As we descend down from the Panamint range, entering the park from the
west, it strikes us that the landscape is like nothing we've ever seen
before. For some reason (despite being better informed) I was still
expecting flat sandy emptiness. Within a day's exploration you
realise how varied a desert can be. Make no mistake though, while it
is very pleasant in winter, it is evidently a harsh place in the
summer - we saw occasional road-burn marks where some unfortunate
soul's car had packed in under the heat.
Since we're at DV a day early (Kern River was TOO cold), we stay in
Stovepipe Wells first - which is nothing to write home about - and the
campsite looked like it was once a mall car park - ugh!
The next morning (Saturday? We're losing track..) we take a leasurely
approach to introducing ourselves to the park and making our way to
Furnace Creek, where we'll stay 6 nights... (4 more to go as I write
this):
We start with Mosaic Canyon (not Marble Canyon as I posted earlier)
which is a scramble up an intricate, visually stunning, tall and
narrow Canyon that appears to be made of a mosaic of marble and other
polished stones. It feels like the scene in Star Wars where Luke is
trying to find Obi-Wan, so we pretend be Sand people!
Next is Salt Creek, pictured here, and shows amazingly that there is
life (pup fish and plants) despite the elements.
We finally get to the campground at Furnace Creek and are pleased to
find it's a pleasent place. We lash the Chistmas lights to Rosey and
settle down for a nights rest before lots of sight seeing...
More soon.
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