Canyon Colors and Castles

Death Valley seems to be another place that holds on to it's secrets and requires some exploring to find the diversity and beauty.
When we arrived the sun was painfully bright, the campground was a hot, gravel parking lot and everything looked too bold to approach.  In just 2 days we began to see that it would take weeks to even see a little in all the interesting areas of the park.

We got just a taste of the beauty of the canyons on our hike.  The rock colors that stripe the cliffs and mountains in bold contrast with one another were beautiful.  A road winds through one area that is called the Artist's Palette.  We'll see that next time.

Terry and I don't usually take 'house tours' on our travels, but Ranger Kate's offer to be our guide at Scotty's Castle in the north part of the park (about 50 miles away) changed all that!  What a treat to see her in action, fully costumed and coiffured as a news reporter of the early 1930's.  The story of the multi-millionaire who fell under the spell of Scotty, a 'Buffalo Bill Wild West Show' con artist is fascinating and Kate's tour wove you in the intrigue.  As you will see the Chicago couple who built the 'castle' that bears Scotty's name spared no expense on their desert get away.   Nice place to spend a little time!!

If you ever get a chance to visit Death Valley in the winter, don't miss it!  There is a lovely Furnace Creek Ranch Resort with swimming pool, restaurant and gift shop.  There are hookups in the Furnace Creek Campground if you have reservations.  Plan to stay a few days to glimpse the history and beauty that is so much more than you will first find.

Weather Permitting---3

From 2 snow delays to an onward rush from near heat exhaustion, the weather has sure called the shots on this journey.

It was 103 degrees on Friday (March 15) at Death Valley NP.  So the 5 days we planned to be there was shortened to 2.  We packed a lot in, but saw very little of the park and hope to return some winter.

 
We went on a great hike through the Golden Canyon on a water course that came down from the Red Cathedral at the end of the trail.  More pictures later of the amazing rock colors and shapes.

Most special of all and our main reason for coming to Death Valley was a tour of Scotty's Castle by our dear friend, Ranger Kate.  She arranged the schedule to lead a tour for us and then played  a special song from her programs at Great Basin, "Don't Fence Me In" on the Welte-Mignon Organ just for us as the tour ended.  We were honored and thrilled by her kindness and our 'custom' designed tour.  Here she is in period costume as the tour began.  I'm sorry you can't see the seams in her stockings that  'finish' off her costume.

This is a short update and I hope to share more later about Death Valley NP, an amazing place!  We are on our way to Oregon now from Winnemucca, NV and are spending the night in a rest area with a fantastic view.  Stay tuned!

Too Much "Dam" Fun!

We have enjoyed 7 days of pure delight with our Great Basin friends!  The day we arrived at Lake Mead on our circle of the campground we spotted our hosts, Jerry and Deb Otto also hosts at Great Basin our first year there.  Nate, Anna, Evan, Anna's mother and 9 day old, Grace greeted us at their home with an invite for supper.  Anthony came down from Las Vegas on his day off on Tues. and again for supper on Sat. at the Boulder City Brew Pub with Nate and family.  Then yesterday Kate came from Death Valley NP and we all got together at Nate and Anna's for a dinner party and game night with a short visit from Charles who was on duty.  Our lives have been so wonderfully touched by such fine friendships!

In between all this excitement Jerry and Deb helped us find a nice little campsite with a good view of the mountains.

  We toured Hoover Dam, an amazing engineering marvel!  Standing above it and looking down makes one have the greatest respect for those who built it and the 96 men who gave their lives in the process.  Such incredibly dangerous work!!  The canyon it fills is so deep!!


We've had some lovely, sunny and warm days for great walks and time to sit outside just reading and relaxing!  We took these pictures of the lake on a cloudy day without the sun glare of the desert!

 We really like the town of Boulder City.  I especially love that they have a Line Dance Class I can attend tonight at 7 pm.  I can't wait!  At 8:30 in the morning Anthony will meet us for a hike on the Old Railroad Trail (with 7 tunnels) that carried supplies for the building of the dam.  If we make it to Hoover Dam there is an ice cream shop there at the end!  How sweet is that?

Pretzels, Pinyons and Bluebirds

Leaving the 'cabin' and family in Sparta is never easy for me.  My sister, Ann, sent us off this time with about 10 bags of snack goodies for travel;  everything from corn blueberry muffins to big chunky pretzel sticks.  We didn't even have to think about purchasing and packing up snacks for a week.  Neither of us had munched on pretzels for years and now we are hooked on their crunchy snap for a quick perk up when the miles for the day are seeming just too long.  We found replacement pretzels at the grocery in Roswell, NM and will keep some with us.  Thanks, Ann!

Roswell, NM is a lot more than alien, UFO yard art and toy shops.  There are 2 really nice art and history museums we would return to visit,  an interesting blend of warehouses and older western style buildings and all the shopping we needed right at hand.  The birding seemed good too- roadrunners on Main St. and Eurasian Collarded Doves at Bottomless Lakes.

Our travel yesterday was lots of slow climbing from 3,400 some feet in Roswell to 7,474 feet here at Bluewater Lake State Park just west of Grants, NM.  With head winds during much of the time we were gas guzzling too!  We had a nice lunch break at Camping World above the Rio Grande west of Al-B-Q (Albuquerque) with a view back to the city and the Sangre de Cristo Mtns.  We love brewing a pot of tea with lunch in our 'little house'.  It just seems so civilized!!!

 

Arriving at Bluewater Lake State Park with only 14 electric hookup sites and a prediction of a 16 degree night, we were thrilled to find a hookup site.  In fact, no one else was in the hookup area at all.  The sites are on a hilltop with a view of Mt. Taylor in the distance.  It was windy in the view spots so we found the protection of some trees.  I opened my door to get out and looked down to find a beautiful pinyon pine cone.  We were back at near the same elevation as Lower Lehman at Great Basin and among the pinyon pines again!  There is a comfort in familiar terrain!  So we will stay a few days.  There is an amateur radio contest for Terry today.   He is enjoying it as I write.

The sunrise this morning was beautiful even at 21 degrees.  On a later walk Western Bluebirds flitted through the pinyons. We are looking forward to a walk to the creek canyon and along the lake shore.  It's only 48 now, but should get to 63 this afternoon.

We plan to stay here until Monday and leave for Kingman, AZ.  (Where are you Anthony?)  Then on to Lake Mead on Tuesday, March 5.  Can't wait to see "our buddies" there and Grace too!

Weather Permitting-2

Our 'planned' trip met a halt with a record breaking 17 inch snowfall in Amarillo, TX on Sunday night.

So we headed south from Wichita Falls on Weds. morning.  A night in a private campground near the Wichita River Falls had given us a chance to  get all our laundry done at the campground and nice warm showers too.

Our goal of Roswell, NM meant a long travel day and possibly snowy areas as we climbed toward Lubbock, TX.  I hated missing Caprock Canyon State Park near Quitaque, TX, but we actually traveled through an amazing cap rock canyon area near Dickens, TX ( almost due south) and some really huge horse and cattle ranches that covered 5- 10 mile areas.  I had no idea that the area near Lubbock was so diverse!
The red canyon walls were  beautiful laced with snow.  Thank goodness the roads were clear in this hilly area!

We said good bye to Texas with a stop at Lowe's Foods (the same as in Sparta-just a different logo) to get not 1 but 2 varieties of Blue Bell Ice Cream; Dutch Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Chip!!!!!  It is the BEST!


Our NM state park destination, Bottomless Lakes, is about 10 miles east of Roswell.  There are a chain of 8 lakes that are actually sinkholes 17 - 90 feet deep.  Circulating water dissolved salt and gypsum deposits to form caverns underground.  The roofs collapsed and the sinkholes filled with water.  The lakes are a lovely clear bright blue.  The campground is sunny, bright, peaceful and quiet!!  Nice place to be.  Interesting birds like it too.

Gulpha Gorge Campground, Hot Springs NP, AR

The campground here at Hot Springs NP is really  lovely!   We found a spot right beside the babbling creek just below the ridge that separates us from downtown.  Trails lead above the creek over the ridge to Bathhouse Row (about 1.6 miles).

The top of the ridge has an observation and picnic area where we had lunch.

Here's our campsite on the creek and Terry saying, "So long, folks!  See you next time."

Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs National Park, AR

The town of Hot Springs is built around Bathhouse Row where the springs tumble off Hot Springs Mountain.  Our campground and the rest of the NP surrounds the town covering the mountain ridges on 2 sides.  We are enjoying a quiet peaceful mountain campground while a bustling town that includes  a Thoroughbred Racetrack is 2 miles away.

Here's Bathhouse Row.

And 2 of the 6 restored Bathhouses from the 1920's.

There are several open springs that look as they might have before Bathhouse Row.  They were all steaming from the 143 degree water entering the chilly air!

The cascade comes off the mountain to pools below.

Rainy Day Travel

We left Arkabutla Lake, MS today for parts unknown to both of us.

  Our first of many surprises was the hilly farm land we crossed before reaching the flat land near the Mississippi river.  There was lots of standing rain in many fields and then large, flat shallow ponds between them.  The number of ponds increased as we neared Little Texas, MS and we became curious.  Just after we intersected Billy Bob Rd. the Farm Raised Catfish Processing Plant appeared.  "There's your sign!" , a new kind of farming for us!

Just before we crossed the River to Helena, AR it began to rain and poured off and on never stopping for about 2 hours.  After the River it was very swampy for about 30 miles and the swamps were sign posted by Bayou names.  It was interesting to learn that bayous are not only around New Orleans.  Though we were in a Wildlife Refuge area there was no visitor center and the rain would have kept us traveling on anyway.

We finally reached Hot Springs National Park about 2:30 and found our way to the campground in Gulpha Gorge below Hot Springs Mountain.  We have a lovely site backed up to a roaring creek and a little waterfall and all this is right in town.  Terry had to set up in steady rain at 34 degrees, a bit unpleasant.  The rain stopped by 4pm and tomorrow will be clear for exploring.  The main part of the Park is Bathhouse Row in historic downtown Hot Springs.  There are trails over the mountain to the Bathhouses and the Hot Springs Cascade near them that is a stream of constant 143 degree water!!!
Lots to see tomorrow but I think we'll be driving.

Weather Permitting

After a delay in leaving when snow was predicted for the Cabin on Saturday,  we were wide awake at 3:45 am on Sunday.  ( A little 'journey proud' as my mother always said.)  When the coffee was brewing, Terry opened the curtains, flicked on the porch light and it was snowing like crazy!!  A bit of a surprise!

Since it was just a dusting we decided to pack the final items, shut up the house and hit the road.  By the time we got to the Mt. Rogers Rec. Area at 3400 ft. the 2 inches than had blown across the road gave us a brief slip and slide to remind us that the salting just refroze at 0 degrees wind chill.  The snow stayed around to Kingsport, TN, but once we left Marion, VA roads were clear.  Whew!!!!

Yesterday we left I-40 for the TN and MS backroads that led us to an Army Corps of Engineers Park, Lake Arkabutla near Hernando, MS.  (Our half price Federal camping card is accepted by the Corps.)  We had planned to spend just a night, but 2 days of snow is forecasted for our next stop, Hot Springs, AR, so we will be happy campers in MS for a while.  The Hernando Public Library is very comfortable for high  speed internet.

I am glad I wrote about our 'hearth side' plans for the trip in the last post.  The reality is that the best laid plans are weather permitting in winter camping.  We have already given up our shovels and picks for diamond digging this year.  Three days of rain and snow would make it a mud wallow.  Paris, TX sounds warm and wonderful and we will heed it's call.

Thinking of you Anna, Nate and Evan!!

Ready to Wander to Wonders

As the birds gather seeds and suet in the cold frosty morning we are organizing lists, studying state and national parks and reviewing lists of items to pack for our trip.  We plan to leave on Sat. Feb. 16 for a night near Lebanon,TN and then a CORPS of Engineers Lake CG just south of Memphis.

 Our first goal is Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  This old resort with 6 hot springs bathhouses, one still operating looks really interesting!  Nearby there are 2 other attractions of volcanic origin that we hope to visit.  Our favorite jeweler at White Winds Stone Jewelry in Enterprise, UT told us not to miss the Mount Ida area for digging crystal clusters.  Terry has had a fascination with Crater of Diamonds, State Park in Murfreesboro for years which is about an hour away.  So this morning I went 'digging' for info and now I'm packing old clothes, garden forks and buckets for collecting!!!!

http://www.bluemooncrystals.com

http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com

The Diamonds State Park has a 37 and 1/2 acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient (100 million year old) volcanic crater that brought the diamonds to the surface.  You can find 40 types of rock and minerals including amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, diamonds and quartz.  I'm ready, let's go!!

Our next goal will be Pat Mayse Lake CORPS Camp near Paris, TX.  This is close to the Red River on the border with Oklahoma, an area known for great quantities of migrating birds in late winter.   Since we love river wandering and birds, we plan to stay in the area for a week or so before we travel through Wichita Falls, TX and into New Mexico.

By early March we hope to visit Lake Mead NP and our Ranger friends there; Nate, Anna, Charles, Chris and maybe Johnathan.  Then we'll wander over to Death Valley to visit with Ranger Kate!

Needless to say, we are getting very excited about our  Feb. and March plans.  Stay tuned for April-October!

Harvest Time---- Winter coming?

We have had a great 3 weeks getting many things done for a cozy winter at home.  First, we got a few cords of wood delivered for the wood stove.  You can see that we got home in time to enjoy our Red Sunset Maple in its glory and the grasses blooming.  I do love grasses as they color up in fall!

After 2 weeks of frosts, rain and fog, we got a fantastic break in the weather with 75 degree days and 50ish nights.  The deck stain likes this type weather so on Weds. and Thurs. we " got  'r  done" !!!              

Here's the job in progress on Wednesday.

What a challenge and what a sense of accomplishment!  This  morning we celebrated with a wholesome breakfast at Brown's,----- eggs, bacon, pork chop, GRITS, 2 biscuits with gravy and a biscuit with blackberry jelly for me.  No lunch is needed.

The sunrise this morning was gorgeous!  I love the mist rising from the creek valley.  
I've found time to enjoy lots of music--3 indoor concerts at the Blue Ridge Parkway Music Center, a concert at the Rex Theater in Galax and 3 Line Dance Classes at Alleghany Jubilee in Sparta.  The hills are ringing.
Winter is due on Sunday with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy and possible snow flurries OR record breaking snow.  Have to wait and see, but we are ready!

Bright Leaves and Sunshine

The bright sun and cool, crisp weather made today a perfect one for a hike at Cumberland Knob on the Parkway.  It is neat to return to some  of our favorite places.  The trail was covered with huge tulip poplar and mountain magnolia leaves of yellow, brown and gold dotted with little red and orange maple leaves.  The crunch and scatter of the leaves as we walked made it a wonderful fall hike.

The cheese grits I made for breakfast are a distant memory as lunchtime calls and I must eat before getting back to an afternoon of re- storing all our summer gear to a temporary home before our next trip.  

Here's a photo to share of our return home.