In an attempt to keep my 2013 hiking goal, I ventured out to Mosaic Canyon. It was a beautiful afternoon and the weather perfect. It has some narrow places and it was an all and all good hike.
At the start, sun coming over the canyon wall.
One of the narrows in Mosaic.
For some perspective. There were places where I had to go sideways. It was exciting.
I was a fan of this little seat. There were a few place in the canyon where there were what are called dry falls. These are areas where, if there was water in the desert, there would be a waterfall flowing over the rocks. Millions of years ago, there was. I climbed up a lot of these little, and not so little dry falls and loved it!
After hiking about an hour and a half and referring frequently to my Hiking Death Valley book (which is much to big and heavy to haul around on a hike), I hit a massive dry fall. It was huge! I would have scampered up it in a heart beat if I had better shoes on, and more importantly, I could come down a different way. Some day, dry fall, some day I'm coming for you!
Don't panic, this is not my car. I would hope I'm smart enough not to drive my baby on the Racetrack road. The Racetrack is where the moving rocks are (see post in November '12). While high clearance is definitely recommended and 4-wheel drive doesn't hurt, the thing you need on the Racetrack road are heavy-duty tires. The volcanic rock will literally rip passenger tires to shreds. I enjoy showing this photo to Racetrack interested visitors when I'm on the desk. "I don't think your rental insurance covers this..."
Finally, in the past three months, I have seen more coyotes than I have in my entire life. They are all over the park. There are also signs all over the park about not feeding them. You might compare the coyotes of Death Valley to the bears in Yellowstone. Here is what one of the Grapevine Canyon Coyote's thinks about not getting hand-outs.
It's been cold in the desert. Scotty's Castle had a low last week of 19! Eek! I was lazy beyond all reason and hid indoors (where is wasn't much warmer because we have no say over the temperature in the dorms, how many people they crowd in, not fixing washing machines...I digress) and was a wimp and didn't get out like I had wanted. I need to either strengthen my resolve or fill the deficit of winter clothing I'm finding in my wardrobe.
