Death Valley-17

Not much to report today. Breakfast, Gas, I-15 headed north (toward Provo, Salt Lake, Ogden, etc.). I immediately got in the HOV lane and pretty much sailed thru the cities.  It was much easier than I anticipated.  We didn’t even switch to the I-215 belt route.  Beyond that it was a normal drive. We traded […]

  Up, Last morning shot of the Panamints Breakfast and on the bus for the drive back to Las Vegas. We deposited the flyers at the airport and the rest of us returned to the hotel to pick up our cars and hit the road.  Darrell invited us to join their group for lunch in

Up, Say good morning to the Panamint Mountains, Breakfast, Bus… We started the day at Golden Canyon Trail – a canyon with several slot canyons off to the side. The next stop was Gower Gulch where we examined the innards of the geological formation informally known as “fanglomerate” – a unique conglomerate rock found in

Up, stop to admire the sunrise hitting the Panamint Mountains across the valley Then off to Mesquite Spring.  the contrasts in Death Valley all have to do with water.  Where it is, life is abundant.  Where it isn’t, well, we’ll get there in a bit.   Next stop, Ubehebe Crater. On to Devil’s Cornfield –

Breakfast, check out, on the bus, heading for the first road cut. Darrell has discovered that this group is inordinately interested in geology – which suits him fine. So on our way out of the Las Vegas valley we stopped at one of his favorite road cuts for a field lecture on faults, pyroclastic flows,

Following Breakfast we loaded the bus and headed out to Hoover Dam.  Along the way Darrell showed a couple of documentaries about the Colorado River, John Wesley Powell, and the building of Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is located in what is known as Black Canyon.  There’s a reason for that: I commented to Darrell that

Up at the crack of dawn, breakfast, and get ready to get on the bus. Today’s trip was to Valley of Fire State Park Our first stop (after a quick stop at Subway to get our lunches) was AtlAtl Rock, where climbed the stairs to look at: Then it was back on the bus for

This was: Our last day to sleep in, The day designated as Laundry Day, The day for catching a few rays, Check-in day. So first we slept in (I know, we did that yesterday too, but that doesn’t really count because we had a deadline (had to get to LV in time to pick up

So…the alarm was set for 6:00.  We figured that would give us plenty of time to get to Canyonlands NP and Mesa Arch by sunrise.  What we didn’t plan on was how warm and comfortable the bed would be at that hour of the morning.  Maybe we’ll make it next time. We arose at a

This morning we filled ourselves with Mike’s muffins and bid farewell to the Greeley friends. It was a quick trip toward Denver,… …then up the front range and onto our long-time friend, the Colorado Plateau.  For those who don’t share our amateur obsession with geology, the Plateau covers western Colorado, northeast New Mexico, northwest Arizona,