall white walls lining the road.  No problem .... we were in our trusty Jeep, with the Beast waiting safely in the valley below.

Sequoia trees are shorter than Redwoods, but their total mass is greater.   We paid our respects to the biggest tree on earth -- the very grand old, "General Sherman".

I love visiting park lodges, especially old ones with their rock fireplaces, leather sofas, and all kinds of lodge-awesomeness.  This one wasn't old, but it was impressive nonetheless.  We each had a cup of French onion soup while we sat next to the tall windows in the nearly-empty dining room (t'was definitely the off-season) and watched the snowy show outside.

Next -- Yosemite and a BIG score.