February 27- 28, 2023 Death Valley, California

 Beautiful warm day in the high 60's and sunny.

Tommy and Sally's coach and Jeep parked next to us in sunset Campground. First the wind came up, then the blowing dust. 

Rain started on the Panamint mountains across the valley. James, John and I ready to back pack in to camp with the Judy's on their B2B hike. 

The Judy's arriving after a long hard day of hiking. They usually walk on the dry river bed-the water is under ground in this section.. But since the rain there is water in it and they have to pick their way though huge rocks and mud on the banks. Took them much longer than usual. View from our tent. 

Judy P setting up her tent. James and Judy D setting up their tent.  We camped in that spot last year. There were high winds which got higher in the night. Their tent was folding down on top of them untit they put their packs against  that side.

Sunset. John with Judy and James preparing their dehydrated dinners.  John and I didn't want to mess with bringing a lot of gear, so we just brought burritos. 

Judy preparing her Ramon noodles with pesto sauce. Our tent for the night. Jupiter and Venus above our tent. The stars were amazing that night. The wind came up even higher in the night and even in our protected site sand blew in under the rain fly into our tent and faces all night. The tent vibrated in the high winds. My air mattress leaked and I was trying to sleep on the hard uneven ground. John was snoring. He had a great nights sleep. I think I had none, But I finished my book and started another.

Sunrise was beautiful. Sunrise on the snow on the Panamint Mountains.

The Judy's heading out in the morning. We left a few hours later. A few miles down the road Judy and Judy flagged us down. There was too much water  on the valley floor. It was too muddy to walk though, so they bailed on their last night out. Here they are crammed in our car with all their gear and ours. This is the first time they have stopped the hike early.

We hiked up Mormon canyon to pull their cached food and water for that night so they would not have to come back and do it later. We found a small patch of wild flowers. There was not enough rain this fall for there to be much of a bloom, so we stopped to enjoy them. 

This is the only place in the valley that we saw flowers. Most of Death Valley is below sea level. There were lots of tiny plants, so I suspect there will be more of a bloom later. White cryptantha flowers, dried mud, evening primroses and desert gold. 

Snow on the Panamint Mountains across the valley. One of the reasons it is called Death Valley is because nothing grows on the valley floor. It is an up to 6 foot deep salt pan from the water entering the valley, soaking in and then evaporating leaving the minerals from the ground. We stopped at Death Valley Inn where the Judy's had reservations for the last two nights of the trip. They were able to get the same room for that night too. 

It was sunny, 70 degrees and only a slight breeze at the bus. John reading a book and I worked on my basket. The sun felt wonderful. Progress on the latest masterpiece. It is 10 x 9 1/2 x 3 inches so far.  It is made from natural and dyed pine needles, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is a piece of glass I fused. It was supposed to be round, but I didn't put enough glass in the mold.  I slumped it and it made a lame bowl, but it is making a lovely basket center. 

Sunset tonight. Sally and Tommy cooked us a wonderful BBQed ribs dinner in their bus. The wind came up even higher than the night before and we were happier to not be in our tents tonight. 

February 25-26, 2023 Shoshone,California

 58, windy and rain.

It rained hard most of the day, Raindrops on the windshield through the cat eye sun screen. Puddle in the street. 

Snow on the Kingston Mountains just above Tecopa. Rain puddle.

Snow and sun on the  Resting Springs and Nopah mountains just east. Rain puddle looking west.

Sunset. Rain puddle behind the bus. 

The creosote bushes smell so wonderful after a rain. The official rainfall was .45 inches. Our in the cup total was a little over 3/4 inches. 

High 60's and sunny. We drove the bus down to Death Valley in preparation to joining the Judy's for a night on their B2B hike and picking them up at Badwater later on the week. Death Valley near 20 Mule team canyon on the way down. We have never seen Sunset campground so deserted. We are on the far right in the top photo. We think the predicted heavy rain and snow on all the approaches to Death Valley and the 24 hour power outage canceled many peoples trips. 

Cool trees and clouds on the edge of the campground. Our view to the south from our campsite. The campground is mostly a big gravel lot surrounded by amazing views and beach like weather this time of year. It is almost impossible to get a site with hook ups or trees without reservations at least a year in advance. There is always room here. 

Across the street from the campground is Furnace Creek Ranch. In the last few years it has been remodeled into a palm filled sort of southwestern facility. This palm filled square was a much needed parking lot a few years ago. In the fancy Oasis gift shop three of my baskets are for sale. 

These cottages were opened last year. John leaving Furnace Creek ranch through one of the historic ranch gates, walking across the street to the campground. 

The bus at Sunset Campground. Tommy and John waiting for sunset. Tommy, who worked with John in Fort Collins and his wife have been living in their RV for the last 7 years. They are parked right next to us in the campground.

These are about the only pink clouds in the sky at sunset. And the moon. 

February 23 - 24, 2023 Shoshone to Tecopa, California

 50's, very windy, mostly cloudy, rainy and snowy.

James and I hiked with the B2B hikers from Shoshone to Tecopa. Judy, Judy and James carried full backpacks, I had a day pack. It was windy with some rain and snow. James and Judy hiking from Shoshone to Tecopa.

We found remnants of a weather balloon. We couldn't tell if it was Chinese or not. But it was old enough to not have printed circuit boards. Heading toward Tecopa. 

We almost got out of the wind for lunch. Walking on the salt flats toward Tecopa.

A huge rain cloud approaching toward us. Salt flats and clay hills. 

Judy and James ahead, almost to Tecopa. We stayed at the Tecopa Hot Springs resort. This was our room, directly across the hall from 3 wonderful hot spring tubs. 

Sunset. We had dinner at Steak and Beer. It moved into the old Bistro building which is about 100 feet from our rooms. It was yummy. Chef Joe was cooking. 

Judy and Judy leaving in the am toward Badwater, Death Valley. Another masterpiece.  It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads, blue magnetite elephants and glass center I fused. It is 6 x 3 inches. 

We were going to drive the bus down to Death Valley today, but a lot of rain is predicted and we did not want to get stranded down there if the roads closed. We will go down on Sunday after the storm. We went to Pahrump to resupply, get a chip in the windshield fixed and get fuel. The was snow as far down as the Nopah and Spring Mountains. Getting a hole drilled into the windshield to fix the chip. John had enough fuel points from grocery shopping at Smiths to get 60 cents off a gallon for the whole fill up. 55 gallons at $3.69!