The Grand Canyon and Death Valley

On Saturday morning we woke to completely clear skies, along with iced-over windows on our Subaru. Kathy warmed up the car while I got ready. No breakfast at El Rancho, so we decided to eat in the park. Since we were so early, we were lucky to snag a parking spot right in front of the Bright Angel lodge where we had breakfast. Because of a water shortage the restaurant used paper plates and plastic utensils, so it wasn’t as elegant as some of the other National Park lodges we visited.

After breakfast we got a picture together; early morning on the rim of the Grand Canyon. We walked a short distance down the Rim Trail and found the Lookout Studio. In all of the grandeur that is the Grand Canyon, we appreciated the small plaques posted on some of the walls. “Oh Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all: The earth is full of Thy riches.” 

After walking through the Lookout Studio, we climbed down to a small viewing area that felt like we were suspended over the rim of the Canyon. 

Before we got on the shuttle bus we decided to hike the Bright Angel trail. 

I stayed near the top so I could get this picture of Kathy going around a bend in the trail.

Once I caught up with her, we walked as far as the upper tunnel where a kind hiker took our picture.

The upper tunnel is only about a half-mile from the trailhead, but both of us felt that was quite enough. 

The road going west along the Canyon rim is closed to cars most of the year. Fortunately, there are a set of free shuttle busses on three different routes. We hopped on the Red line and rode it to its endpoint at Hermit’s Rest, where we found another inspiring plaque.

After we got back to the Grand Canyon Village, we picked up our car and drove what is called the “Desert View” road that ends at the east park entrance, stopping at each sight. Here’s a picture of Kathy standing in front of the rock formation known as the “duck on a rock”. 

It was a nice, scenic drive and was not very crowded. It took us about two hours with stops. After leaving the east gate we still had to drive back to Williams through Flagstaff, where we had dinner at Chili’s. I like eating in the middle of the afternoon, because usually the restaurants are uncrowded. At Chili’s, almost every seat was filled. As we left I asked the hostess what was going on. She didn’t know and told me that it was never this crowded.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll be heading for our last stop, Death Valley National Park.  

Death Valley National Park

On Sunday we were able to leave before sunrise. It still was below freezing and Kathy, once again, warmed up the car to melt the ice on the windows. Our first stop was Kingman, Arizona, where we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel and Kathy bought some souvenirs for the grandkids. 

Instead of taking Highway 66 and various back roads, we took the freeway past Las Vegas, and turned North on Highway 95. Since we had pretty good phone reception, we were able to listen to most of the Sunday service at Calvary Chapel. We drove past Creech Air Force Base, the command and control center of where Reaper drones are piloted (nothing to see there), and then stopped for gas at the Area 51 Alien Center in Amorgosa, Nevada.

We got to the Stovepipe Wells Hotel in Death Valley before our room was ready. So, we had a late lunch at the restaurant. Once we got settled in our room we spent the rest of the day figuring out what we wanted to see in Death Valley.

On Monday morning we got up before dawn and set out to see the sights. The sun was just rising and hitting the tops of the mountains, so we took a picture together.

Then, I tried to take one of those iPhone “Pano” pictures to take in the whole horizon. I think it turned out pretty good.

Our first stop was the ruins of the William Coleman’s Harmony Borax Works where the mineral borax was gathered and processed for about six years from 1883 until 1889. To get the refined borax to the nearest railhead in Mohave, Coleman designed a special type of wagon which was pulled by teams of twenty animals, usually two horses and eighteen mules.

In 1891, after the Harmony Borax Works had closed, Stephen Mather trademarked the name “20 Mule Team Borax”, and the cleaning product is still sold today. The U.S. Borax company also sponsored a radio, and then television anthology called “Death Valley Days” sometimes hosted by Ronald Reagan.

Just thinking about all of the work those mules had to do made us hungry, so our next stop was the dining room of the Inn at Death Valley, which is located at Furnace Creek. We had an elegant and reasonably priced breakfast and then spent a little bit of time exploring the grounds. It is a very impressive hotel.

After breakfast we drove south on Highway 190 to Zebriskie Point which looks down over the Valley.

Here is picture of some of the interesting mountain formations that you can see from the Point.

From Zabriskie Point we drove south to the Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at -282 feet. In contrast, the Dead Sea is over 1,300 feet below sea level.

At Badwater we walked about a hundred yards out onto the salt flat. 

On the way back to our hotel we visited two more sights. Artist’s Drive is a 9-mile one-way loop road that travels up into the hills. About half-way is an area called the “Artist’s Palette” which consists of the brightly colored rocks you can see (imperfectly) below.

Our last stop for the day was the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, just around the corner from our hotel. In 1977 George Lucas used these dunes to stand in for the planet Tatooine. Local schoolchildren from the elementary school were cast as Jawas, the hooded scavengers for the film. We walked out onto the dunes and Kathy shot this picture.

After the dunes, we headed back to the hotel. We both had some elk chili for lunch and finished the blog. Tonight we’ll pack everything up. In the morning we’ll head home after 56 days and 30 different states. It’s been a trip.