My Death Valley Days: The Color Tour Continues

On my way back to the campground from the trip to Scotty’s Castle, I took a bumpy dirt road to the mouth of Titus Canyon. It was one of those intriguing narrow canyons. It was about ten feet across and maybe a hundred feet deep with those smoothed off walls created by years and years and years of erosion.

The colors were fantastic! Even the pebbles on the ground were like gems glowing in the sun. My “beachcomber gene” kicked in and would take a step or two and then stop to admire the stones.

Now, I had seen Lucile Ball in “The Long Long Trailer” way back when Saturday afternoons were filled with old movies. The most memorable scene – well, the only scene I actually remember – was when Desi was having trouble towing the trailer over a mountain pass and he discovered that Lucy had been collecting rocks.

It is a good thing that collecting rocks in national parks isn’t allowed. It has been so difficult to keep my collecting urges in check. So, I satisfied myself with taking photos of the rocks.

By the time I had walked around admiring what was on the ground, I felt it was too late to hike into the canyon. I decided to return to camp and take the drive from the other end of the canyon the next day.

I capped off my day with a refreshing dip in the pool over at Furnace Creek Ranch and RV Resort. For a nominal fee, they let you use pool and shower. I swam and showered and then returned to the National Park campground, Texas Springs, right across the road. That’s a wonderful combination: a spacious campsite with a great view at a reasonable price and a dip in the pool to wash off the road dust.

After another windy night, I set off for my drive through Titus Canyon. The first step is to drive up and out of Death Valley.

I started out at my campsite at Texas Springs, about 100 feet below sea level and drove up and up and up to Rhyolite, Nevada, at about 3800 feet above sea level.

Rhyolite is a ghost town that started up during a mining boom in 1905, grew to around 4,000 people and started a rapid decline after the financial panic of 1907. At its peak, it had more than 50 bars, three banks, a hospital, a school, an opera house and a stock exchange as well as cement sidewalks and electric lights.

The most complete building in town is the Bottle House build by a miner named Tom Kelly. With 50 bars in town, he had a lot of free building material. The enterprising Mr. Kelly raffled the house off for $5 a chance.

After touring the remains of the town, I headed back toward Death Valley and the road through Titus Canyon.

The sign at the entry warned that this was a one-way road and that only high clearance  four-wheeldrive vehicles should attempt it. The road started out straight but bumpy. However, as I got closer to the mountains, it became apparent that this was going to be an interesting drive.

There was a whole lot of white-knuckle driving taking place. With the tight turns and switchbacks, at times I couldn’t even see the road. I just had to put my faith in the National Park system and their focus on safety that there was a road there, even if I couldn’t always see it.

The colors in the mountains were spectacular and unexpected. On one mountainside, I thought I saw pale green plants covering the ground. When I got up to it, I discovered that it was actually green soil or rocks.

I wish I had timed the drive. It seems like I moved along at a sizzling two miles an hour.  Eventually, the road started descending into the canyon. The road ran past two more ghost towns. You have got to respect people who picked up their lives and took off to try to find their fortunes through hard work, even if it didn’t work out in the long run. Leadville was a town with its own post office from August 1926 until February 1927.

After that, those hearty souls took off to try their fortunes elsewhere.

After Leadville, the descent into the canyon began in  earnest.  The walls grew taller and started to close in.

Toward the mouth of the canyon, the layers of rock in the wall changed to a twisted and polished mosaic.

And then, the drive through Titus Canyon was done. I was so busy clutching the steering wheel during this long and bumpy ride, that I forgot to take pictures of some of the vistas. My thanks to the bloggers at ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com for sharing their photos to fill in some of my blanks spots.

This was an exciting drive, but all I could think of what my mother would have said at every hairpin turn and switchback: “Uff da!”