Death Valley and Grand Canyon Rafting - September 2017 (Part 1)

Link to the photo album 


First I want to apologize for not posting the Vegas trip earlier, it does lack some of the usual 'flair' of these posts but this year I've been swamped with working on documentation for work.  It took a while but I did get it submitted and now I will have a bit more time to write on the blog.  Also I'll blame some video gaming too 😁

It is that time of year again, where Rebe and I venture off to one of our nation's wonderful National Parks.  If you've been keeping track, we've been knocking a few off over the past few years.  Starting back in 2014 we had a coaster trip planned but it would also be our first trip to San Fransisco and being so close to the iconic park of Yosemite we would have to stop by. We only spent a day and a half there and it was so amazingly stunningly beautiful that I do want to go back but before we do we will check off a few more the list.  To date we've been to:

• Yosemite National Park (N. California)
• Smoky Mountain National Park (Near Gatlinburg, TN)
• Haleakalā National Park (Maui, Hawaii)
• Grand Teton National Park (NW Wyoming)
• Yellowstone National Park (NW Wyoming)
• Glacier Bay National Park (SE Alaska)
• Denali National National Park (Central Alaska)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (NW of Denver, Colorado)

You may ask, when did you go to Smoky and Rocky Mountain?  Well Smoky was a part of a coaster trip we did back in 2012 and Rocky was part of our trip to Denver back in August 2017 for the solar eclipse.

Totality as seen from Wyoming

And now we add Death Valley and the Grand Canyon.  

The Grand Canyon portion of the trip was planned back in December of 2016, yes 9 full months before we actually did it.  And even with this much planning the trip still almost didn't happen, the first few operators we called had no space on any planned trips for the fall of 2017 and the operator we called last (well last because they had space) only had space on one or two motorized raft trips and luckily we got the last 2 spots for our trip.  We originally wanted to do a small oar based rafting trip instead of a motorized rafting trip, we figured the rapids would be better on a small boat, less crowded and a more intimate experience with the river but they were all booked.  We then settled for the motorized rafting trip, a 7 day 6 night rafting trip with 27 other passengers that does 187 miles down the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry down to Whitmore Wash.

The trip would meet up in Marble Canyon, Arizona on Sunday September 10, and that would mean we would have a few days before hand to figure out how to spend our weekend (it also helps that it was our Friday off).  We had initially thought we would try to hit one or two of the great Utah National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches or Capital Reef) but would be a bit of senseless driving since our fly-in and fly-out place was Las Vegas, basically we would have driven to Utah only to drive back to Vegas to catch our bus or we would have driven to Utah, left the car at the rafting headquarters and paid for a rental car for 6 days that we were not even using.  Obviously the Utah parks got scratched from the plan and we settled on Death Valley.

Day 1 - September 7, 2017 Houston - Las Vegas - Death Valley

With Hurricane Harvey settling over Houston at the end of August this was close to putting the kibosh on our fall vacation plans.  Luckily and I mean luckily we were spared the wrath of Harvey and only suffered being inconvenienced with a few flooded roads, but it was definitely a "pucker" moment as the water rose.  If we had been less than a quarter mile south of our current location we would have lost everything in the house. We were lucky enough to be taken in as refugees at our friend Ed and Cathy's house.  

From right outside the entrance to our neighborhood

Our actual street, our drive way is partially pictured first on the left

We got back into the house on September 1st so we had sort of settled back into a normal routine before we had to leave for our trip, even spent the weekend of the 1st up in Dallas with Rebe's sister and visited with some old friends who live in Forth Worth.

We left Houston on the 7th and arrived in Las Vegas around 4:30pm local time, picked up the rental car, and headed to Death Valley.  Like I mentioned in the earlier Las Vegas post, if you read it, no trip to the west coast is complete without stopping at In-N-Out.  Granted I think it's losing it's pull to me but regardless it was still good.  The road to Death Valley from Las Vegas is not a major interstate but a mix of 4 and 2 lane roads that wind through the desert.

Getting close to Death Valley

We finally reached the Death Valley National Park at about 730pm, and unlike most of the other large National Parks we have visited, there was no main gate to charge visitors but just a small parking lot to pull over into and use a machine to pay your entrance fee (a sort of honor system).  Upon hopping out of the car we immediately learned why they call it Death Valley, it was almost like it was a place too hot to visit and too hot to work.  As I mentioned before, it was 730pm in SEPTEMBER and it was still 107F (41.6C) outside.  But at least the wind was blowing...yeah that felt like someone was using a hair dryer on us, dry heat my ass.

We soon paid our fee and hopped back in the car to head further into the park and further below sea level.  That's right below sea level and this is the place where the hottest temperature ever was reliably recorded.  We stopped a Zabriski point for a few while the light was fading, took some pics and headed to our hotel room.

Zabriski Point

The room was a room, but the hotel attendant did warn us not to lower the A/C below 75 as it might actually stop working and blow hot air.  Needless to say, we left the A/C at 75.  We attempted to venture out to catch some stars but the moon was out in full force and doing it's best impression of the sun.  We then packed it up and went to bed in our slightly warm hotel room.

Day 2 - September 8, 2017 - Death Valley National Park

Woke up before 8am to get started on our first full day to experience the park. The hotel had a little restaurant that serves a buffet breakfast and a little bar that does lunch and dinner.  We popped into the restaurant to see how the line was and how quick we could grab a bite, well quick wasn't the issue but we weren't really interested in paying their tourist extortion prices for crappy food.  So we headed over to the golf course, yes there is actually a golf course in Death Valley and apparently has been there a while, to catch some breakfast.  Breakfast equals bananas, chips and frozen microwaveable Jimmy Dean biscuits.  Can't say I really miss eating those for breakfasts.

After our breakfast of champions, we stopped at a local Jeep rental store to check out rates for Jeeps. A lot of the amazing sights in Death Valley are off the beaten path and the paths they are on really require a Jeep.  We scheduled the Jeep for the next day and proceeded to see the car accessible stuff today.

While at the Ranger Station

As usual we had a tentative plan but to shore it up, we stopped by the ranger station just to see what they recommended and then we were on our way to the first stop of the day, Badwater Basin.

Yes, 282 feet below sea level

Panorama of Badwater Basin

Badwater basin is the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level and gets it's name from the fact that when it rains the water tends to be really salty and the animals from back in the day wouldn't drink so thus it was 'bad.'  There is really not a lot to do at Badwater but to walk out into the lake bed and just see it, and we got there at 9am which was probably a bad idea.  The sun was up, it was hot and we were prepared with 5L of water and loaded up with sunscreen, well we thought we were ready.  After walking out on to the lake bed for probably half a mile and getting back to the car, I looked a Rebe and noticed that she was looking a bit lobstery.  The WHITE lake bed was acting like a mirror and really bringing the heat, it was hot but not quite DEATH VALLEY hot yet though the sun was out in full force.

Devil's Golf Course

Badwater is towards the southern end of the park, we got back to the car and immediately turned on the A/C and headed to our next stop that was close to the road, "The Devil's Golf Course."  It is right next to Badwater Basin and was formed by salt drainage, given it's name for it's shape that only the devil could play golf on this surface.

We now were to a dilemma, it was now after 10am and according to the park it was probably a bad idea to go for a hike through one of the canyons (Natural Bridge and Golden Canyon).  The National Park Service (who's budget has been cut, please support this great portion of our government) thought about people suffering in the heat and built roads from which the views are amazing, and we got to do one of the cool roads which goes by Artist Pallet.

Artist's Pallet

After leaving Artist Pallet we headed back to the hotel room in Furnace Creek to restock our water supplies and find some lunch plans and since the places near our hotel were complete garbage as witnessed from our breakfast selection.  We then crossed half the park to travel to Stovepipe Wells, where we had lunch in a saloon to discuss our afternoon plans and we decided for some reason that it would be a good idea to do a hike through Marble Canyon while it was 116F (46C) out.  As we drove to the trailhead I made a bet with Rebecca, "If there are more than two cars, it means we're sane typical late summer Death Valley tourist, if there's only one car we're only slightly crazy but if there are no cars then it's a sign that this hike is completely stupid.  We pull up, one car!  YAY, only slightly crazy, but of course we get out of the car and the owners of that car walk up and we're now officially completely stupid....  While it was a beautiful canyon my baby was suffering a bit from the heat, she was willing to tough it out but like a referee in a boxing match I had to call it early and walk her back to the car, she hated me at the time for "ruining the potential of a great hike" but later she thanked me (because turns out the best view was the first 1/4 mile of the hike) plus I wasn't looking forward to dragging/carrying her in that heat.  Did a bit of rock stacking on the way out.

Rebe in Marble Canyon

Rebe next to our rock stack

Also close to Stovepipe Wells were the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes, beautiful dunes of sand just hanging out in the middle of the valley.  It takes 3 things for dunes to form, wind, sand and a place for the sand to settle.  While we were on the dunes, it was a bit windy which was a precursor to what we witnessed later in the evening. According to us, no visit to a National Park is complete without some soft serve (or ice cream of some sort) so Rebe built us some 6" soft serve cones :)  As we left Stovepipe Wells we noticed the wind had picked up and that there was a bit of haze in the air and we were about to drive into a sand storm.

Mesquite Sand Dunes

Sand storm from the road

Sand storm looking back at the dunes

On the way back south we noticed this little oasis, outcropping, or well I don't really know how to describe it but it turned out to be one of the rivers or waterways that runs through the valley.  Salt Creek is it's name and it is the home to the California Pupfish a tiny fish that only lives in this waterway, we looked but never saw any.

Salt Creek

We continued south as the sun was starting to set over the mountains, and with the weather "cooling" we thought it was time for at least more hike before the sun really disappeared.  We returned to Golden Canyon which we passed on earlier in they day due to the heat, now don't think it was actually a reasonable temperature at this time of day but it was definitely better than it was earlier in the day.  We found a special spot that we hiked up to, which over looked some of the lower mountains that were glistening in the sunset.  It was a bit of a sketchy point to get up to and even more sketchy getting down (had some other folks follow us up, that's right we're the trendsetters).

A view from the sketchy hill we climbed, below are the suckers who followed us up :)

Dinner was at the craptastic bar near our hotel, crowded with other tourist who had no where else to eat due to the parks isolation.


Day 3 - September 9, 2017 - Death Valley National Park

Being in a different time zone always messes with your sleep patterns so of course we woke up at our bodies normal time which of course was well before sunlight in California.  We thought we'd get on up since we were awake and try and catch a sunrise at a cool location.  We drove back to Zabriski Point where we were went we first entered the park, but clouds were really blocking the sun so the experience was a bit muted.

Zabriski at sunrise

Again we had a golf course breakfast, this was more driven by our desire to get on the road in our shiny Jeep and head to the infamous Playa Racetrack.  You have maybe seen pictures of this interesting place, it is another valley where water sometimes pools and it has the mysterious sliding rocks for which there isn't a definite answer as to how they move and leave the paths behind them.  But before we made our way to the Racetrack we stopped for a hike through Titus Canyon.  Another beautiful walk through a slotted, high walled canyon which had not too long ago been flooded from a recent rainstorm and during the hike you could see the mud line in some areas as high as 20' up.

Note the mud line above Rebe's head

Titus Canyon

Now on main road on the way to Titus Canyon we did notice there was a bit of debris that had washed onto the roadway but nothing that was a true cause for concern, but on the hike out of the canyon we ran into a couple that visits the park regularly and they noted to us that the road that we had just come down was closed... We thought, that's funny because we didn't see anyone or any signs noting a closure.  With this new information, we thought we might want to hit the road and get on down to the Racetrack before they turn us around and send us back into the interior of the park, but before we get to the canyon road exit they have locked the gate to the canyon we had just hiked!  Thankfully the gate was not actually locked but just closed, this was a bad sign for what was to come but we trudged on in our rental Jeep.

First true sign of wash out

Well apparently the rain was a lot worse than we thought last night because only a couple of miles after we left Titus Canyon not only was there debris on the road but the road was impassable unless you were in a Jeep... which we were.

Where is the road?!

And since we had the Jeep (already paid for) we thought we'd power on until we either got to the Racetrack or someone told us the road was closed.  After going over a few rocky patches the road kept getting worse, worse and even more worse.  As we journeyed on, another rental jeep was coming in the opposite direction and when we saw him we knew that this was definitely a bad sign as there was no way they'd made it to the Racetrack and back at this time in the morning.  The other jeep stopped and explained that he'd made it almost to the Racetrack Road a couple miles up the road but an actual park ranger told him to turn around and that the actual Racetrack Road was open.  There was another route to the Racetrack but the Jeep company told us NOT to go that route as it's even more treacherous than the standard route.

We sadly turned the Jeep around and head back toward town to 1) find cell service to call the Jeep place to give them a piece of our mind that they let us rent the Jeep knowing where we were going with the road being close but apparently they did not know the road was closed and 2) to formulate a new game plan since our first plan was going to take most of the day.  We decided to head to the western section of the park to just see more of the park, hike to a waterfall and to do some Jeepin'.  We spent a chunk of change on this dang Jeep, I'll be damned if I wasn't going to do some off roading.  We had decided on Darwin Falls, the trailhead was a few miles down a road that was probably passable in the rental car but definitely a lot faster in a Jeep.  The hike was flat for the first mile but then it got a bit challenging with us having to crawl over boulders and hop over mud puddles created by the falls.  (Side note: whenever in the desert and someone says "waterfall" or "falls" be prepared to lower your expectations, you're not going to get Niagara or Yosemite level water)

Boulders and muddy creek

The 'magnificent' Darwin Falls

All in all the hike was fun and challenging and now it was back to the Jeep and time to do more exploring.  In looking at the map of the park there was a road that led over the mountain to the town of Darwin, so we headed up the 4 wheel drive only road to explore the mountains above the park.

Jeep on the cliff overlooking a valley

As we climbed the mountain we stopped to enjoy some of views and found some of the old mines that were built back in the day when mining was big in the park.  We continued the path until we came to a split in the road...well the map didn't have a split so we decided to take the path that looked a bit more travelled and we came to another split...and another...and another, then the path got a little faded... Well after a little bit of a panic we found some old power lines that looked like that haven't been in service since 1910 but we figured that they would actually lead to some sort of town and hopefully Darwin. Turns out the map they give you at the ranger office is not detailed enough for off-roading (your supposed to ask for a specific map for each section of the park that you can jeep). Eventually, probably a good hour worth of driving in the unknown, we found signs of human life and then over a hill we found the town of Darwin and NOT A PERSON OR MOVING CAR IN SIGHT.  Essentially a ghost town so we drove through the town looking for the one road that leads out, didn't find it as easily as one would have thought.  We turned around in the town and there was one guy walking through the town, we have no idea what the hell he was doing out there and frankly didn't care we just wanted to get back to civilization.  Now I know some of you are thinking we're nuts but the Jeep people did give us a tracking beacon that was satellite capable so if we did indeed get lost, which we were, they could come find us.

Darwin satellite view

Yep, population 50.  Not sure of where they were hiding

After leaving the bustling metropolis of Darwin we headed back to Death Valley National Park, the town of Darwin is actually outside the boundaries and on the way back into the park we passed a couple of valleys with hundreds of Joshua Trees.

Joshua Tree

One thing I omitted earlier in driving to Darwin was that Death Valley National Park actually consists of two valleys, Death Valley itself and Panamint Valley.  Coming back into the the park from the west side the park road twists and turns down the mountain but before you get down there is a pull out named Father Crowley overlook, no that's not a sign of anything but just a funny coincidence.

Panamint Valley from Father Crowley Overlook

Road across Panamint Valley

Got into the park to catch sunset at the dunes in Death Valley...wish I had my big camera and to have dinner at one of the few joints in the park.  Finished off the night in Mustard Canyon to do some star gazing.

Dunes looking across Death Valley

Day 4 - September 9, 2017 - Death Valley National Park - Las Vegas - Marble Canyon

It was our last day before starting part two of our adventure. The day required us to get back to Las Vegas to catch a shuttle bus over to Marble Canyon for the rafting portion of this trip.

We were up at a reasonable hour to venture down to an overlook that gazes down on Death Valley named Dante's Point.  It was a really beautiful way to start the day, along with a great drive up and down an amazing mountain road.  Some of you may know I'm a bit of a car buff, but sadly driving rental cars on these amazing roads makes me wish I sometimes bought my own car; it's like sleeping in a hotel bed, while it'll pass it just isn't as good as what you have at home.

Dante's View overlooking Badwater Basin

From Dante's Point we headed out of the park, it was a bit of a rush back to the airport as maybe I made a bit of a miscalculation on what's a reasonable amount of time to get back to Las Vegas but we made it.  The rafting company setup a shuttle service from the airport, as paying for a rental car for 7 days when you're not using it is a bit wasteful and also the logistics of the rental car and the river are a bit silly.  Imagine having a rental car, you drive from Las Vegas to Marble Canyon (4 hours) then raft 188 miles down the river and then you fly back to Marble Canyon only to drive another 4 hours back to Las Vegas.  But with the shuttle system, we were bused to Marble Canyon and the flown back to Vegas afterwards.

The ride leaving Las Vegas on the bus via I-15 was a beautful ride of mountainous desert landscape (even a quick glance at some other national parks and a mormon cult city) that ended right at the edge of the Grand Canyon.  We could see the edge of the upper canyon from the hotel which was very tiny itself, it only had 25 or so rooms and was VERY rustic and a restaurant onsite which was surprisingly good and had avocado pie for dessert, very interesting.  Imagine key lime pie with a hint of avocado.

Picture from the shuttle ride

Avocado Pie

We called it an early night, as there was little to do at the hotel and tomorrow was the start of the week of "roughin" it.