Slickrock and Shadow

Darwin Falls with the reeds on the left.  What a beauty! I found myself passing Darwin Falls trailhead this past summer en route to the Sierra Mountains.  As cool as they would be, Death Valley was roasting at 118° F.  Though I'm no stranger to triple-digit temperature, this was a new record for hiking conditions.  I was literally passing through in the middle of the day, with the sun directly overhead.  One step out of the air-conditioned Subaru and I was uncomfortably hot.  I felt like I was standing too close to a roaring campfire the whole time.   2 miles and I could see no sign of shade.  Taking only my hat, water bottle, camera and tripod, I marched off as efficiently as I could.  Marching in place in a sauna would be the best training for this hike.  After 20 minutes of hiking up the wash, water and trees appeared in the canyon.  Grateful for the shade, I hopped over a few puddles and then water flowed slowly down the sh...

Rocket Tower:  ruins of some unknown structure now left standing along the train tracks on the east side of the Salton Sea. The Mojave Desert is my kind-of place:  hot, vast, unpopulated.  I explored the area around the Salton Sea for a few days.  The attractions here are the kinds of things that would be condemned in a city:  broken and rotten shacks, buildings in ruin and being overtaken by the sand. The biggest drawback is the stench of rotting fish which grows quite strong as you near the water.  I can only describe the smell this way:  imagine dumping 1,000 cans of tuna fish into 100 porta-potties and then sticking your nose into the worst-smelling part.  That's the Salton Sea smell! But if you can bear the smell, there is much to discover.  Bombay Beach community has lots of ruined buildings and some that are inhabited (by those with no sense of smell).  I found it pretty busy with people, kids, photographers and other ga...