Not that snow is unusual there this time of year…but I was not expecting so much of it!
the short version:
Took off on bus tour trip early Friday morning with friend and group of 40 travelers. Pouring rain. It dried up for a while till we got to Zabriskie Point and started up again. Then the wind started gusting along with the rain at Borax Works, and my umbrella turned inside out 4 times. I think it’s on its last legs. Eventually we made it to our lodging in Beatty and it still poured, then started hailing.
Next day: we went to Scotty’s castle and saw a winter wonderland of snow while getting there. Couldn’t get to Ubehebe crater because the Park service started closing the roads. We made it to Furnace Creek and had a hard time not getting wet up to our ankles. Tried to get to Badwater but there were flash floods and rivers of mud everywhere, so we turned back.
Last day: We left our hotel/casino, with the ceiling panels in the casino bulging with water and pouring it onto the carpet. They were putting buckets down, obviously. We drove up to Rhyolite to see the bottle house–amid snow flurries. Found out that we could not go to Sand Dunes or Stovepipe Wells due to flooding. Went to Vegas instead–this was not on the itinerary, but you do what you have to do!
Home now, and it poured all night long here.
We were lucky that we got to see anything in DV at all, since they ended up closing almost every road there. I was there 2 years ago at this time but it was nothing like this. This was quite an experience for me and some others who are not accustomed to snow.
Thank goodness we had an excellent bus driver, or we might have gotten mired somewhere.
I’ll try to get some pics uploaded later to Photobucket and then post here again.
The soil there must be loaded with clay or something, because the water just sits on top of it for quite a while–and then it rushes out onto the roads.
cool. When we went last year there was a tiny bit of ice in the hidden areas still. No rain, happily. Did they take you by the crater? That’s an awesome place. I took a picture of it which is now the wallpaper for my laptop.
We stayed at Stovepipe Wells, and could see the dunes from the hotel parking lot. Awesome place. I got jigsaw puzzles of the dunes and Scotty’s Castle.
Yep. I took a roadtrip through California’s desert parks in March of '05. Quite a spectacular display. After hiking around for a few days, my boots were caked with pollen. The flowers that year were partially due to the massive flooding the previous summer. Another result was that people were able to kayak Lake Manly and boast that they paddled around below sea level!
For those who can’t imagine rain in Death Valley, consider the massive alluvial fans that extend down into the valley from the Panamint and Amargosa ranges. It may not rain a lot in DV, but there’s evidence of it everywhere you look.
blondebear: Yes, those folks probably are in the Death Valley Yacht Club. There really is such a thing!
Voyager: I wish the travel company would change the DV trip to March or April so we could avoid the mess and see the flowers.
Sadly, we did not get to go to Ubehebe Crater and my friend was pretty bummed about it. The park service closed the road that goes to it from Scotty’s.
We also could not get to Sand Dunes because they were probably nothing but Mud Dunes at that time.
