Again, it started with dawn, and sunrise, and all that romantic
crap… But it fact, it is spectacular
waking up in the desert… But I wrote
about that yesterday, and writing about it again would be repetitive…
Again, a fire, coffee, and breakfast from a dutch oven… I may have searched out Karl, and introduced myself
to him… our now minor deity.
Today, we are on a quest… we are in search of the remains of
the Death Valley Railroad… so, having watched the sunrise, cooked and eaten
breakfast, and made some small effort to clean up the remains, we again headed
east, over the mountains to Death Valley… (for we are camped not in Death
Valley, but in the Panamints, to the west)
We reach Death Valley, turn south toward Furnace Creek… then
up Furnace Creek Wash, detouring up 20 Mule Team canyon, up, past a band of
wild flowers, out of the valley, out of the park, to Death Valley Jct…. Home of
the Amargosa Opera House, and the terminus of the Death Valley Railroad.
Of course, the railroad is missing, having been abandoned in
1931, the tracks removed, the rolling stock sent to New Mexico… But we
are not deterred… The community is
interesting as well… centered on a hotel, the Amargosa Opera House & Hotel
(and coffee shop) and its associated buildings… it is town… there is a closed garage
(across the street) , a cemetery up the
road, and a few houses… We explored a
bit, but much was locked up, or marked no trespassing, so our explorations were
limited…
We headed south out of town… to the cemetery, then, off,
into the desert on an unmarked road, in search of the railroad, and the town of
Ryan… History suggests that there were
two Ryans… each associated with a Borax mine owned by Pacific Coast Borax… we
are in search of “New Ryan” but end up heading for “Old Ryan” instead.… The mine at Old Ryan, the Lila C was recently
sold on Ebay…
We headed across the desert… looking for the railroad grade…
spotting it only occasionally… heading cross country up a shallow wash at one
point, without success, then returning to the dirt road… heading towards the
hill that we suspect hides the town… We
are not “lost in the desert” for we have researched the area, and the railroad,
and we have maps… lots of maps… old maps and new maps, but not the Google maps
we used when researching for we lack Wifi in the desert.
Eventually we determine that Old Ryan and its Borax mine (not
to be confused with New Ryan and its Borax mines) is not behind the hill ahead,
but to the right, somewhat southeast if our target… The mine tailings might be a hint… As we approach we find the railroad right of
way, an embankment, about 10 feet tall,
surprisingly hard to spot when looking across the desert floor. The
embankment is tall, its sides steep, and the top narrow. Narrower than expected… I have driven right of way’s before… in lesser
vehicles than Klinger the mighty jeep… on narrow gauge right of ways… and this,
at this point was standard gauge, presumably 18” wider… but today, this time, I
am not willing… the others concur, (they don’t call me chicken and do a stupid
dance… I believe they see visions of digging out with tiny shovels) and we
follow the right of way rather than drive it…
We follow it south and east, and eventually reach old Ryan…
but the here, the right of way is washed out… and the significant features are
tailing piles, some (lots of) old rusty cans, and little else… We find the Bat caves…
the mine mouths now concrete culvert sections with iron bars… I find a 14” square bolt, with nut… I take it…
I will use it on my caboose… but that is a story for another place…
Back to the Jeep… back down the mountain… back toward the
opera house…. Then, west, along the right of way… several times we take dirt
roads to the south… each time we find the right of way, but find it too narrow
and too washed out to drive on… Sadly,
the railroad right of way would be our way to New Ryan is impassable, narrow and washed out at regular intervals…
Eventually we abandoned new Ryan, at least via the right of way, find a road in
from below with a view of the town, which is marked closed, do not enter… we
must be satisfied with the distance glimpse…
Now, abandoning abandoned railroads we descend the canyon through
the band of wild flowers…. to Furnace Creek, where we go in search of tank car
tanks, but only find welded tanks, not riveted tanks… then head south to Bad
Water… we descend to 281 feet below sea level… explore the salt flats, return
towards Furnace Creek, through several scenic
drives, stopping to visit Golden Canyon…. We bug out for the dunes for a Ranger
walk…
The dunes are near Stove Pipe springs… we stop… the girls
visit the rest rooms… we join Rosie the Ranger for her walk… we (some 50+ of
us) look for animal tracks (not yet trampled by the 50+ of us) and look for
animals not yet driven away…
The sun sets… the moon rises… the group discussed planets
and planetary moons and stars, but I walk beyond, find a couple of burrows
under creosote bush, and wait for a kangaroo rat to show… we see a kangaroo rat
eventually… and a glorious moon rise… in the dark on the dunes…
Back to the Jeep… back to the camp… a fire… Dinner… visit
the Geology field class next door… Karl
was elsewhere (again). Benjamin was still sans pants... Benjamin does not like pants....
We sat on the alluvial plain… we enjoyed a glass of wine and
a fire… and watched darkness overtake the desert… and the full moons light upon it….
Then to the tents for the night…
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