Thursday, November 19, 2009

Low point in our lives?




The SK6ERS concert was great. While they shared the bill with Tyrone Wells the packed bar at Slim's (owned by Boz Scaggs) seemed wired for Stephen Kellogg and they rocked........still can't figure out why they haven't been discovered by more people. While we were in San Francisco we also had time to re-visit Sausalito (where we previously had a wonderful houseboat holiday with our neighbours), and toured around the city by foot and cable car. Then it was off for a quick trip through Yosemite NP and Mammoth Mountain where the ski season was already underway (with limited conditions).
We then spent 4 fabulous days in Death Valley. The daytime temperature was consistently in the mid-20'sC and the night-time skies presented a spectacular star show (since there were no city lights for hundreds of miles) with the milky way very visible. We hiked every day and really enjoyed the myriad of rock formations and colours in the canyons and on the steep walls. Our favourites included Mosaic Canyon (near Stovepipe Wells), the Ubehebe Crater rim trail (near Scotty's Castle which we also toured), Golden Canyon / Gower Gulch, Natural Bridge and Dante's Ridge (near Furnace Creek). We also made brief stops to tour the Devil's Golf Course (salt deposits) and Badwater Basin where the elevation is 282 feet below sea level and it was smoking hot during our short hike....I can't imagine how anyone could spend more than a few minutes there in the summer. It turned out to be a perfect time to visit Death Valley.......great weather, no crowds and our pick of sites in the national park campgrounds. With minimal services available it was just us and nature, and we had a wonderful time exploring and getting in good shape before heading on to our next adventure in Sin City.

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