Now that Lunch Box, Joey and I are all ready for the real adventure to start, here’s the plan: Heading west from Las Vegas we are going to explore the Mojave Desert of southeastern California before heading to the inland areas that ring the major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and San Diego. Beaches and theme parks are NOT on the agenda, thus the title of this volume of The Lunch Box Journals, “The ‘Other’ SoCal.” The journals will wrap up after returning to the west side of the Sierra Nevada.
While I won’t be journaling, I am then going to head north to Oregon and visit family/friends before returning back to Montana. Let’s get this show on the road!
The Mojave Desert of eastern California and southern Nevada (area in green on the map below) is the driest and smallest desert in the United States, sitting in the rain shadow of the massive Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. �
Las Vegas sits at the eastern edge of the Mojave and that is where our journey through “hell” is going to begin. This stage of our travels will take us across the Mojave Desert southwest until we reach its’ southern border, the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, before dropping down into our next stop, the Coachella Valley.
Las Vegas sits in a desert basin ringed by high mountains that rise in parallel waves from north to south, interspersed with broad desert valleys. The urban sprawl is now crawling up the slopes of the mountains on all sides and I pass through the edge of new construction headed west.
Just a couple of weeks earlier the desert had seen the same unusual winter snow that I have been driving in ever since leaving Billings. Now melted, the life-giving water has turned the desert green. About an hour west of Las Vegas the collection of homes and businesses known as Pahrump sit in a wide valley, last outpost of civilization before the torturous landscape around Death Valley. Pahrump is a bastion of western “individualism” and although nearly 25,000 people live scattered across the valley, there is not an incorporated town, so the “urban” area is officially the largest
settlement” in the United States. The commercial strip strings out along the highway for a number of miles. Turning west the desert continues to unfold in a series of mountain ranges and broad valleys.
Fifty miles later the final range of mountains that border Death Valley on the east, the Armargosa, rise before me. The taller, snow-capped Panamint Range that forms the western side of Death Valley rise in the distance.
Death Valley
Death Valley runs about 100 miles between two two mountain ranges and drops to the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin, 282 feet BELOW sea level. The HIGHEST point in the United States, Mount Whitney, rises 14,505 feet only 85 miles to the northwest. It is one of the world’s hottest areas, notable for reaching temperatures as high as 134 degrees. The Armargosa “River” runs into the valley from the south, though it seldom has surface water. Snowmelt from the surrounding mountains also seeps into the valley. There is no outlet from the valley so what little water does occur gathers on the valley floor and evaporates, leaving a wasteland of crumpled rock and glistening white salt pans. Entering the national park from the west I take a brief detour before descending into the actual valley. A side road winds about 13 miles into the Armargosa Range before ending at Dante’s View high above the valley floor. Driving up the access road, evidence of the mining culture of the area comes into view. Not sure just what is being mined in these two facilities, but around 1900 gold, silver and especially borax was mined in Death Valley.
The last quarter mile of the road climbs 15% grade switchbacks, a bit of a challenge for the Lunch Box. At 23.5 feet long, it barely fits under the 25 feet limit on the road.
Once at the top spectacular views of Death Valley unfold. This series of pictures tries to capture the entire valley from right (looking north) to left (looking south.)
Directly 20 miles to the west, snow-capped Telescope Peak, the highest point in the Panamint Range, pierces the blue sky.
The valley narrows as it stretches south.
Turning around and looking east I can see Mount Charleston, the peak that looms over Las Vegas.
Leaving the viewpoint we quickly descend (going down a 15% grade in a small RV is much more difficult than going up!) towards the valley floor, passing colorful rock formations decorating the eroded landscape. A sign points out that where the road crosses sea level, still a couple of miles above the valley floor.
The Death Valley National Park headquarters is at Furnace Creek, a startling oasis of green 190 feet below sea level in the distance.
The Furnace Creek area actually has two separate tourist facilities. The upscale Inn at Furnace Creek, located at sea level, sits at the base of the eastern mountains while the Ranch at Furnace Creek is more than a mile away down 190 feet below sea level and home to the national park headquarters, a motel and campground.
Our path now takes us south from Furnace Creek along the valley floor.
The lowest point of the valley is at Badwater Basin, where visitors (little dots in the picture) can walk out onto the valley floor at the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level.
Past Badwater Basin the valley continues to stretch for nearly 20 miles before beginning to narrow. The road climbs in a sinuous ribbon of asphalt as we begin to exit the valley.
At the end of the valley evidence of the mining history of the area cumbles on a gentle hillside. The Ashford Mill was built in 1907 to process ore from the Golden Treasure Mine five miles to the east. As was more often the case in the mining history of the Death Valley area, the mine and mill did not last long. The mill was abandoned the same year that it was built.
Leaving Death Valley and beginning to head south, the highway passes through nearly 75 miles of the Mojave Desert, alternating crossing sharp mountain ranges with traversing broad desert valleys.
An hour later I emerge from the backroads and jump on I-15 towards Barstow, CA. The interstate between Las Vegas and Los Angeles is very busy.
A favorite stop along the way is Eddie’s World.
At Barstow I leave the interstate and head south through the desert towards Palm Springs. The familiar pattern of broad valleys separated by mountain ranges continues. The desert is unusually green, evidence of the recent storms.
We descend into Lucerne Valley, which sits at the eastern base of the San Bernardino Mountains, roughly the southern boundary of the Mojave. Los Angeles is just over the mountains.
My path now angles southwest across the desert floor before descending into Yucca Valley, aptly named as the monotonous desert brush is now punctuated by yucca trees.
A series of sharp descents takes us out onto the floor of the Coachella Valley, our next stop.
I have been to the area before and so am prepared for the strong winds at the western entrance to the valley. A haze of dust hangs over Palm Springs, the first town at the western edge of the Coachella.
Next up: The Northern Coachella
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