Conky Tonkin' with The Pfeifers: Parks #14 and #15- Death Valley and Great Basin

To get to Death Valley, N.P. from Pinnacles required us to circumvent the southern Sierra Nevada as there was no direct route through the mountains.

Mountains in the Mojave Desert

We headed down to Bakersfield where we stopped for gas and got lost in the process. After getting our bearings straight (resetting Jane’s compass!), we found the route to Mojave where we immediately entered the desert.

Desert billboards

And it was hot. We made our way to Olancha and connected with a route that would take us into the park. The ride into Death Valley was interesting as the road ascended to about 5,000 feet before plunging into the valley with altitudes below sea level.

At the rim of Death Valley

After we left the mountains, the road through the valley became as straight as an arrow with a steep decline. We progressed to below sea level and made it to Stovepipe Wells Village and the visitor’s center.

Looking down into Death Valleu

There was a thermometer outside the center that registered 111° IN THE SHADE! This temperature produced the mother of all hot flashes for Jane, and we hurried inside, collected our stamp and immediately got back in the car before it became overheated from sitting in the sun.

I'm finally here!

While we were in the center, Jane received a hand fan that advertised the centennial celebration of park’s record temperature of 134° set on July 13, 1913, and which currently stands as the hottest temperature ever recorded.

My makeup is melting

We were disappointed that we missed this torrid event. We also noticed that all of the glaciers have fully retreated, perhaps an indication that global warming is occurring in this environment. We had the GPS running which gave us our altitude and recorded a low point on the road of 80 feet below sea level.

Balmy conditions today!

Kinda made us think that we were in New Orleans. However, the lowest point in the valley is 270 feet below sea level (New Orleans in the future- just imagine the levees!), but that point is way off road and we weren’t in a hiking mood. We continued on, thinking we would have to come out at the eastern entrance to the park and take a long route to Beatty, NV to spend the night.

Along the Beatty shortcut

As we passed an offshoot of a road to the northeast, Capt. Larry remarked: “I think that road might be a short cut out of here.” We studied a park map that showed a road marked by a gray line (the gray line roads are always the most challenging) that did lead to Beatty. We decided to try our luck and pressed on. We immediately started an ascent out of the valley, but also knew that this was not a highly traveled road and, if we encountered any problems, we might be in trouble. Fortunately, after a 45 minute ride, we arrived in Beatty. However, it was still early (the shortcut worked!) so we pressed on to the next “big” town of Tonopah, NV. What an armpit this town is.

Why do we always do this?

We were immediately wishing that we had stayed in Beatty, but it was too late. What was amazing to us as we cruised through town, was that all of the motels were displaying “NO VACANCY” signs, as if everyone was flocking to this mecca. We passed by one establishment with a “VACANCY” sign on, but it looked kind of dumpy so we figured that was the reason. After a couple of more fully booked motels, we found ourselves at the edge of town. With the next nearest town was a couple of hours away, it looked like we would be staying at the vacant Clown Motel (seriously). To make things worse, there was only one room left and it was a smoking room. Who really has smoking rooms anymore? Perhaps only in Harry Reid’s state. We weren’t happy, but felt we had little choice but to take it or spend the night in the car, a thought that was not necessarily unappealing. The motel’s ice machine didn’t work, and Jane would not take a bath in the bath tub (need we explain?).

We awoke the next morning coughing from the irritation. We packed the car and headed out to a Chevron station to get gas and something for breakfast. Jane entered a McDonald’s while Capt. Larry cruised the gas islands looking for gas pumps that were operative.

Big business in Tonopah

Fully one-half of the pumps were out of order. He found one that seemed OK, but after swiping his card, he found that the keypad didn’t work and he couldn’t enter his zip code to complete the sale. Finally he spotted a man and young boy coming from the restaurant to their car parked by the gas pump. Capt. Larry pulled up behind waiting for them to pull out. But no, instead of driving off these inconsiderate jokers swipe their card and start to pump gas! All of this after 15 minutes trying to get a pump that worked. He thinks he now understands why Nevadians voted the way they did in the last election. Jane emerged with breakfast and we drove to another gas station. From this point on we would spend as little of our dollars as possible in Nevada.

On the road to Ely

Tonopah is like so many other small towns we’ve seen. Outside of the tourist traffic (which explains the numerous motels with little availability) there seems to be no major revenue generating businesses that contribute to the tax base. The lack of economic activity seems to lead to residential decay with unkempt homes and yards, junk cars everywhere, and decaying buildings and abandoned business establishments. Kinda like a small scale Detroit. We think that people just give up when the community isn’t moving forward.

We gladly left Tonopah for a long ride through the Nevada desert on our way to Ely, NV and the Great Basin, N.P.

Another notch in Jane's belt

The ride was interesting as we encountered numerous homes, farms, and ranches which all begged an answer as to how they carved a living out of this environment. It certainly must not be easy, and our hats are off for their perseverance.

Bristlecone pine tree

We arrived at the park and found the visitor’s center where we collected our stamp, watched a long video, and viewed the center’s exhibits.

This is it. Great Salt Lake Basin

The Great Basin, N.P. has to be the strangest park we’ve visited. Basically it encompasses a part of the Great Salt Lake Basin and some surrounding mountains. While the park is in Nevada (probably due to politics), most of the defining feature, the Great Salt Lake Basin is squarely in Utah (we guess at five Utah already had its share of parks, so spread the wealth).

Entering another of our 20 states

There are some interesting habitats and ecosystems within the park with the alpine forest and bristlecone pines being the featured highlight. Bristlecone pines at altitude live to be very old trees (>1500d years) and their gnarled features are a beautiful nature display. We left the lower visitor’s center and made our way to the Lehman Cave visitor’s center higher up the mountains. Here we collected another stamp and had lunch in a picnic area, before heading back down to the valley and leaving.

Along I-70 in Utah

Shortly after leaving the park we entered the state of Utah and started to witness some really remarkable scenery.

Love the sediment layers

For quite a distance we drove through or along the Great Salt Lake Basin and saw some wonderful salt flats and mountain landscapes.

Looks like a mini-Grand Canyon

There were also some fine sedimentary rock formations carved by the water and wind, as well as mountains and buttes that presented astounding displays along the road.


Another Utah vista

Although the snowcapped mountains of Alaska were impressive in every manner, the mountains of Utah exhibited beautiful vistas that were just as awe inspiring. We got to Green River, UT and decided to stop for the night. It was an interesting day.