Story: A Weekend In Death Valley California

Our son was home from college on Spring Break and we wanted to get some time with him alone, before he started “hanging out” with hometown friends. We suggested a three day trip to Death Valley to get away from the congestion of Los Angeles and spend quality time. Death Valley where the night sky is magnificent, the desert flowers are blooming, and mysterious phenomena is accessable. Springtime accommodations are tough to get last minute; but as luck would have it, we got a room at Stove Pipe Wells for a hundred dollars a night.

It would be a short trip. So the plan would be relaxing the first day after the drive, a walk out on the dunes to view the stars that first night, and an expedition to the Race Track the next day. The Race Track is where rocks have cut trails across a dry lake bed, but no one has ever seen them move.

It’s interesting to note that all of Death Valley was once a 500 foot deep lake fed from glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. Plate shifts cut off the flow and eventually the water dried up. Today the valley possesses the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. The geologic formations are magnificent and the subtle color changes on the formations and canyon walls during the course of the day are inspiring.

The route from Stove Pipe Wells took us past the Ubehebe Crater, a dormant volcano cone. The textures and forms in the crater walls are dramatic and the colors during mid-day are beautiful, though subtle. There is a trail from the parking lot to the bottom of the crater. The winds on the edge of the crater were quite refreshing during the heat of the day; however, they can be adverse. Winds on the crater wall have been clocked at 50 mph.

From the crater, the road to the Race Track was a very rough 27 mile drive. We were glad that we took our old Ford van on this trip because the road to the Race Track is rutted like an old time wash board. High clearance made for a better ride. On the way we passed through Joshua Trees at higher elevation and came to Tea Kettle Junction. It has become a tradition for travelers on the road to hang tea kettles on the sign indicating the junction.
A bit further along, after the bouncing dusty drive of about forty minutes from the crater, we arrived at the Race Track. The stark contrast of the sky, mountains, and sandy colored dry lake bed was beautiful. The dry mud was cracked in pentagonal patterns. And there were those rocks with their trails cut prominently in the dry mud. At first our son was disappointed by the size of the rocks. He would have been more impressed by the phenomenon if they were boulders. The theory he came up with about their movement was influenced by their size.

Our son pronounced the day a success during a tasty steak dinner at the Wrangler Steak House at Furnace Creek Ranch, fifteen minutes from Stove Pipe Wells. He would have preferred to stay at the Furnace Creek Ranch, if only there were rooms available at the time.

Incidentally, our son was taking an introductory course in geology, the next quarter, when he returned to university. He was surprised the first day of class when his professor presented a lecture on the Race Track at Death Valley.