02-22-2024 Entry

Was a better day today that the previous one. We had steel cut oats and leftover apple crisp for breakfast, weren't so rushed on this day to get going. After breakfast, we drove to Dante's View, which I don't believe we've ever visited. It took about 40 minutes to get there, and the road up from the 190 was a steadily increasing climb, with the last 1/4 mile at 15% grade. It was cool at the top, above 5000' elevation. The skies were clear with clouds over the Panamint and Sierra Mountains. We hiked the short hike to Dante's Peak, took a bunch of pics. It wasn't clear if we could see Mt Whitney in the distance, but all of Death Valley to the west was visible. After this, we drove down to Zabriskie Point, which Ann remembers us visiting with the Unocal crew around sunrise many years ago. Then we hightail Ed it to the Harmony Borax Works for a ranger tour. It was Ben, the same ranger from the Golden Canyon tour. He told about Aaron and Rosie Winters, who were the first to spot borate minerals in Death Valley. The 20-mule teams were actually 18 mules and 2 horses right in front of the wagons. This works was only operational for 5-6 years in the 1880s before cheaper sources of borax were developed. After the tour, we headed back to the campsite and ate Indian curry for lunch. Then in the afternoon, we headed over to the Ranch at Death Valley to go swimming and take showers. The wait in the lobby was comically long, with one guy checking in for 5 rooms, some under other names. The swim was nice, pool temperature was ideal, and it wasn't too crowded, although there were a couple of boisterous kids and their dad. Then we showered, got ice at the general store, and came back to the campsite, where we made lasagna in the Dutch oven. It was pretty great. In the evening, we walked over to the Visitor Center for another ranger program, this one indoors. It was Ranger Annie talking about endangered species in Death Valley, focusing on the Pupfish (living in an extreme, fragile environment), Desert Bighorn (threatened by the incursion of burros, which are a non-native species), and Desert Tortoise (threatened by lots of ravens and by people in the park). The talk was somewhat interesting, a little pedantic, but it was a nice diversion for the evening. Then we headed back to camp, pumped up the air mattress, and went to sleep.