Day 8 Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes –
315 miles
We left the Luxor
hotel fairly early and headed to the Las Vegas Eaglerider depot to meet up with people who were in the second team on last week’s tour leg and also new
joiners for the second part of the tour.
After some delay we set off back into the scrub desert north west of Las
Vegas, stopping for petrol at the unusually named town of Pahrump. Crossing over
the California state line we headed into Death Valley – somewhat apprehensively
given that today’s date was Friday the 13th. We stopped for a team photo at the park boundary
and then continued to Zabriske viewpoint.
At Furnace Creek – some 200 feet below sea level - we halted for water before steeling
ourselves to ride without stopping through the rest of Death Valley given the
sweltering heat. We passed the Devil’s
Cornfield and the Sand Dunes and gained a few
thousand feet of altitude before stopping for a break near Darwin Falls.
Above image from the web
Above image from the web
In various
places the Death Valley scenery resembled ‘Mordor’ whilst turning westwards we
could see the Sierra Nevada – still with remnants of snow – and more reminiscent
of the ‘Misty Mountains’.
We stopped
at Lone Pine for a late-ish lunch. The
hills near Lone Pine have been the location for numerous western film sequences
and the restaurant walls were festooned with photos and posters of stars in
their prime.
Lone Pine
We rode
northwards along a high level, wide valley with volcanic outcrops but
increasingly lush vegetation as a consequence of streams from the Sierra
Nevada. At Bishop we rested by an
idyllic stream complete with ducks – more English than US.
After a
final 50 mile stretch we arrived at Mammoth Lakes. The temperature was lower than we had
anticipated so we quickly retired to our rooms before exploring the local
restaurants.
Music Links:
Comedy
Video:
Death Valley
Background:
Death Valley is the lowest and driest area in North America
with Badwater Basin at 282 feet (86 m)
below sea level.
The depth and
shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures being walled by high,
steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight
to heat the desert surface.
During the ice age which ended roughly 10,000–12,000 years
ago, the Sierra Nevada was much wetter. During that
time, Death Valley was filled with a huge lake that was nearly 100 miles long
and 600 feet deep.
Death Valley is
home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans, formerly
known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the
past millennium. The Timbisha name for the valley, tümpisa, means
"rock paint" and refers to the red ochre paint
that can be made from a type of clay found
in the valley.
The valley
received its English name in 1849 during the California Gold Rush. It was called Death
Valley by prospectors and others who sought to cross the valley on
their way to the gold fields, although only one death in the area was recorded
during the Rush. During the 1850s, gold and silver were
extracted in the valley. In the 1880s, borax was discovered
and extracted by mule-drawn wagons.
Death Valley
National Monument was proclaimed on February 11, 1933, by President Herbert Hoover,
placing the area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated
as Death Valley National Park, as well as
being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka Valleys.
No comments:
Post a Comment