Day #38 - 4/19/2011 - Kingman, AZ to Death Valley, CA - 262 miles

Our route from Kingman, AZ to the Wildrose Campground at Death Valley National Park is HERE.

We arrived in Kingman late yesterday, retired to our room and left Kingman without paying much attention to the city. Out of fairness to Kingman, I guess I should say something about the county seat of Mohave County.  Kingman, population=20268, was founded in 1882 along the newly-constructed route of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.  Pamela Anderson did a Playboy episode here, a Soprano's episode was done here and most importantly, Kingman lay along Route 66.  Enough with Kingman.

We left Kingman around 8am and headed North towards the Hoover Dam.  We had talked about stopping at the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a platform with a clear floor that extends over the South rim of the Grand Canyon built on property owned by the Hualapai Tribe.  The cost was a bit steep, $80/person, but the real deal killer for me was that any photography, whether by camera or cellphone, is prohibited. If you wanted a photo, you'd have to buy one from the gift shop.  Quel scam.  I was disappointed to not go, but I'd have been really furious at having been ripped off if we went.

The 70  miles from Kingman to the Hoover Dam was through Arizona desert, stark, but beautiful in its own way.  For the second time, in the middle of what should have been nowhere, another Really Good Fresh Jerky shack popped up…we stopped by, but it was closed.

I felt privileged to have seen first hand three of Gus's locations.

I was excited about returning to the Hoover Dam after a previous visit >10 years ago.  Lani was pretty disinterested, but as we approached the vicinity of the dam, she was wowed by the Hoover Dam Bypass immediately overhead. 

Approaching Hoover Dam from the West, you suddenly emerge under the the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, also known as the Hoover Dam Bypass, the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States, and incorporates the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere.  Lani's jaw dropped with a long "Wow".  Michael O'Callaghan was a former Nevada governor and decorated Korean War veteran.  Pat Tillman was a former Arizona State University Arizona Cardinals football player who turned his back on a multi-million dollar contract to join the service, only to die in Afghanistan in a notorious friendly-fire incident.

We didn’t do the full tour, but walked across the dam, taking in the structure and the man-made lake behind the dam.  If you’ve never been, it is way cool and worth going out of your way.

Lani stops to read the inscription on the monument approaching the bridge.

 100 men died during the construction of Hoover Dam which took place between 1931-1935

Following 9/11, through traffic over the bridge came to a halt.  About 1,000,000 visitors take the official tour (which is the only way to see the inside of the dam and the hydroelectric rotors.)

Two Florida tourists visiting the Hoover Dam.

As you walk across Hoover Dam, you move between time zones.

The Arizona side of the dam is on Mountain Standard Time.

 The daming of the Colorado River at the Hoover Dam created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States.  Lake Mead draws a majority of its water from snow melt in the Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah Rocky Mountains.   Lake Mead offers many types of recreation to locals and visitors. Boating is the most popular. Additional activities include fishing, water skiing, swimming and sunbathing.

This panorama, stitched from 5 separate images, is 15' long.  Let me know if you want one.  Or three.

 Crossing the river, you move an hour into the past.

Arizona is 8 hours behind Greenwich Standard Time (Pacific Standard Time.)

 Leaving the Hoover Dam, we had to wait for a giant flat bed with a wing to negotiate a turn.

We saw many big rigs on the highways hauling some crazy large objects, many of them looking military.

Heading towards Death Valley, we passed through Henderson, NV where Lani had already identified a used book store, Book Boutique.  I chatted with the owner, Shireen, while Lani searched the shelf of old books.

Lani found a copy of Shakespeare's Merchantof Venice published in 1871 priced at $15.  There was an inscription on the inside cover in ink, dated 1874 from someone who lived in Boston. 

Lani was pretty excited.  The book was in pretty good condition, sporting that old book smell.

The last Shakespeare I read was the 2nd semester of college, Measure for Measure.

Doing some internet research, Lani may have overpaid.

We turned towards Death Valley, stopping in Pahrump, Nevada for lunch.  Pahrump, 60 miles from Las Vegas, has experienced exponential growth over the past 40 years.  Originally inhabited by the Shoshone's, it was  named after the original indigenous name Pah-Rimpi, or "Water Rock," so named because of the abundant artesian wells in the valley.  Yelp pointed us to a Thai restaurant.

My Thai was located in a strip mall, right next to the gas pumps.  We were dubious.

 We had an outstanding meal and had a chance to chat with Max, the son of the owners.

Max's family had com to Pahrump from Thailand via Vegas in search of the American Dream.  They found Vegas too crowded and moved to Pahrump.

Of course, we couldn't leave Pahrump without looking for a used book store.

It looked promising from the outside...what old treasures lay within?

 It turned out that there were no hardbacks, only paperbacks.

Lani was in and out in short order...only paperbacks.

We continued towards Death Valley National Park.  I had originally thought we would bike into California through Death Valley.  As we drove over the 5000' pass between Pahrump and the Valley, I was glad we were in a car.  Death Valley is massive, covering over 5000 square miles with wide ranging terrain.  At 282' below sea level, it is the lowest spot in North America, as well as the driest, usually receiving less than 2" of water annually.  

We stopped at Zabriskie Point, located in east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in the United States noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago, long before Death Valley came into existence. 

Millions of years prior to the actual sinking and widening of Death Valley, another lake covered a large portion of Death Valley including the area around Zabriskie Point. This ancient lake began forming approximately nine million years ago. During several million years of the lake's existence, sediments were collecting at the bottom in the form of saline muds, gravels from nearby mountains, and ashfalls from the then-active Black Mountain volcanic field.  Another large panorama stitched from 5 images. 

There was a steady flow of visitors to Zabriskie Point while we where there with multiple languages being heard.  The view from Zabriskie Point looked like the glass jars that people with too much time on their hands fill with different colored sand or grains, creating elaborate images.

Our campground, Wildrose Campground was on the other side of the valley and farther South.  Turning off the “main road” (CA190), I could only marvel at what the National Park Service had maintained.  Segments of the narrow serpentine road cut through tortuous mountain ravines and were so ridiculous to drive that you had to laugh.

 

The Wildrose Campground is remote, consisting of an open area with numbered parking spaces.  There was an area for RVs and campers and a separate area only for tents.  The facilities were spare:  a spigot providing potable water and a surprisingly clean drop toilet (bring your own hand cleanser.)  There were no showers.  I was surprised at the number of people in campers and tents.  

We picked a campsite and Lani attacked the tent.

As usual, I helped by keeping a safe distance.

  It was pretty breezy...I set up a barrier to shield the burner flame.

Lentils and quinois, as usual.

Lentils and quinois simmering, I turned my attention to more important.matters.

Sharpening a stick for my marshmallows.

 We thought we were alone at our campsite...but we were mistaken.

It was a lot bigger than it looks.

 Once the sun set, the air temperature dropped quickly.  The campfire felt good.

We had bought firewood before coming to Death Valley.  Not only was there none nearby, bit's against park rules to be chopping trees down.  Go figure.

We had the best fire in the camp. 

The Starwalk app for the iPhone lets you see a real-time image of the constellations on your screen, allowing you to match them with the stars in the sky.  It is brilliantly cool.

Lani uses Starwalk app to study the constellations before we head in.

The day started in Kingman, Arizona, a bit of a nothing town and took us to Pahrump, Nevada where we had an amazing Thai meal, then to Death Valley, a massive national park of tremendous beauty, to the remote Wildrose camp site where we finished the day making s'mores under a brilliant star-filed sky. 


Such a great day.