New Mexico and Death Valley, October, 2010

In October I went on a 9 day trip to Santa Fe, Death Valley, and Las Vegas. This story is best enjoyed if you also look at the photos (Ctrl-click to open in a separate window):

http://picasaweb.google.com/royyem/AlbuquerqueDeathValley

It began with a 3-day visit with my brother Joel and his wife Jo-Ann in Santa Fe.

The first morning Jo-ann and I arose at 3:30 and got to Albuquerque at 5 to experience the last day of the famous Albuquerque Balloon Festival. As the sun rose several balloons fired up, and once the sun was fully up balloons began to rise one after another. There were many gorgeous balloons and some fun shaped ones as well - Smokey the Bear, a cow, 3 mice, a Brinks truck... It was quite a site to see them all in the air. Unfortunately, it was a breezy morning, meaning that the balloons flew off pretty quickly and there were far fewer than normal...100+ rather than 500...but we still enjoyed seeing them go up and taking numerous photos.

The next day we all took a drive to Madrid, an artist colony ½ hour south. We loved looking at the interesting, beautiful, and original artwork in the various shops and talking to the friendly proprietors. The rest of the time we mostly hung out, and had a great Mexican dinner.

From there I flew to Las Vegas and met my friend Scott. We rented a car and drove to Death Valley. We spent the afternoon until sunset driving through a portion of the park before heading to our motel in the town of Beatty, Nevada about 45 minutes northeast of the park.

Death Valley has huge gorgeous rock structures like some other parks out west. Late afternoon we went along Artist’s Drive, a several mile long detour where gorgeous multi-colored cliffs radiate light in the late afternoon. We only saw half before the sun set too low, and returned the next day to complete the loop. We took a lot of photos but just couldn’t capture the brilliant radiance of the rocks.

The next morning we spent an unplanned couple of hours hiking large, sensuously-shadowed sand dunes. I took my shoes off too soon and got a bunch of spiky things in my feet, my requisite foot calamity for the trip. But most the time the sand was soft and fun to walk on. What was surprising was that in the early morning the sand was cool but, in places where my foot sunk in, still hot from the day before.

We hiked a couple of canyons and went to Badwater (which Scott tasted to confirm the name), the lowest spot in the U.S. – 282’ below sea level. Went to famous Zabriskie Point, with amazing folds in the land. The temps got to 100 by 5:00, which affected Scott more than me. What I noticed was how short of breath I was – even climbing a small hill would have me panting. And it’s not like we were in thin air…I never figured out why that occurred. But it made me somewhat skittish about our plan to hike the 2nd tallest peak the next morning.

We got up at 4:30 so we could drive the 90 minutes to the Wild Rose Mountain hike and hike it in the relative cool. We took a side road for 6 -8 miles, the last two of which were unpaved, to an elevation of 7000 feet. At the departure point were interesting beehive-shaped charcoal kilns. There was a lot of mining (the “20 mule team borax” folks were here) and other activities in the old days.

The hike comprised 2 miles steady uphill (jacket-cool when we departed), a mile flat, and a mile of very steep switchbacks to the 9000’ summit. It wasn’t until the 3rd mile that we got some views, and Scott elected to relax rather than undertake the last mile. I found it unrelenting, on and on, up and up. Although tiring (and my calves paid for it the next day!), I wasn’t out of breath as I’d been at the lower levels. And it was too dry to perspire much – not a cloud in the sky.

At the top I found two peaks connected by a saddle. Together the two peaks offered a 360 degree view of the entire park – the road we had driven up, the vast salt flats to the East, and 11000’ Telescope Peak looming above me in the nearby south. I took photos and videos but the scenery was too immense to really capture.

I spent around 45 minutes taking in the views and the energy, then started down the mountain. After about 10 minutes I realized I didn’t have my hat. It really hurt but I decided to go back up to see if I could find it. After 1/2 hour of climbing and looking I’d all but given up, when it suddenly appeared. I was gratified that the walk was not in vain.

We got back to the car around 1:30 and, believe it or not, the damn thing wouldn’t start. At 1:30 in Death Valley. Down a dirt road off a side road. With no cell phone reception. We’d met a couple on the trail but they were just starting their climb. Still, we both just laughed at the absurdity and figured we’d get out eventually. The day before we’d needed a jump and Scott said the car was behaving funny when we hit that dirt road, so we weren’t totally surprised. We pushed the car downhill in neutral and tried to start it, but that failed.

We waited 20 minutes and tried again, and this time the car did start. We drove it to the ranger station and learned that the listed “mechanic” only changed tires. We called the rental car company (from a pay phone on the sunny side of the building, the metal too hot to touch) and were told to drive it back to our hotel in Beatty (which we weren’t sure we could do). Scott soon discovered that it it wouldn’t stall if he kept his foot on the gas so, frequently driving with gas and brakes pressed at the same time, we eventually made it back to the hotel. The agency didn’t get us our replacement car until the next day, too late to return to the park. We eventually got a refund for the rental, but our Death Valley experience was over.

Instead we got to see the sights of Beatty (some interesting stores, a hotel that was a converted brothel, the largest candy store I've ever been in, and our own motel, Atomic Inn, a burgeoning atomic bomb theme park). We visited the nearby ghost mining town, Rhyolite, which featured a house built out of empty bottles, a common practice back in the day. And right outside Las Vegas we spent the afternoon at Red Rocks park, a gorgeous loop of natural formations. I never knew this existed and I could see spending a full day hiking here if I’m ever stuck in Vegas again :-).

We then enjoyed a couple of days at a conference of the men’s organization we’re in. Lots of seminars and some great conversations. The first night three of us saw Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles Love, a show of dancing and acrobatics set to Beatles’ music. I loved the music of course – they frequently segued among tiny portions of songs and we immediately recognized them. For example, they played the opening chord of Hard Day’s Night and then went onto something different. It was brilliant. Coincidentally, I chose this vacation to read a Beatles’ history I’ve owned for a long time, and began the trip on what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday.

I feel shortchanged on the Death Valley experience. There are even bigger dunes to hike, a waterfall, and a 600' deep crater. Scotty's Castle, an elaborate, Spanish-style mansion and engineering feat for somehow accessing water. Other natural formations that are only accessible by 4-wheel drive vehicles. Lots more to see, so I'll have to go back someday.