February 14 - 18, 2026 Shoshone, California

 70 and sunny.

John is starting on a patio made from broken cement. He says it  is like doing a jigsaw puzzle, the kind that is all one color. The Judy's just made it back from their first leg of there hike. They will be here a couple days and then take off again.

John's patio so far. The idea is to have to extend into where we were sitting. The Palmer Palms Party Patio! Sunset tonight. 

John has made amazing progress on the new patio. Sunset. 

Went for a walk around the White Trail today, before the rain. Lots of the same flowers, but they have gotten bigger. Brittle bush alley.

More bigger flowers.  We went to Pahrump, it was pouring rain this is coming back into Shoshone. 

Got a surprise at sunset, the sun peaked out and we got a rainbow and a beautiful sunset. The new weather station says we got 0.14 inches of rain. That is a lot for the desert and more is coming. The flowers will love it. 

John's patio almost done. He wants to put edging around it and some sand. Looks fabulous. Our room at Tecopa Hot springs resort. There are hot spring tubs right across the hall. Us ally when the Judy's do the B2B hike we hike from Shoshone to here in Tecopa. But it was muddy with a strong headwind, so we drove over. 

Sunset from Tecopa Hot Spring resort. We had a delicious steak dinner at Steak and Beer. The best steak house around. It is about a 3 minute walk from our rooms. 

It rained  0.17 inches of rain during the night. Just above us the mountains got snow. The Funeral mountains on the way into Death Valley. You can see the bat on Bat mountain on the left. 

The bus parked at Sunset Campground in Death Valley. We will be here a week, the B2B ends at the fancy Inn here, but we will stay in the bus.  Sunset over Furnace Creek Ranch. 

February 11-12, 2026 Shoshone to Death Valley Junction, California

 High of 70, cloudy ad a tiny bit of rain.

Jean spent the night in her van, we look like an RV park! Late afternoon clouds. 

Sunset. 

We headed up the Death Valley Junction to drop off the Judy's for the start of this years B2B hike. We stopped on the way for them to cache water and food for tomorrow night.  Lemon pepper mustard plants. 

Dry playa. Cool clouds.

Amargosa River. 

The old garage at Death Valley Junction. Shadow Mountain at sunset. 

Mt Charleston, over Las Vegas with snow on it. There is a ski area on the east side of this. Reflection of sunset over the Amargosa hotel in Death Valley Junction. 

Sunset. Amargosa Hotel. It was company town for  the Pacific Borax company. It is now home to the Amargosa Opera house and hotel where Marta Beckett staged dance and mime shows from the late 1060's till 2012. 

There is no where to eat at Death Valley Junction so we brought our own dinner. John prepared soup and biscuits, I made a salad we ate in the old dining room.  James brought berry short cakes for desert. 

February 10, 2026 Death Valley, California

 70 and cloudy.

We started the  hike from Saratoga Springs in Death Valley. Lots of wildflowers. 

Field of phacelia and evening primrose. Michael in the ruins of a cabin with phacelia and evening primrose. 

Field of evening primrose with some phacelia. Desert gold. 

Whole hillsides of phacelia and and desert gold. Hiking through a field of flowers. 

Field of flowers and dark clouds. The white on the side of the mountain is mine tailings.  There are a lot of old mines in this area.

John found superman's underwear. Ore bin at Pongo mine, our destination, with sand  verbena. 

Sand verbena, 5 spot, evening primrose, desert gold, phacelia, purple mat, primrose, verbena, cryptantha, and desert gold. Hiking in flowers. There is so much green for the desert. 

Judy and John hiking in desert gold. Field of brown eyed evening primrose. 

Evening primrose, booth's evening primrose, spanish needles, 5 spot, primrose, desert star, cryptantha and a painted lady. There were whole hillsides of phacelia and desert gold. 

Phacelia and desert gold. Our boots were covered with pollen from hiking in the flowers. 

Sunset with Tecopa peak over Grimshaw wetlands on the way  home.