PG Tips and Death Valley
Well the name says it all really doesn’t it? Death Valley (particularly for us Brits) conjures up images of a very flat, very arid world with various animal skulls scattered around, bleached white by the sun. Despite this, I really wanted to go, and had wanted to go there since the age of eight; now let me explain why!
Back in the eighties PG Tips produced various ‘collection’ series, so with each box of PG Tips you purchased, you would have a slim line card (similar to those found in cigarette packs in WWII), and you could send off for the collectors book to stick them in. Now my grandparents were avid PG Tips drinkers and obviously decided that their young and impressionable granddaughter needed a hobby, so they collected the cards, bought the corresponding book and gave them to me whenever we went to visit. My favourite collection was ‘unexplained mysteries of the world’, in which there was a card and section about the ‘moving rocks’ in Racetrack Playa, Death Valley. Subsequently a visit to Death Valley has always been in the back of my mind.
Fortunately Gav was also keen to go as it was the first real opportunity to test out Snomad’s off-road capabilities. We’d had quite a relaxing drive over, passing through the Mojave desert, and Trona – an interesting little town; although the people were friendly, there were so few folk there, that it seemed more like a ghost town. In fact there was more life in Balarat, the ghost town we visited just a few miles NE of Trona, as a community of RVers seemed to have taken up residence!
Prior to living in Snomad both Gav and I had very limited experience with off-roading, and we would happily class ourselves at this stage as novices, so for our first night in Death Valley we intended to camp somewhere that was straight forward to get to. However, I was in charge of navigating and decided to take us to a lovely little campsite that was free, on a 4WD track and would have great views as the elevation was at 8,200ft! By the time we got up there we were no longer novices, having dealt with a suspected overheating engine, very steep and narrow inclines, and paths that were more rock than anything else. It was however, worth it. We arrived just as the sun was setting and the view combined with the sunset was spectacular. We actually set our alarm an hour before dawn so we could hike part way up Telescope Peak to watch the sun rise. When it came down to it though, we got up a little later (Snomad had been swaying all night in the wind!) and made it as far as the roof of the pit toilet in the camp ground – still, the view was outrageous!
Charcoal Kilns, The Ubehebe Crater, and Racetrack Playa
On our way back down from the flats we stopped at the Wildrose charcoal kilns, there are 10 of them, each 25ft high, and date back to 1877; they were used to provide fuel for two smelters about 25 miles away. We got chatting to a group of hikers at the kilns who tried to convince us to join them on their adventure. We politely declined as we had our own adventure to pursue. We also ran into Mike, a retired Alaskan deep sea fisherman who we had passed the day before, and he was on his own epic journey – on a motorbike! He’s from Concord, CA and is travelling to Alabama to see his dad for Thanksgiving, then on to New Jersey to be with his Mum for Christmas – he will be doing most of the journey (particularly out west) off-road!
After a quick chat with the ranger in Stovepipe Wells (more about good places to ski than what to do in Death Valley!), and a top up of fuel in Furnace Creek, we made our way towards Racetrack Playa. Now, although the track to Racetrack Playa is only 16 miles, you average about 7 mph as it has lots of washboard and is scattered with very sharp volcanic rocks. A ‘washboard’ road is literally as it sounds; a road with a series of regular bumps with short spacing in between, hence it looks like an old style washboard.
We stopped at Ubehebe volcanic crater on the way – definitely worth a stop. It’s half a mile wide, and 777ft deep. Ubehebe is a native American word meaning ‘big basket in the rock’ which sums it up beautifully!
A little further on is Tea Kettle Junction – absolutely brilliant and should be deemed a tourist destination in it’s own right. Due to the name, travellers adorn the signpost with – you’ve guessed it – tea kettles! Many are written on, some have additional messages popped in the spout, and others have left bottles of water and trail bars for future visitors who may be a hungry!
After a couple of cheesy photos for the site we continued to Racetrack Playa and my anticipation was building – will the ‘moving rocks’ be as intriguing as I hoped? Was it a big farce created by Death Valley in conjunction with PG Tips? Will the washboard road EVER end????
Finally we pulled over and both of us were speechless. We were the only people there, and it was incredible. The playa is actually a dried-up lake bed with the ‘grandstand’ on the north side. The grandstand is an island of rocks which have a kind of omnipresence across the playa. It’s worth the short walk out the the grandstand and the scramble up as the view from the top is spectacular.
The moving rocks themselves seem to be clustered towards the south end of the playa, and it is worth the walk out to see them, the trails they leave are pretty clear. Apparently they move at random every two to three years or so. They may go straight, they may curve, some may run alongside each other then veer off at an angle. Although no-one has seen or filmed the rocks moving, the most popular theory is that the rocks are moved by strong winter winds. This, combined with just enough rain to make the clay slippery, forces the rocks along the lake bed.
Once I had taken enough photographs of rock trails and fulfilled an ambition of my eight-year-old self (thanks for being patient Gav!) we headed back towards Tea Kettle Junction, turning right to head over Hunter mountain Pass (again, not the best route for novices in 4WD!) Most of the route was fine, but loose rocks made it a little tricky in places, and the sandy switchbacks were pretty fierce. The joshua tree forest was pretty special though, and the views over the valley were incredible.
We broke down our Death Valley adventure into a four day exploration and by the end of it we were a little dusty to say the least – or to use one of Gavin’s favourite words ‘Clarty’: He stole this term from a book called ‘Clarts and Calamities’. It’s a northern England word meaning covered in mud, dirt, or cow-pats! Either way we needed a bath, Snomad needed a service, and so we headed off to the largest city around – Las Vegas!
Backcountry Blonde 