Sat Sun 23/24 Mar 2013

Las Vegas, here I come.

One thing you ( ;-) ?) should know is that distances
in US are sometimes  a surprise. Driving from Beatty
to Las Vegas, is about 120 miles, and some small
towns along the way. At least according to the map.
But, after 100 miles, not one house, by far no gas
station. Just at the limit of the totally
empty gas tank, about 30 miles before Las Vegas,
there was and army base with a few trailers (they
call this a town), and luckily, a gas station.
One small addition. Somewhere halfway, there was
a T-section, with just one green house, an alien
from area 51 ?

By the way, Nevada is one big airplane shooting target
practice area.

Also, never plan to travel during march madness (spring break).
Seems that I got the last available room in Las Vegas.
Good that I arrive early enough to spend some time, and found
something very close to the strip.

Spend the afternoon visiting Hoover dam. Amazing that we could
walk inside the dam with a guide, who knew a lot about
the engineering facts, numbers, history, and a fun story teller.

A picture upwards looking, from one of vent shafts, in the
middle of the dam:





















And the rest of the night on the strip in Las Vegas.

Friday 22 Mar 2013

Another amazing day in Death Valley.

Wake up at 7040 feet, at 34 F, is another adventure.
But hot coffee, and 1 hour later in the 80 +F valley makes all good.

Crossing to Valley, to the ghost town Rhyolite.
What a surprise, this town was now the 'goldwell open air'
museum, from the Belgian sculptor Albert Szukalski.
He is from antwerp and known for his "ghostly" shrouded
figures. But several other Belgian artist, such as Fred
Bervoets worked at the side.

From there the adventures 4x4 drive to the Titus Canyon.
The 'red pass' had even for me some scary moments, but what
an amazing set of views.

Another ghost town Leadfield. From the official sign:
This was a mining boom town founded on the wild and
distorted advertising 300 hopeful people swarned here and
a post was established in august 1926, in February 1927,
the post offic closed and the town died.

Ended the afternoon with the visit to Scott's Castle.

Spent the night in Beatty. An old miners town with still
about 1000 people. But what kind of figures...
Gun control, Obama care, all intersting topics but one
of us, is totally out of touch.

Thursday 21 Mar 2013

Snow in Death Valley !

So, yes, decided to go to the west side mountain range.
First stop, Aguereberrey Camp. A Frenchman who got the
dream of finding gold, and stayed 40 years mining for
the gold. After 4 decades, and several mines, he was the
longest miner and most famous one but made only a total
of 175000 dollars in his whole life. Fascinating story.
Further on, thru a desert like landscape, to Aguereberry
point, 6433 ft. Again a, beautiful west point view of
death valley.

Yes, and once so high, why not continue.
Up to wildrose. Seen some (wild) mules in the
desolated landscape.
Further to chaircoal kilns. Looked first like a series
of modern lodges, but where in fact old constructions
to meld gold or silver.
Hiked from there to check the "thorndike" campground.
All warnings about high clearance and only 4x4 where
somewhat exaggerated. From there the real hike started.
From the 7000 ft to 9960 feet. And yes, many patches of
snow. Finally decided to camp even there.

Perhaps not planned at all. But quite well prepared.
Got all my sky stuff, gloves, woolen had. A sleeping bag to -10 F.
Real cozy now. And this is the real thing. Free
campground, no (expensive) restaurant in 100 miles.
But good spicy broccoli cream soup on the menu
with Duvel. A perfect, 0 dollar day.

And another point, Along to hike to the 9960 ft
lookout point, I met a couple, and he was 80 years
old, she end 70ths. Would you not be jealous to
climb fully joyfully, 3000 ft at that age.

Wednesday 20 Mar 2013
An epic hike from Golden Canyon to Zabrinskie point.

After a short night, remember the 'bad water ales',
and so much wind that I got the impression that
my tent was blown apart. Must be the (planned)
weight of the frigo box with the Duvels which
protected me.

Still, got an early start to go the the starting
point of the hike. It looks like just a wall of rocks
with no entry, but what a surprise. After each corner
there where different views, different colours, different
point in the creation of "Death Valley". I walked thru
millions years in the making.

The golden yellow of million years old sand beaches.
The dark red of the cathedral rocks.
Plenty of mile long side canyons.
The first hour, you walk thru the bottom of the canyon,
but the you start climbing, and the views makes you
speechless. Selecting a few out of the 200 pictures,
to describe this, is impossible.

The red cathedral

Top view of the Canyon

For the overview (half dome view) go to Dante's
point. 5000 Ft, plus the 282 feet under sea level,
makes a big change (but not really by car, dam these
modern ways to get around)

Borax company, pupfish, mosaic canyon, and sand dunes,
lots of sand, all finished the day.

Not really, the Stovepipe ale, the IPA 365, the Epic IPA,
and Death's guy ale, really finished it.

PS: The death valley ale is really a good ale.
The Stovepipe Ale (Stovepipe my rest place for the night)
is a little bit to light.
Going for the IPA 395, Mammoth Brewing) saves the
night....

Other pictures to come when the bandwidth is acceptable:

Duvelke on the 20 mule trail.
P1100864.JPG

Zoom power of my camera tested on the sand dunes
P1100983.JPG
P1100982.JPG

The waitress at the dinner, who really knew the beers, suggested
to go to Augerberry point, Lemi park. Perhaps I stay another night.

Tuesday 19 Mar 2013

Arrived in Death Valley from Ridgecrest.

The "Death valley" tourist information center in Ridgecrest
was not aware of any hikes or camping over there....
So, just went shopping to survive. Yes I bought water, but
I admit, I have not yet used it.

Then started the nice drive in an ever changing desert landscape.
With several stop for memorial plates, where several people died
due to the hard desert conditions.

The amazing thing, is that if you go off-round (not planned)
you see suddenly an underground bunker, which a water supply.
An ultimate dessert car wash ?

And after some ghost towns (Trona, Ballarat) and several passes
(Panamint, Wingate, emigrant pass) I arrived in the real "Death Valley",
and was soon 282 feet under sea level: Bad water, which is by the
way also a very good Ale (I know after 4 glasses).

The very small sign in the upper left corner shows the sea level:

The natural bridge in the early evening, gives great pictures, but
seeing sunset in the Artist drive, makes the mountains
become a golden place. All worth the planning, if I had known it.
If you need nice photo screen savers, let me know.

Me, in the zig zag of the roads.
To come: P1100610.JPG

Monday 18 Mar 2013

On my way to death valley.

Started going over the Pacheco pass, down HWY 5, passing the Harris Beef feeding farm, 

thru Bakersfield. And then following the scenic Kern River Valley

to Ridgecrest. Having a good dinner and drink: Amnesia IPA and Death Valley Pale Ale (Indian Wells Brewing Company, Inyokern, California).

Now, on my way to the national park "Death Valley".

Mar 2013

London

High speed train (TGV Train a Grande Vitesse) from
Rijsel to London, total distance 242 km (150 miles),
about 80 minutes, average speed 185 km per hour.
Far from the TGV test train record for the fastest  wheeled
train, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 April 2007.
Tunnel under the channel is 50.5 km (31.4 miles), and lowest
point is 75 meter under the sea floor.

Remember Harry Potter in St Pancras, platform 9 3/4.

And choices, choices

And at each corner, another choice. Try this one, or the next ?

And, then inside, still a lot of choices, for all the local beers.

And so many more.

For sure, not miss. Especially if you like horses:
Change of the horse guard.



And so many things to see: Big Ben, tower bridge, the towers,....

Then, I still skip all pictures of the crown jewel's, the torture rooms,
and the so many impressive museums.


Financial district, non stop building, ever changing skyline:

On the way, back, beautiful views off the Rockies. Initial some guess
work. For instance, was pretty sure to see Hetch Hetchy from the air,
but with the help of Google maps, could identify Hwy 120,
Moccasin / Don Pedro reservoir, Yosemite, Tulloch reservoir
and very clearly Mono lake.

Back home, after freezing Europe, was immediate in spring
time, greeted by many birds in my small garden.