Day 4: To Furnace Creek

March 28, 2011

Today I go south in Death Valley to Furnace Creek. It's mostly downhill after climbing 400 feet to get back to the highway.

It was 43F (6C), sunny and breezy at dawn. On the road I had a north tailwind for the first 15 miles, but the wind blew gently from the south for the remainder of the day.

The scenery isn't really outstanding. The view ahead is seldom inspiring when traveling south into the sun.

The alluvial fans resemble chocolate mousse. Grapevine mountains in the distance.

The road drops to near sea level long before I get to highway 190. There isn't much vegetation near sea level. Just rocks and sand. The temperature warmed up into the 80's (>27C).

The lower parts of Death Valley are very barren.

From a distance I saw only rocks on the ground. But up close there were occasional small flowers.

Tiny sand verbena flowers blooming among the bare gravel. This plant is about 3 inches (7 cm) wide and 1 inch tall.

It was kind of a shock when I turned left on California highway 190. I was accustomed to seeing maybe 1 car every 5 minutes. But now there is much more traffic. Frequently a motor home followed by several tailgating cars. No shoulder, so I have to pay attention now!

Highway 190 is much busier than the roads I've been on the last 3 days.

15 miles north of Furnace Creek the highway drops below sea level.

Today's only tourist stop is the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail which is off the highway 1.2 miles (2 km) down a washboard gravel road. The creek is more than 200 feet below sea level and the sun was blazing. I haven't experienced heat like this since last September. My body isn't adapted to it.

I had been to this trail in winter, but never in spring when fish are in the creek. It was interesting to see the pupfish and the birds they attract. The creek is only 2 inches (5 cm) deep. Because it's the bottom of a basin the water is several times saltier than sea water.

During the last ice age most of Death Valley was a lake - Lake Manly. The pupfish are the only surviving descendants of fish that once inhabited Lake Manly. Over time they must have evolved to tolerate the extremely salty water.

Pupfish in salt creek. 1.2 inch (3 cm) long. Descendants of fish that lived in Lake Manly during the last ice age.

Birds like to eat the pupfish, but they don't drink the salty water.

Birds dining on pupfish. I saw very few birds in Death Valley.

From the Salt Creek trail to Furnace Creek is only 15 miles, but it seemed to take forever with the heat and bright sunlight. I had a defining Death Valley moment. I stopped and reached into my bag to put on sunglasses, but found an empty case. I was already wearing sunglasses but it's so bright I could use 2 sunglasses!

The flowers may not bloom like this every year. Snow-capped Panamint mountains in the distance.

Approaching Furnace Creek I see the first large salt flat and look into the sun at the Panamint mountains rising 11,000 feet (3350 m) above the valley. The huge Furnace Creek campground was full and about 50 motor homes were in the Sunset campground which is a gravel overflow lot. So my first priority was to secure a campsite up a hill in the tents-only Texas Spring campground. I arrived at 3 PM and the few shady sites were all occupied as expected. So I got one of many available unshaded gravel sites. Generators are prohibited, so it should be quiet. I set up my tent, paid for one night using the solar-powered machine, then went back to the store at Furnace Creek.

This is day 4 of the tour and Furnace Creek has the first food store I've seen since the tour started. I hung around in the shade near the Furnace Creek store because there is no shade at my campsite. The temperature was 84F in deep shade, but it's much warmer out in the sun.

At 5 PM I backtracked 2 miles to visit the Borax Works. It operated for less than 10 years in the 1890's. Refined borax was transported 150 miles (240 km) south to the nearest railroad using the famous "20 Mule Teams". Each team towed two wagons of borax and a tanker wagon of water for the mules.

20-Mule-Team wagon train on display at the Borax Works.

The 20 Mule Team borax brand is still sold today, more than 110 years after the company quit using actual 20 mule teams.

The air temperature was very pleasant at the campground after sunset. But the gravel retains heat after baking in the sun all day. At 10 PM the gravel was still probably 110F (43C). The wind helped a lot, but the hot rocks kept the tent warmer than the outside air. Where I live it's never this warm at night. It was an uncomfortably warm night because my body is not adapted to the heat. Most of my neighbors slept on the ground without tents.

Today was a very easy riding day, but the sudden onset of heat took its toll.

Distance: 65.6 mi. (105 km)
Climbing: 1666 ft. (505 m)
Average Speed: 11.9 mph (19 km/h) ...fastest day of the trip...
Maximum Speed: 36.5 mph (58 km/h)
Hiking: 1 mi. (1.6 km)

Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 174 miles (280 km)

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