Day 3, Sunday November 22.
Sunday morning found me up early in preparation for Day 3 of our Death Valley Geology Tour. I packed up the car, got ice for the cooler, set up my GPS receiver and laptop for navigation, and then headed to the office to check out. After checking out, I zipped over to the Chevron station about a ¼ mile north of the Resort to fill up. Then I picked up my buddy Mike and made our way to the 49’er Café for breakfast.
Shah and his friend Pamon were there for breakfast, we joined them, recapped the previous two days, and discussed the plans for Day 3.
We finished breakfast and headed to the front parking lot of the Furnace Creek Ranch. Allan and his wife Claudia were ready for another day of discovery, as were the remaining SCLR participants. I was dismayed to hear that Hans was still suffering from his migraines and learned that he couldn’t make it. I held a brief driver’s meeting describing the day’s planned adventure and then we were off to our first stop, Rhyolite.
Rhyolite is about 35 miles away off Hwy 374, just about 6 miles from Beatty, Nevada. (Beatty is pronounced, we were instructed, “Baity,” as in the actor’s name, Warren Beatty.)
Rhyolite is a ghost town with a lot of character. With a population of over 10,000 at one time, Rhyolite was no small town. It began in 1904 with the rich discoveries in the hills west of what would eventually be the townsite. First, a small camp called Bullfrog emerged. Then another camp named Rhyolite took form a mile to the north. It included numerous saloons, restaurants, and boardinghouses—all in tents. By 1907, Rhyolite had electricity. There is one complete building still standing today in Rhyolite that was made from 30,000 beer bottles of which there was apparently no shortage in Rhyolite.
One of the first buildings constructed was the two-story Southern Hotel. The first post office was housed in a ten-by-twelve tent opened on May 19, 1905. Water was a rare commodity in the area and was carted in at a cost of $2 to $5 a barrel. It was not until June 1905 that Rhyolite had an efficient water system. In only one year, it had an abundance of water and three water companies.
Another building, the bank building, was 3 stories tall and cost $90,000 to build. Ruins of its walls still stand today and are often photographed- we were no exception, in fact, I think everybody who had a camera took a picture of it.
The financial panic of 1907 took its toll on the town and businesses started to shut down. Then, the mines started to play out and by 1916 the power and light company had shut down and the people moved on. During Rhyolite’s brief reign of glory, more than eighty-five mining companies were active in the hills around the city. The financial panic of 1907 spelled doom for Rhyolite. By the end of 1909, the population was well below 1,000. The town continued to struggle to stay alive hoping for a new boom that never came. The population of the almost dead town had shrunk to fourteen by the beginning of 1920. The last resident died in 1924.
We saddled up, left Rhyolite, and headed back into California to make out way to Titus Canyon with a brief exploration stop at Leadfield.
(From Ghosttowns.com) Gold was discovered in Leadfield around 1904 and the town's big boom was in 1926-27. An auto road was built to the town and businesses sprang up from nothing in months. Then, a man named Charles Julian entered the picture. Julian sold stock in the mine and was very successful at it. It seemed, though, that he jumped the gun and had not obtained a permit for selling the stock. Despite having sold 300,000 shares, and the town having 93 blocks, by 1927 it was all gone. The gold has run out and Julian fled eventually to Shanghai where he died at the age of 40. Today there are only a few ruins left at Leadfield, and its greatest legacy seems to be the Titus Canyon road, built at a cost of $60,000 at the time.
Next up- Titus Canyon. Titus Canyon, for a geologist (or geology buff), is like being a kid in a candy store (or a Land Rover owner in the parts room at British Pacific or Expedition Exchange)! There is so much to see- petroglyphs, faults, folding and bending rocks, megabreccia, 200-foot-high canyon walls. Titus Canyon has some of the best examples of geology as nowhere else, especially all in one relatively short canyon. Allan mentioned that many colleges and universities send their geology students to Titus Canyon for four or five days to study its features. You really must see it to appreciate all it has to offer.
Our next destination was Scotty’s Castle and would be our lunch stop. Scotty’s Castle is about 20 miles north of the terminus of Titus Canyon on the North Hwy.
(From
www.nps.gov) Hidden in the green oasis of Grapevine Canyon in far northern Death Valley, the Death Valley Ranch, or Scotty's Castle as it is more commonly known, is a window into the life and times of the Roaring 20's and Depression 30's. It was and is an engineer's dream home, a wealthy matron's vacation home and a man-of-mystery's hideout and getaway. Walter Scott, Death Valley Scotty, convinced everyone that he had built the castle with money from his rich secret mines in the area. Albert Mussey Johnson actually built the house as a vacation getaway for himself and his wife Bessie. Scotty was the mystery, the cowboy, and the entertainer, but he was also a friend. Albert was the brains and the money. Two men as different as night and day, from different worlds and with different visions - who shared a dream.
We stopped for lunch at Scotty’s Castle before we would head out to Ubehebe Crater. Matt and his family decided to take the Scotty’s Castle tour and David and Paula decided to head home. The remaining members of our group packed up after lunch and drove to the crater.
The Ubehebe Crater, while less than 10 miles from Scotty’s Castle, seems worlds away. It was unbelievable- the temperature was mild and there was barely a breeze at Scotty’s Castle- at the Crater, it was cold and the wind was blowing about 20-30 knots. Allan described the creation of the crater and some of its details. The crater is half a mile wide and more than 500 deep. The age of the crater has been estimated to be 2,000 to 7,000 years old. "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Native American word meaning "big basket in the rock." The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain (movement on this fault was responsible for uplift of the entire Cottonwood mountain range). There are several smaller craters in the area as well.
From the crater, we headed south to Teakettle Junction. We arrived at Teakettle Junction and came across 3 guys riding their Dual Sport Bikes. After they took their pictures at the Junction, we set up to take ours. Thanks to Tomas and Renee for donating a teakettle to hang at the Junction. Tomas put his email address on it and received a message from someone who saw the teakettle a couple of days later.
Thanks to John Shumovich and his cool, remote-controlled Nikon D40 for the pix at Teakettle Junction. The remote removes the necessity for pushing the 8-10 second timer and making a dash back to the group in time to appear nonchalant. The remote is very cool- but I kind of like the suspense of the timer and the photographer’s ability to get into the picture in time.
Shortly, we were off for the Racetrack. However, less than a quarter mile from the Junction, a car was coming from the other direction. The dirt road is rather narrow and we moved our Rovers as far right as safely possible. The driver in the Subaru did the same on their side, but with unfortunate results- the rocks on their side of the road sliced through the sidewall of their right front tire resulting in an immediate flat.
Fortunately, the women in the car had a full-size, inflated spare, but said they were unsure how to change it. I imagine they could have figured it out, but with our experienced crew, I knew we could have it changed in no time. Plus, while not directly responsible for their predicament, I felt we did contribute to the problem- if we weren’t there, they wouldn’t have had to move so far to the right which resulted in the flat.
Sure enough, we had the old tire off, and the new one on in less than 10 minutes. We would have done a Nascar pit crew proud! We sent the women on their way and headed south to the Racetrack.
Because it was getting late, we decided not to stop at the Grandstand, that unusual uplifted mound of dolomite in the Racetrack and made our way to the extreme south end where the best examples of “moving” rocks race. We weren’t there for more than 10-12 minutes before the sun set behind Ubehebe Peak, putting the Racetrack in shadow. While it is still light out, photos are less dramatic without the direct sunlight- the flat light from the open sky makes for less interesting photos- it also makes them bluer because the sky is now the light source.
Next up was Lippencott Mine Road, the most technically challenging part of the day’s run, and because it can be a little challenging, I wanted to get down through the tougher parts before dark.
Lippencott is a great single-track shelf road that leads down to Saline Valley. Some of the tight, hair-pin turns can be a little nerve-wracking, especially for longer-wheelbased vehicles. You really need to be aware of where the trailing rear wheel is tracking. Thank goodness someone had been through recently and had done some trail work building up some of the eroded corners.
Curiously, a couple of trucks coming up the trail were on the same FRS channel and we heard them chatting. We were able to find out where they were on the trail and arrange where we could pass each other safely. Once past them, we made our way to Saline Valley Road without further consequence.
We paused briefly at Saline Valley Road to regroup before heading to Highway 190. Saline Valley Road is a pain-in-the-neck washboard road that leads up through Jackass Canyon to an elevation of about 6,250 feet before it passes through Lee Flat. It alternates between dirt and patches of asphalt before it finally ends at Highway 190.
At the interection of Saline Valley Road and Highway 190, we aired back up, said our goodbye’s and headed down the hill to Olancha for gas and the drive back to LA.
Thanks to everybody who came along on the trip. And thanks again to Allan whose invaluable knowledge of geology definitely adds another dimension to an already fascinating place.
See you on the next one, some time in April or May 2010.
