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.