Death Valley

We both worked in Death Valley, we met in Death Valley, we both love Death Valley... where else are we going to spend our 1st anniversary than Death Valley?!

Of course, Gil's calculus teacher forgot it was our anniversary and gave a take-home test.  Gil finished it Friday afternoon and we were off.  We stopped for dinner in Bishop at our favorite BBQ place and it didn't disappoint.  We got into Death Valley around 11.  We camped at Sunset, which is basically a parking lot.  

Saturday was dedicated to Sidewinder Canyon.  Down in the southern part of the park, beautiful canyon and three exciting slots.

On our way up.

 Quick peak looking back.

 Gil's Atlas imitation.

I only needed one finger.

 There were a few areas where we scrambled around quite a bit.

 End of the day, I was tired and didn't feel like going up this last fall.  It was about as tall as I was.  I was beat but Gil scrambled right up and explored a little bit farther.

 Coming back down.

 Hello, Death Valley!

 We got back to our site, made dinner, then headed up to Salt Creek and enjoyed the stars and some M&Ms.

Sunday we went to church in Beatty and said hello to old friends.  We took the scenic way home through Titus Canyon.  It was quite thrilling, especially since I was driving!  Eek!

Coming over Red Pass.

 Leadfield.

 Crazy Death Valley geology with bends and turns and layers.

 This picture does not do justice to the hardest section of the road I drove over.  It was crazy scary.  Gil built up the rocks a bit then guided me down.

 We then entered the canyon proper with high canyon walls and narrow curves.  Gil took six videos of me driving the car through the canyon.

 Moon above the palm trees at Furnace Creek Ranch.

The wind bested us Sunday night and we ended up staying with a friend who still works in the park.

Monday we started the day doing the Golden Canyon-Gower Gulch loop.  It was beautiful.

 On our way out we stopped at Salt Creek again and said hello to some pup fish!  So fun to watch those little guys.

 And then... it got interesting.  We drove out of the valley and watched the temperature drop and the clouds hovering over the Sierra.  We made it about 30 miles north of Bishop when we hit snow and chain requirements.  We drove back to Bishop, had dinner, and bought chains.  We ended up putting the chains on the car two separate times.  It was cold beyond all reason too, the car said the outside temp was 5*.  No joke.  Gil's first time in single digits and we're trying to put chains on the car.  It was cold.

We stopped somewhere for gas and there was still snow on the back of the car.  This was between our chain ups.

 How they get those things in the bag in the first place I don't know.  The chains lived in the front seat all the way home.

We made it home by about 1am Tuesday.  It was quite the trip.