February is generally a great time to visit Death Valley National Monument for hiking, cycling, wild flowers and birding. So joining twenty-four of my best friends from northern Utah I made the trek for the annual "Bob Wright Memorial Death Valley Trip."
Arriving in sunshine on Thursday February 5, 2009, I set up my tent in campsite number 41 in Furnace Creek Campground, along with my friends Sue DeVall and Gloria Leonard. We nestled out individual tents on "high ground" among the Salt Cedar trees for shade. What fun it is to be with all my old friends from Wasatch Mountain Club in the spring time in Death Valley.
Bright and early (well 8:30 am) the next morning we had camp breakfast, packet our lunches and saddled up to ride from Furnace Creek south to Bad Water and back. It's a nice 40 mile out and back along good pavement with little traffic this time of year. The 69F temperature was great for cycling into a mild headwind out and great tailwind back. We swam in the natural water pool and showered before taking our turn to cook supper for the group. Sue, Roger, Leila and I prepared pulled pork burritos, salad and "Ceil's Famous Rum Cake" which I made this year. Then we all walked to the Visitor Center for the Ranger talk on history of Death Valley. After the program we sauntered back to camp gazing into the starry night, trying to identify the constellations.
Saturday morning we awakened to very cloudy weather and since it had rained overnight, the road to Scotty's Castle was closed due to flooding. So our ride was canceled. Gloria and I decided to take a little auto road trip north and east through Stove Pipe Wells up to the pass. As we reached the pass, "thick rain" began hitting the windshield of the car. Whemmm-could this be sleet in the desert? We made the decision to turn around-good choice. As we descended toward Stove Pipe Wells, rivulets of water, soil and small stones ran over the road in several places.
By the time we drove the 25 miles back to Furnace Creek the rivulets were turning into areas of flash flooding across the road which sprayed as high as my Santa Fe's roof as we slowly drove through them. When we reached the ranger gate at the campground, the hostess said, "Oh, you're #41. You're going to need a kayak to get to your tent." She was right! Our campsite was flooded with about eighteen inches of flood water and it was still pouring into the low spot in the middle. Fortunately, all our tens were still on high ground.
Gloria and I took one look at the water, then at each other and unanimously agreed it was time to break camp. We had to slog through ankle deep muddy clay and bushwhack through the Salt Cedar to get to our tents and get everything out. Even as we packed and broke camp in fifteen minutes, the water rose another foot. Our tents would have been underwater within the hour.
We were soaked and just threw everything into our cars, told friends remaining goodbye and off we drove about 3pm. As we left Furnace Creek the rangers were closing the roads behind us, only letting people out. The drive from there to Death Valley Junction (about 25 miles) was pretty scary with the water and rocks undercutting the pavement in places. Fortunately, the road was designed without deep dips so the water was at most about a foot deep at any point as we drove out.
We arrived at my house about 9:30 pm. It was raining here too, so we opted to just shower and eat and go to bed, happy to be safe and out of the weather. Within fifteen minutes of arriving home, a knock came at the door. To my surprise it was Sue DeVall. She made it through all that water in her tiny little skateboard of a car. I hugged her and brought her in, just happy that she was safe. Just as we were ready to turn off the lights about 11:00pm another knock came at the door. I opened it to see Larene Wyss's apprehensive face. She said,"we tried to call, but it went to voicemail." I don't even know where my phone was let alone answer it in all the chaos of the night. She was with Eve Bertrand and another friend LuWayne. So by midnight, we had everyone bunked down on the couches, futons and floor all over the house. It was a slumber party for "crones!" What a blast~!
Next morning we ate oatmeal together around my old oak table and commiserated about how lucky we were to get out of Death Valley without our cars being flooded. "I know how alluvial fans are made now." But all that Sue could say was, "That's a helluva way to run a desert!"
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