200 Feet Below Sea Level

Here I am, 200 feet below sea level at Furnace Creek in Death Valley. It's 70 and sunny, of course. I almost brought my raincoat, northwesterner that I am, but the weather forecast shows 0% precipitation for the foreseeable future. And it is dry, dry dry here. The recommendation is to drink at least a gallon of water per day.

If I came here again I think I would stay overnight in Las Vegas before driving here. I got into Vegas about 3:30, got my car and hit the road, thinking I would stop outside of Vegas and stock up on some groceries and have dinner. It took me an hour just to get out of city traffic, and then there was nothing, nothing, and more nothing, until I got to Beatty, which is just one step up from nothing. Settled for a mini-mart pizza for dinner and drove on in the dark, hoping my gps was correct, as I had no map. By the time I got here about 7:30 I was grouchy and had just enough energy to walk over to the general store and get snacks and beer. And a bottle opener, as I'd left my keys with my trusty bike/bottle opener/key fob at home.

Yesterday, after sleeping in too late for breakfast at the restaurant here (and it goes until 11am. I was tired!) I got a sandwich at the store and took off for a hike at Golden Canyon. I'd done part of this when I was here a few years ago with WomanTours, but this time I did a 5 mile loop. The first mile or so is one of the most popular hikes in the park so I had plenty of company. But when I turned off to do the alternate loop back through ---- gulch, no humans for the rest of the hike. Just a lizard, a few dusty green plants (desert holly, I think), red rock, pink rock, green rock, yellow rock, blue sky. And silence. Nice.

And about that dry: I must've come close to downing the recommended gallon of water but still did not have to make a pee stop in 4 hours of hiking. And yet I never felt sweaty.

After that I took the short, steep drive to Artist's Palette. Hard to believe I actually rode my bike up here the last time, and enjoyed it. I am so out of shape right now it just doesn't sound fun. The view here doesn't even seem real, so many colors: light green, avocado green, pink, mauve, yellow. Pictures really just don't show it.

 

 

 

 

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