Death Valley Trip - Volcano Crater and Sand Dunes
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2005
1
20
45
Trip End
Ongoing
Death Valley Desert,
Nevada,
United States
Sunday, March 20, 2005
We drove north across an incredible landscape to Ubehebe Crater which is a Volcano Crater. As it was quite high up it was very windy. You could either walk all the way round, go down into the bottom of the crater, or go and have a look at some smaller ones. I admit I was lazy, and maybe a little bit scared (all the talk of these natural disasters can make you a bit paranoid) so I just stayed on the bus and chatted with Yalli, but it was amazing to look out and Daniel pointed out the different colors of the floor for miles around so you could see where all the debris would have gone. I spent some time on the bus talking to Betty (Yugo/Ukraine?) who was there with her boyfriend, they were a cool couple who had been pretty quiet up until then.
After that we went to the sand dunes that were only a couple of miles from the camp site. There were pretty high and trying to get up them was funny, every time you put your foot down the sand moves and you feel like you are sinking. It was good exercise. We had a group photo at the top which I will get a copy of. Daniel had brought along some sand boards and everyone had a go at either 'surfing' down the dunes, or sitting down on the boards. We sat around on top of the dunes and took in what was around us as it was pretty breath taking. Where the dunes hadn't been walked on there were amazing patterns made by the wind, and the tops of some of the dunes were quite sharp which I found strange. I walked back to the campsite with Anya and Katrina (German who is being a nanny in San Fran) in time for a beautiful Mexican dinner prepared by Phil the driver. I should have walked with Lauren (Lizard man) as he works with reptiles and found some on the sand dunes.
You do spend a lot of time in the bus but it does have as it has tables, chairs and a chill out area it is good. If you are not in the mood to talk to someone you can just close your eyes and relax. BUt if you do want to talk to someone, there is loads of choice and everyone always has something to say or a story to tell. One thing that was constantly a source of amusement was the English language. Even though a lot of us spoke the same language, some words and expressions didn't make sense to others. Anya was trying to decide whether she should speak with and American or a English accent which made me laugh.
I had an early night again as knew we would be woken up early. Anya, Katrina and I all slept in 'Ceasers Palace', as Cesar (from Almeda nr San Fran) had quite a big tent and I didn't want to sleep in the bus again. I fell asleep to a Moby song on my iPod called 'The Sky is broken' which was such a perfect song for the time, if you can hear a copy just imagine what it was like falling asleep to it looking at the stars and the moonlight(the tent has windows so I could see outside). I actually slept all the way through the night apart from when I could hear a pack of Coyote's 'talking' to each other. I wish I had recorded the sound they make as they don't just howl, it actually sounds like they are having a conversation. They were running around the campsite too, but I felt safe in the tent.
I found a article that gives you a bit more information on Death Valley from someone who has done a similar tour to me. Have a read if you want. http://www.death-valley.us/article1180.html
For a picture of Uhebe Crater:
http://www.inn-california.com/deserts/InyoC/deathvalley/uhebecrater.html
