Last time I was here was on a July. DV is much different in April, that much was obvious from the need to wear the fleece when climbing up some of the canyons this weekend. It wouldn't be until the drive home, however, that I would truly see this park in all it's colorful Spring glory... and name it Life Valley (I'll rename it again in June).
Ironically, the very first stop of this gorgeous two day trip was the last place I stepped foot on two years ago... Mosaic Canyon.
During this 10 mile crawl (between some pretty awesome slots at parts), I hadn't gotten to the flowers yet, but I could already feel the life flowing through this area... much different than the stale environment in 2008. My old "Rock Dan" cairn had long disappeared, but as Glenn and I trail blazed, we put up some new beacons along the way...
"Death Valley" conjures thoughts of desolation and discomfort, along with some of its features, such as "Furnace Creek" and "Badwater Basin." The truth is I found this area to present a beautiful example of the effect of seasons on the ecosystem. For all flora and fauna, human and non-human, season and climate change have defined life habits and biological patterns... and although this planet is our gift to enjoy, our existence is closely tied to the survivability of these delicate interactions. Our own human biology has been very finely attuned to the natural environments we have existed in throughout the genesis and adaptations of our species. And the whole picture must be considered when choosing what is best for us and the people we are trying to help.
I'll doff the philosophizing beanie for now and just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the comfort of Spring in the Valley. And before I fly to China and march across the lowest dry piece of dry land in the world, I will have tried it once or twice across the second lowest piece of dry land... right here in Cali.
Glenn and I decided to stretch our canyon exploring legs by taking a drive up north through Titus Canyon (beautiful slots there too). I missed my old enduro biking days as we bumped along this rocky road, but I'm glad the Sub had no issues with the scenic route.
At some point people did this with wagons and oxen... and dirt roads didn't even exist yet. One with your environment...
Halfway through this drive, we found Leadfield. Standard ghost town... abandoned mines and old shacks.... awesome
Disclaimer: we did not even contemplate the highly ill-advised action of entering the exposed shafts in the mountain... that could have resulted in, say, me hearing a noise that sounded like a mountain lion and proceeding to yell at Glenn to run for his life as we both would have sprinted out of the musky hole at full speed... that would have just been embarrassing
The beautiful drive out led us to a windy night of resting up for the second day...
And on that day we did a lot of walking...
And the end of the road dumped us in Badwater... the lowest place in the western hemisphere
This patch of land becomes a giant stir fry pan in about a month... I can't wait to slog across it then...
Finally, the drive home through Shoshone, as I mentioned earlier, afforded me the exposure to true earth beauty that I hadn't given the Valley credit for two years ago. These images will get me though the summer, through the race, and in the long term will remind me of seasons... of climate, of wet and dry, highs and lows, and the fact that there are people in other parts of the world, a hundred years after our wagoners left Death Valley, who still walk and carry their burdens through their own volatile, ever changing natural environments. Those images will also follow me through the race, as I've had the honor to walk with some of those people, and hope to do so more in the future.
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