There was enough rain in the winter of 2004 and the spring of 2005 for a great wildflower show. The wildflower displays in the spring were pretty good. This was not true in Death Valley, though. The wildflower displays there were nothing short of spectacular!
Coming in at the south end of Death Valley through Shoshone, we got of the main highway quickly, before we got to the greatest wildflower displays norht of Jubilee Pass. Instead, we took the gravel Westside road. We had not taken the road before. Before you come to the Westside Road you come to the site of the old Ashford Mill. Only ruins remain. But the site is interesting. Some of the walls and muchof the foundation remain. There are traces of machine parts aw well. The site overlooks the Amargosa River. We also saw a lot of wildflowers there. The river was the first thing we came to when we actually got onto the Westside Road. The river is usually dry, but this spring it was almost a foot deep. It was an easy ford.
Next we stopped at the Cinder Cones. They are made of red ash and pumice, but have weathered enough that there is soil as well. The soil wass covered with green plants and yellow daisies. We hiked to the top and along the top of a ridge before coming dow, and were alsways in the flowers. We also drove in to Gold Hill and Johnson Canyon. The hills there were also covered with flowers. After a short stop at the Eagle Borax Works site, we stopped at the site of Shorty Harris and James Dayton's graves. We paid our respects and moved on. After that, we continued on up the road to highway 190 and then up to our motel at Stovepipe Wells.
The next day we became celebrities as we went out for breakfast. We left the dogs closed up in the bathroom while we were gone, and, by the time we returned they had knocked a plastic pipe loose, which flooded the motel room. By the time the pipe had been reconnected and the water had been cleaned up we made a late start for the Jubilee Pass area, where there was a great display of daisies as the main flower and a ;ot of phacelias and lupines in the understory. The display was as good as had been promised. We and the dogs went out and romped amid the wildflowers for the afternoon.
We decided to try to find the site of the ghost town of Skidoo. The site is in the mountains off of the Emigrant Road at the other end of the park. We reached it before sunset, but not by much. We walked around the townsite in the waning light. Not much remains other than foundations and debris. But, from our hillside vantage point, we experienced a great sunset. THen we headed back to the motel. The rest of the trip we ate one at a time. All of the wait staff recognized us and asked about the dogs whenever we were in the restaurants. I guess that not much really happens in Stovepipe Wells except for the coming and going of tourists. We were happy to provide some diversion for the staff!
The next morning we headed to the sand dunes at Mesquite Flat. They are very quiet and serene in the early morning. We did not know htat the dogs were supposed to stay on a leash, so we let them off. They really enjoyed trying to run up the dune face and having the sand come down as they ran. They were panting hard when we finished walking there. There are fewer people tracks in the morning, so the dunes look like no one has ever been there before. There were not even many animal tracks present. We walked in about a half mile before we tired of the going up and down in the soft sand.
After that we went to Mosaic Canyon for a hike. We found others there with their dogs. Everyone had the same problem: dogs were not allowed on the trail. So, like everyone else, we hiked serially. She went into the canyon first while I stayed with the dogs. When she had walked the trail, it was my turn. The trail goes into a narrow canyon that was created through erosion. The mosaic name comes from the pattern of broken rocks, which look much more like someone placed it all there than like desert cobblestone, which looks much more natural. The canyon occasionally widens, giving expansive views of Death Valley. But the narrower areas are more interesting for the rock patterns. The trail basically ends after about 2 miles, though the canyon continues as a wide area after you reach the peak height. Erosion continues both ways, the the effects of erosion are less spectacular in the downward drection of the wide canyon. So I returned to the dogs and we called it a day.
We left Death Valley through Daylight Pass, heading toward Beatty. The road rises for at least 10 miles in a broad valley. There were plenty of wildflowers in the valley. Again, it was the yellow daisies, highlighted with an understory of purple phacelia and lupines and with white forget me nots and other small white flowers. This was one of the best wildflower seasons in a long time.
On the way home we stopped at the Amargosa Dunes. The=is dune field is larger than the one in Death Valley and it is on the move. The dunes will eventually overcome Beatty (in several thousand years). These dunes are used extensively by dirt bikes and dune buggies, so hiking in them is not done very often. We walked along the edges, the dogs again enjoying the dunes.
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