10/20/21
Today was a lazy day since Nick did not feel great after spending all day in the sun and having caffeine withdrawal. We went and found coffee at a gas station and then flipped out at the crazy gas prices! We then explored the Ranch at Death Valley. This is where Amos is going to be working for the winter season and it was fun exploring such a bougie place. The ice cream parlor was pretty but the grilled cheese sandwich was $17 alone! We then went back to ranger Nick's house to rest and recover for the next day.
10/21/21
This morning I woke up to a text from ranger Nick recommending that we go explore the Keane Wonder Mine and the Rhyolite ghost town. Since we didn't have any real plans we decided to take him up on the recommendations. The Keane Wonder Mine was filled with ruins of the mine and the buildings that used to be there. They had a few mine shafts still open but blocked off from exploration for many safety reasons. Nick and I took our own time in exploring the area and then met up to leave just when 5 more cars showed up to explore the area.
Rhyolite was not quite what I expected but still interesting none the less. I pictured a town of old western wooden buildings that were slowly deteriorating but instead it was a booming area in the early 20th century that became a ghost town when the mines stopped producing. There was also an art area filled with local and international projects. We continued exploring to find the depot that lived a very interesting life, meaning sketchy casino after the train station fell through.
We then drove in to Pahrump, NV to get the remainder of our camping food and to get ranger Nick some groceries. It was an hour drive to town and then we spent about an hour getting all of the food together. We finally were making our way back to ranger Nick's house when we came across 20 Mule Team Canyon. This is now my favorite place in Death Valley National Park. We were the only ones there and the colors in the rock and sand were like a paintbrush exploded on it! If I ever end up working in the area then you can count on me taking many afternoons listening to the still desert hidden among the dunes of 20 Mule Team Canyon.
We finally made it back to ranger Nick's house and caught a gorgeous sunset, which ranger Nick said was probably the best one he had ever seen in Death Valley. Maintenance Nick then made vodka sauce for our huge spaghetti dinner. It was great having a large meal, and I made 48 cookies for dessert!
10/22/21
Today was our last day in Death Valley National Park so we finished it out with a trip to Golden Canyon and Dante's Viewpoint. Golden Canyon was used in the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope and it was like stepping into the movie itself. We kept thinking of the scenes that were probably filmed at this location and continuously quoted them. We also found a slot canyon off of the main one and climbed to the top of a ridge through the slot canyon. It was a fun adventure exploring off trail and Nick did a great job on the hard climbing portions of our adventure.
After Golden canyon we made our way up to Dante's Viewpoint which overlooks Death Valley itself. Death Valley is just a small valley in the entire Death Valley National Park area. It was a beautiful day and the views did not disappoint.
From Dante's Viewpoint we drove the 2.5 hours to the Mojave National Preserve and then did some off-road travel to a Lava Tube. I had seen it mentioned on a website and didn't know a whole lot about it beyond it sounding interesting. I was not prepared for how amazing it was. There was literally a cave surrounding by volcanic rock with holes on the roof of the cave from where lava poured out of the tube however many thousands of years ago. We found a way to climb up to one of the smaller holes so we could stick our arms out of the hole like we were clawing our way out of the ground.
On top of everything that we did today, the sunset was glorious! I stood on top of the van and sang The Circle of Life from Lion King as loud as I could because of two reasons. First, I have always wanted to do that, and two, the moment was so amazing that I couldn't do anything else to fully appreciate God's glory in that space.
10/23/21
This morning I watched the sunrise with awe at how the colors wrapped the clouds in bubbly warmth. Hey that sounds kind of poetic! I then went for a walk after breakfast before we journeyed around the Mojave Preserve. We had to go to town to get gas for Nick and find firewood. There was a local guy who had a huge amount of firewood for sale, we found him after asking the gas station employee, and we bought to large bundles for $15 each! He said the lack of willing workers it causing the firewood prices to skyrocket and he then went on a rant about political agendas and how the U.S. is going to end up a communist or socialist regime in the near future. He was an interesting fellow but I appreciated the firewood. We then ended up exploring the Kelso Depot Center which was an old train station that had been restored as a visitor center. Unfortunately COVID and staffing issues closed the visitor center internally but we could still check out the external views of it. I would say the highlight of the day was the blood red sunset from our campsite. It was absolutely incredible and the photos do not do it justice. I think the Mojave Preserve is my new favorite place for camping and I plan on making it the spot where I go for spiritual retreats throughout my lifetime.
10/24/21
Today was a fantastic day! I had decided to wake up and go for a run during the sunrise and I was not disappointed with it. The pink, red, yellow, and purple were magnificent and it was my first run in a desert. I ended up only running one mile and then stopped to soak in the smells, feeling, and sounds of the desert. I took a while to breathe it in and then instead of rushing back with another run I walked back to our camp. Nick and I made breakfast and then made our way down to Joshua Tree National Park to claim a camp site before they were all taken and we found a great one at Belle Campground. The campground was awesome with giant boulders everywhere and our campsite was #3, which was tucked away behind a few boulders. The main grouping of rocks in the campground was called Castle Rock and I found a way to climb to the top to see our surroundings. I loved the view and came back down for us to figure out where to go to catch some movies for the night. The only place was 1.5 hours away but we had nothing to do at camp and were tired of the desert atmosphere so we made the drive to go and see Venom: Let there be Carnage, and Halloween Kills. The movies were entertaining, especially with Nick being a huge Halloween movie fan, and I realized that I hadn't been to the movies since the fall of 2019! We made it back to our campsite around 11:00pm and went straight to bed.
10/25/21
Today was a very simple and relaxed pace. I woke up with the sunrise and then got out and climbed on top of Castle Rock to enjoy some views and separate space from the hustle and bustle of everyone else in the morning. I then came back down to make breakfast after I came up with the idea to use the rest of our eggs and hotdogs to add to some rice. It turned out really well and was quite a filling breakfast. We then drove into 29 Palm Springs and then mapped out our route for the day. We drove to a coffee shop about 20 minutes east of the campground we were staying at. We both uploaded photos and connected to the internet for any needs that we had. The sky was threatening rain so we were a little nervous for the evening but in actuality it was a perfect evening.
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