Night Walk on the Mesquite Sand Dunes

To end our second day in the park (Sunday, March 4th), we enjoyed the bar at Stovepipe Wells as the sun set and then headed out to the Mesquite Sand Dunes. We wanted to enjoy a Ranger-led program out onto the sand dunes. It was an extremely clear day that led into an extremely clear night, so we did some stargazing until the ranger got there. We bought one of those discs that shows you what constellations are out. Tip: Use red lights, not regular bright flashlights, because you will keep your night vision. The moon was so bright that night, that you really didn't need a flashlight to get around!

When the ranger arrived, she used the Star Walk app on her iPad to show us some of the constellations. Then we ventured out onto the sand dunes, where she showed us the tracks of some of the animals present on the sand dunes. First, we found the desert stink bugs' tracks which kind of look like dirt bike tracks. Then, we found the kangaroo rats' tracks which look like 4 teardrops and a line dragging between them. Then, we found the kit foxes' tracks which look like a house cats' tracks but with longer claws. She also showed us images of coyote and sidewinder snakes' tracks, but we didn't find any of those. She explained how all of these animals interact and survive in this ecosystem year-round! It is truly amazing that these animals have evolved to survive in such a dry climate that can reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the summertime.

My dad and I walked back to the car with no flashlight on at all, enjoying the serenity of the soft sand dunes. This was by far my favorite experience of all! I could have spent the whole night out there!

Piece of advice: We didn't take the time to do this, but the ranger was saying that the best time to go out on the sand dunes is an hour before sunrise. You will find the animals active still and full of tracks undisturbed by human tracks. Wish we would've done this!

Ubehebe Crater

Well if you are gonna make the drive up to Scotty's Castle, you need to drive 8 miles down the road to the Ubehebe Crater! Driving up to the crater, you can't even tell that its coming up. You are surrounded by black gravel hills, but then you drive up one hill and as you come around the corner there's a huge hole in the ground full of color. This crater is half a mile wide and 500 feet deep. You can even walk around the enter crater, but don't get too close to the edge!

The Coolest Thing Inside Scotty's Castle

This was the music room! This room features a HUGE Welte-Mignon theater pipe organ that is operated by these huge player piano musical rolls. This theater pipe organ features 1121 pipes, a grand piano, a glockenspiel (don't really know exactly what that is), xylophone, chimes, orchestra bells, sleigh bells, bird calls (I know... Right?!), and a drum and cymbal assortment. In 1928 this cost them $50,000 to purchase, deliver, and install! This thing is HUGE and plays beautiful music! You can youtube this to hear it, but nothing compares to being there in person!

The Inside of Scotty's Castle

In the second picture you can see a rock wall there which used to have a two-story waterfall flowing down it!

Scotty's Castle

So we drove 35 miles North (from Furnace Creek) on the second day in the park (Sunday, March 4th). We visited Scotty's Castle first- a huge house, a mansion it its time, built in the 1920's. You may just assume that the castle belonged to a man named Scotty, but this is not the case. It was built and owned by Albert and Bessie Johnson, made rich by a life insurance company. Scotty was actually, Walter Scott- a Con man! And the Johnson's were friends with "Scotty"!

This was not the kind of story I was expecting to hear upon starting the house tour here. As we continued the tour through this awesome home, the tour guide explained the relationship between Albert and "Scotty". Scotty had traveled all over the U.S. as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He decided to con rich investors into believing he had a gold mine in Death Valley- but there was no gold ever in Death Valley.

Years and years went by that people accepted his word that he had a gold mine in California, but after not seeing any profit from their investments, they wanted to send some engineers into the desert with Scotty to prove there was a gold mine. Scotty tried to con them into believing their was a gold mine, but something went wrong and he was exposed. Well one of those engineers was Albert Johnson!

Albert Johnson was told he would not live past 40 years old due to a train accident, but he noticed that traveling to the desert made him a little stronger. So even though he knew Scotty had conned them, he fell in love with the desert and was appreciative to Scotty that he was getting healthier. So he continued to come to the desert and got healthier and healthier. Since he was visiting frequently, he just decided to build a house out there. But he let Scotty tell people it was his home and it was protecting the entrance to his gold mine. Well the Johnson's let him continue this lie because they did not want the publicity connected to having a mansion in the desert.

There home is located just one mile away from a natural spring that produces more than enough water to supply their home and the surrounding buildings. He even used water pressure to make electricity for his home. The second tour we took allowed us to go under the house to see the tunnel system he planned on making (but never finished) and the tour guides talked about the innovations to build and power the house. Very Interesting and well worth the money!

This house was built all because of friendship and the tour guides did an amazing job of explaining how the desert brought true friendship and life to these people!

The Lowest point on the Continent!

Note: So this post was supposed to go between the "Entering Death Valley" post and the "Dante's View" post on Saturday, but something happened with the internet connection (go figure in the middle of the desert).

Badwater Basin- basically a salt flat like the area around Salt Lake City. This basin is 282 feet BELOW sea level. This means that if there is any sign of rain (which there rarely is heer), all the water will come flooding down to this point so you don't want to be around. There is actually a picture in their little newspaper of these huge boulders smashed on the hood of a car all because of a flash flood- pretty crazy!!

All the white you see really is compacted salt and sand. When you touch it, it is surprisingly pretty moist. Geologists wanted to know how deep the sand and salt mixture actually went and they found out its 900 feet until you hit rock!

No I Have Not Disappeared Into The Desert...

You might be wondering why I haven't been blogging every moment, or even every day. Well I have not disappeared into the desert, there just isn't much cell service anywhere here. Furnace Creek Springs is pretty much the only place with cell service so here I am! We've been seeing a lot and I'll blog about everything tomorrow and the next day!