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As everyone knows, you can't collect
rocks within the boundaries of Death Valley National Monument. You
can, however, collect pictures and memories as well as learn a lot
about geology in this extreme environment. We were coming back from
Tonopah NV last week and decided that we should route our return
trip to Santa Ysabel through this desolate and arid place. After
all, fall is the perfect time to go to the desert, with temperatures
near perfect at 82 degrees. It had actually rained five days before
our trip, and there were several miles of roadway that had recently
been cleared of mud and rocks, giving testimony to the force of
flash flooding. We sure were glad that we were not making this trip
during that storm.
 Our
first stop was at Scotty's Castle after entering the Monument on
Hwy. 267, coming from Highway 95 near Beatty, NV. What a treat to
see the castle, palm oasis, and running stream with cattails in
the middle of nowhere. We visited the gift shop, took some pictures,
and then headed on down the road again, toward the Harmony Borax
Works. This is a great photo op, although there is very little
remaining of the buildings that were there. However, one of the
huge ore wagons that was pulled by 20 mule teams is on display.
Really impressive in size, it could carry 36 tons of concentrated
borax out of the valley to the processing plant. There are several
informational signs in front of the various displays giving you the
history of the Borax Works. It makes a nice stop about halfway
through the Valley, a good place to stretch your legs and take in
the magnificent mountains rising high above the desolate valleys.
 Furnace
Creek is located at the southern end of Death Valley, and has a
restaurant, gas station, old Ranch headquarters, and the Furnace
Creek Inn for lodging. Just past Furnace Creek is several miles of
beautiful badlands, like a painted desert, with an access road going
back in a mile or so from the highway. This access road really
gives you a feel for the stark beauty of these giant contorted
mudhills, up close and personal, so to speak. There is a short
hiking trail as well for those who want to do a little exploring on
foot. About 30 miles after you exit Death Valley at
the intersection of Hwy. 190 and Hwy. 373, you will come to Death
Valley Junction, the site of the famous Amargosa Opera House, where
Marta Becket still displays her theatric talents. Every Saturday
night at 8:15 pm, she puts on her one-woman show, just as she has
done since 1968. We
had a great time in Tonopah as well, visiting the old cemetery there
with over 500 graves dated from 1902 to 1913. Included in these
were 15 victims of the Belmont Mine Fire, plus 42 people who died in
1906 from the "plague"---perhaps Influenza. We visited the
Otteson's at their rock shop in town, where Dean told us about the
new turquoise mine they have opened up not far from the one they
have been using for their fee dig operation. We promptly made plans
to collect from this new location in May, when the weather starts to
warm up again! We also checked out a couple of new collecting
spots, including the spectacular badlands area where
 the
road to Silverpeak meets Hwy. 6, about 37 miles west of Tonopah.
This area has been heavily collected, so all we really came away
with were some spectacular pictures of the gnome-like remains of a
petrified forest. Several
buckets of good tumbling material was collected from various areas,
as well as Apache tears, geodes, petrified wood, bubbly chunks of
chalcedony, and a whole lot of a brownish translucent agate we call
"fat". It really is pretty when it is tumbled, so we keep picking
it up when we find it. If you decide to come to this part of
Nevada, there are many places to stop and a huge variety of rocks
and minerals to collect. Just be sure and come in the spring or the
fall, as winter is very cold and windy and summer is very hot and
windy!
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Death
Valley---