DEATH VALLEY PT 4- THE FINAL CHAPTER

April 13, 2015

Death Valley to Lone Pine

Up at 5:45 am to zoom down to the Mesquite Dunes … what a glorious sunrise! Not too many people there … I ran one way and Bruce another. I had a blast and got some amazing photos … unfortunately Bruce’s camera had some difficulties and he didn’t get any shots. What a disappointment! At least we have mine!

Mesquite Dunes

After that we headed directly to Mosaic Canyon to do the hike before the sun got too high and the temperatures got too hot. A very nice hike down a beautiful canyon which ended at a spot where a gigantic rock blocked any further exploration. We’re glad we started early as on the way out we passed by dozens of groups of people just heading in. It pays to get up early!

Mosaic Canyon Hike

Mosaic Canyon

Mosaic Canyon Hike

Later that day we packed up camp and headed west, up and out of Death Valley. The climb and the twisty roads (Hwy #190) were even more hair-raising than the Hwy #89A out of Prescott. We climbed up to over 5,000 ft. … down to 1,000 ft. … up again … down again … poor mo-ho was NOT happy! It was only 87 miles to our next destination of Lone Pine, but it took us almost 3 hours! There were times we were only driving at 21 MPH!! But we made it and found a camp spot at Diaz Lake in Lone Pine, a county run campground.

Gnarly road out of Death Valley

It’s VERY, VERY windy and a very weird campground. No special ‘sites’ … you just kind of pull in wherever. But for $10/night it’s good enough. We went into town to check out the Museum of Western Film History … there has been literally hundreds and hundreds of films shot in and around this area. From old time Westerns (Roy Rogers, Hoppalong Cassidy, Tom Mix, John Wayne) to newer films such as Django Unchained and Star Trek. Quite a cool place and lots to see! Then we decided to treat ourselves to dinner … it’s been a while since we’ve eaten out … and home to an early movie and bed.

Diaz Lake campground at Lone Pine

Museum of Western Film History

Film Museum – my hero – Roy Rogers!

When we got back to our RV we found a bunch of cows from the next field had wandered in and there were 2 baby cows that kept following Bruce around as he walked to the lake and back. They just stopped short of letting him pet them!