Boxing Day in a 4-wheel drive

Death Valley NP, California December 2012

• Fact #1: Death Valley is the largest national park outside of Alaska.
• Fact #2: DVNP has more miles of roads than any other national park.
• Opinion #1: Most of those roads are unpaved.

We rented a Jeep to explore some of the area accessible only by a four wheel drive. The rental outfit provides you with a satellite-linked emergency beacon to call for help if necessary. The "Help" button sends someone to repair the car. The "911" button sends a helicopter.

The first stop was Rhyolite, a ghost town. At its peak, there were 10,000 residents and it had banks, churches, saloons, and a stock exchange. The ruins of the bank are still standing.

At the other end of the ghost town spectrum is Leadville, along the Titus Canyon Road.

Titus Canyon is a narrow slot canyon, just wide enough for a one-way road. There are several springs where Big Horn sheep congregate and native Americans camped, leaving petroglyphs.

Once more for Star Wars fans, this is where you go in search of Jabba the Hut.

Every place has a mystery. At Death Valley, one such place is Racetrack Playa. This a dry lake bed with stones that mysteriously move across it, leaving tracks. The most accepted theory is following a rain, the mud becomes slick enough that wind can push the rocks. Given how cold the wind was, this theory seem quite plausible.

The Ubehebe ("YOU-bee-HEE-bee") Crater is a huge, 770 ft deep, half-mile wide, steam explosion crater. Rather than being created by an uplifting of lava, the crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the the valley floor.

"Ubehebe" is a Timbisha Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock." It looks just like that.

It is possible to hike to the bottom. We are not so ambitious as to want to hike out.

Cultural Observation of the Day:

On our last few trips to National Parks, we have seen a significant number of international visitors. There is certainly a mystique about the American West and the wide expanses are something not seen in the large cities of Europe, Asia, and the Far East.

At Death Valley this week, I estimate more than 75% of the tourists are either Asian or Indian. What is most noticeable is frequently the groups are three generations traveling together. It is very charming to see the emphasis on family. Within the generations, the kids (average ages 4 - 11) speak English with American accents, their parents speak heavily accented English, and the grandparents none at all. Clearly, there is assimilation into the American culture.

Hoping we don't need to push the "911" button tomorrow.

"I think firearms are allowed in the parks now."

"If we arm the coyotes, they can fend off the bad guys."