Death Valley Trip - Golden Canyon and Badlands
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2005
1
19
45
Trip End
Ongoing
Death Valley Desert,
Nevada,
United States
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Our first stop was Badwater, which, at 86 meters (282 feet) below sea level, is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. It's usually really cracked and dry, but this time it was covered in water - but all the same depth like a big shallow puddle, so where people were further out they were no deeper so it almost gave the illusion of walking on water. The resident photographer Abe (from LA and who turned 25 while we were there) suffered some pain for his art - he belly flopped onto the water but scraped his feet! You can see some of the pictures he took on www.abe.us/deathvalley - they are pretty cool.
We then hiked up Golden Canyon to the end where there was a massive red rock which is very similar to Ayres Rock in Australia. Walking there felt like we were in the set of Star Wars as the canyon was old, yellow and dusty. You could see where there had been flash floods and a river had been created. You could also obviously see where a lot of the rocks had been formed. Daniel (the guide) was very informative about the types of rocks, and general history of the area but I can't remember much of it now.
We drove to the campsite and got there in the dark. We all helped to prepare food for Mushroom Stroganoff which Eric (one of the drivers) cooked. I ate with as little light as possible as I LOATHE cooked mushrooms and was trying to pretend they weren't in there - I could feel them though. yuk. I did eat raw mushrooms and they weren't too bad. A fire was lit and the American people told me about Smores (wafer biscuits with melted marshmallows and chocolate in them), and then the drivers brought all the ingredients out. THey sound great, but American Hershey Chocolate tastes like vomit to me, which I told everyone while they were eating - might have lost a few friends at that point! Nick (Irish frequent Green Tortoiser) gave me some English Cadbury's chocolate which I thought was really nice of him.
We sat around the campfire and people played guitars and sang songs. A couple of guys (Ashut and JOhn) gave everyone a little talk on the stars which was good as I don't know much about it and really would like to learn more. It's 'quiet-time' at the camp site at 10pm so we had to shut up then. I went to bed on the bus as didn't have a tent - I was offered one to borrow but didn't want to put it up in the dark - but looking back it actually wasn't that dark - I could walk around in the moonlight as it was so bright. I have never done that before and thought it was pretty amazing.
Everything we needed for the trip was on the bus - all the cooking utensils, tables and food etc. It was fantastically organized. There were two drivers and while one was working/driving, the other would be asleep in their own little cabin in the back of the bus. When I slept on the bus that evening I thought I could hear someone going to the toilet inside the bus, and when the driver came out the next morning he had a bottle in his hand. I found it very funny as the other driver could just climb out of the little door and climb down the bus, but this one couldn't quite fit through! Also, that night there was an 'orchestra' of strange noises, I think the mushrooms in the dinner has quite a gassy effect on everyone!
I did get a little grumpy that night when Colton (13 year old) fell out of the top bunk and landed on me feet first, twice! He doesn't remember doing it. Also Dean (resident hippy that was a roadie for Def Leppard and has had too much of a good time in his life and can't go anywhere without the help of his friend Andrew) woke me up by coming in at 2am and shining a torch at everyone, then slept next to me, snoring and gurgling extremely loudly as he is a constant smoker. I thought I'd ge annoyed with people on the bus, but I didn't - you just have to put up with these things,
