Friday, October 02, 2009

Death Valley - June 5th - 7th 2009

In lieu of a bachelor's party, I went with some friends to the glorious Eureka Dunes and nearby areas for exploration, philosophizing, and whiskey consumption.


On the way out to the dunes.



Eureka!


After setting up camp, we decided to take a walk.


The blustering sand ate two of our point and shoot cameras on this day!


The sand blowing on the crests could be painful on the bare skin.


We decided to go back to camp and journey to the top of the highest dune on day 2 so we could make dinner with some light still left. But before that, Gentry decided to fly.


As we prepared dinner, a rainbow appeared in the distance.


Justin and a rainbow.


My best man Jason really isn't this angelic.


Day 2, we climbed up top.


There I am enjoying the view.


Later that day, we went to the old sulphur mine, Crater.


Walking on sulphur feels quite strange.


This is the first big fall in the White Cliff Canyon. We went beyond it by going the way Michel Digonnet describes in the Cucomungo Canyon section of his new book.


On Day 3, some of us went down into Ubehebe Crater while others walked around it. The climb back up was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.


My friend Jason thought it would be fun to walk across the flats to the other side. GPS said it would be a 10 mile walk. It was cool this day, only in the 90s. We advised against doing that and pulled Jason in the car with a cane.

The trip was one of the best natural world experiences I have ever had. Thanks guys for such a great trip!

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