Done With Death Valley

I am sitting, even as I type, on the plush, clean, welcoming carpet of my living room in Houston, Texas.  Hooray for the end of the season and a much needed two-ish weeks of unemployment!

Here's a quick re-cap of the last few weeks.

To let you in on a secret, Scotty's Castle is not where Scotty lived.  His residence was about five miles west of the Castle at a place we call the Lower Vine Ranch.  Last month I was able to do the hike from the Castle to the cabin where Scotty lived.

Up on the ridgeline, looking down at the Castle complex.

When the workers were installing the perimeter fence, they came to a large wash.  They built a bridge over the wash so they could more easily transport the very heavy concrete fence posts.  Here's the group posing.  Since the bridge was also the only shade on the hike, we had lunch underneath it.  Paul, Keegan, Eric, Patrick, Mark, and Abby.

Death Valley is covered in mines and old mining claims.  We stumbled across a collection of three cairns, which usually denotes a claim.  Poking around in the stacked rocks we found the tin box, opened it, and read the old mine claim papers.  Pretty cool.

Another stop was a natural warm spring in the middle of the desert.  It was very warm water and it was a fairly warm day, but we still doffed boots and socks to soak our feet.  I pulled my feet out and had almost microscopic red dots cruising up and down my legs and decided I was good.  Eric, Paul, Abby.

Patrick and Keegan.  Because of the bending of the light/reflection in the pool, and the way he was sitting, we decided Keegan looked like a hobbit.

On one of my last weekends, I ventured to Salt Creek, a running stream in the middle of the valley.  There is a short 1/4 mile boardwalk trail that goes around the creek.  My main reason for going was to see the Death Valley pup fish.  They were out in masses, swimming and scurrying and very enjoyable to watch.

The pup fish are about of fifth of a pencil in length and comparable in circumference.

As I walked the boardwalk, as much as I enjoyed watching the pup fish, I found another site of desert survival.  A lizard with lunch (another lizard) in its mouth.  Pretty awesome.  Lunch was still kind of moving his head and opening and closing his mouth, and I felt kind of bad for it, but it didn't stop me from taking a couple pictures.

Me, in costume, in action on Scotty's porch, getting ready to explain the metal plate on the wall.  Any ideas as to what Scotty might have used it for?  Or said he used it for?

The two weeks before and the week after Easter were crazy busy.  We had full tours running every ten minutes.  It was fast and furious and we were exhausted by the end of the day.  Here we are in the back office, getting ready to head home.  Patrick, Chris, Paul, Walter, Mark, Taylor, Ashley, and Steve.

The end of the season is always hard.  It's bitter sweet in many ways.  You're ready for something new, ready for a new resource and the adventures it holds, but it's hard to leave the familiar, and even harder to leave behind the friends.  You quickly find out it is a small world in the Park Service and while paths may not ever truly cross, chances are you'll run into someone who's worked with so-and-so or who has worked where you've worked.

Three of the four in this picture have worked at Cape Hatteras, and all four of us know the supervisor out there, even though we haven't all worked with him at the same park.  I'm going to miss these guys a lot!  We were trying to get us all in costume, but it didn't happen.  Me, Eric, Jeanette, and Taylor.

To quote the '49er who said as he was lead by his rescuers out of the valley, "Good bye, Death Valley."  On to my next adventure.