March 20,2017 Ibex Dunes, Death Valley, California

 Judy (my sister) and Laurie arrived on Fri night.  Jill (Judy’s daughter and my niece) and Angie arrived on Sunday. John cooked us a great dinner of red sauce and pasta. Monday we went  to Ibex dunes. It was in the high 90’s and hot. Fortunatly there was a breeze to sort of cool us down. Angie has never been to  Death Valley before so it was a treat for her.  Ibex dunes has the most flowers this spring in Death Valley and is remote enough there are not enough people.  Judy, Jill, Angie, Judy D and Sue D.

Fields of  sand verbena in front of the dunes.

Angie, Jill, Judy, Sue D and Judy D on the dunes. Judy, Angie and Jill with the thumbs up.

 Lines in the dunes. Beetles  on plants, a sand cricket and desert gold and verbena.

 The head gate to an old mine in the dunes and more lines.

Tall clover, red and black beetles mating and eating at the same time, corregated metal and lines in the dunes.  Hiking in the verbena.

Climbing the dunes, desert gold on the aluvial fan.

On the way back we went to China Ranch Date Farm.  The display for the Mojave Mud face mask, with a photo of Jill, Judy and I wearing it. Word has it that it did not start selling well till our photo was posted.

Date palm orchard  and China Ranch. 

March 15-19, 2017 Shoshone, California

Dinner with John, Judy D and Sue D having dinner on the patio. Sunset during dinner.

Sunset on the  next night. Sunday I went on a hike in Tecopa. Roger, Patrick and John starting into Big Ass  canyon with desert gold in the foreground.

Toni and John dropping into the canyon with yellow brittle bush. Patrick and Roger with a blooming beavertail cactus.

Gravel ghost, brittle bush, yellow flower and mohavea. Patrick, John, Toni, Roger and Mike.  I thought the light on the flowers looked best here.

Roger thought the light was better here. I am in this one. Blooming brittle bush on the canyon wall.

Resting in the shade in Cowboy canyon. Brittle bush on the canyon walls, growing  in the path water drains down. 

Toni heading into the canyon we took back out.  A rest stop on the way out with Toni, Patrick, Roger, John and Mike.

Desert gold was blooming all over. Toni and Roger on the ridge on the way back. 

Salt formed around the rocks in a small seep, beavertail cactus blooms. We hiked from Toni and Roger’s beautiful house that Roger built. I love the wrap around porches. 

When we returned hot and tired they served cold ice tea on the veranda.  

March 14, 2017 Ibex Dunes, Death Valley, California

We headed to Ibex dunes in the southern part of the valley to check out the flowers.

Near Ibex pass we saw these- desert chicory, cryptantha, wooly daisies, desert dandelions, and a pink flower.

A hillside of desert gold. Cool looking  desert mountains.

Desert gold in front of the Ibex dunes and more desert gold.

Big fields of desert gold. Purple flower, desert gold, poppies and desert dandelions and 5 spots. 

John in the fields of verbena at the dunes, evening primrose and verbena in front of the dunes.

Desert gold and verbena, sprawling verbena plants and a white flower.

Pink flowers, evening primrose and a snake track in the sand. Albino verbenas, pink verbenas and desert gold and an interesting rock. 

 I found this piece of culvert filled with desert verbenas and this lizard. The car said it was 109 degrees, my Death Valley thermometer that was in the shade on my pack said very high 90’s. Either way it was too hot to be hiking. Phacialias and verbenas.

The desert gold is blooming in the washes in the rivulets the water ran down. Saratoga spring, Death Valley.

Desert golds and Saratoga springs. We ended the day in the spring fed pool, under palm trees in Shoshone. Ahh!