49ers Encampment in Death Valley

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♪♫” In a cabin by a canyon, excavating for a mine, ♪♪
♪♫ dwelt a miner 49er and his daughter Clementine”♫♫


We headed into Death Valley on October 28th to prepare for the 59th Annual 49ers Encampment. We camped in Furnace Creek Campground which is 200’ below sea level. Thus it’s name. No electricity or water so I had to go into the campground prepared with all my tanks full so that I could run my generator, enjoy some heat and full water tank so that I could have a shower! I also carried gallon bottles of drinking water. I had been told that the Encampment usually drew around 2000 RVers but because of the price of gas (or diesel) there was no way of knowing how many would attend, and no one had any idea how many SOLOs would make the trip. As it turned out there were 30 SOLOs who stayed for the entire event and at least 10 more who came for a week and then left.

The Encampment is generally speaking a musical event, a lot of country and western, some gospel and some bluegrass music. Different groups of musicians gather for a jamming session outside someone’s rig, and then two or three rows over you find another group. It’s fun just to walk around and sit in on a session and then move on to the next group. During the official 49er days there is a stage and professional musicians do their stuff!
Furnace Creek boasts not only the campground but a little village with a golf course, a motel, two restaurants, a post office and a general store. The motel opens its hot spring fed pool to 49er members, so we naturally became 49ers! A great deal of fun for all who attend…..mostly folks of my age and up.

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Photos

Sunrise
Being an early riser I always enjoy watching the sun come up. Here in Death Valley it is just an amazing event, the mountains change colours in minutes.

Geology
Death valley is a haven for a geologist. Wally would've loved it. There are so many different minerals found here. The rocks are a variety of colours ranging from pale pinks to deep green

Valley Floor
Several pictures so just read on! The 49ers were on their way to make their fortune in California. It got late in the year so a group of them decided to try a more southern route, they arrived in Death Valley and almost starved.

Rhyolite. A Ghost Town
Seeing the variations of colours in the surrounding mountains they knew minerals were present here. Some did stake a claim and there was some mining, but not enough was forthcoming to be profitable

Rhyolite
Gold was found here in 1904 the population boomed to 10,000. By 1908 the mines began to fail and by 1910 the popuation had dropped to 675. By 1920 it was just 20 souls, mostly eccentric. This house was built of bottles.

Remains
Because there is litle or no wood in Death Valley to build cabins etc. when the miners moved they took the bits and pieces that made up homes with them.
One of the only remaining structures is FOR SALE--anyone interested?

Ghoul
Another example of eccentricity

Leadfield
Another ghost town. Almost everything removed to rebuild somewhere else. This little community of close to 1000 even had a post office -- for a few months! The town was about 50 miles from any other civilization, imagine forgetting to buy milk!!

Titus Canyon
Another highlight of my stay in Death Valley was visiting Titus Canyon. I had really wished for a better camera, the scenery and colours were breathtaking. The road is one way through the canyon for obvious reasons.

Titus Canyon Narrows
The road follows the gorge through a very narrow passageway.

Tighter
And tighter......

Coming out
Suddenly there is open desert in front of us

Badwater Basin
At 282' below sea level this is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. To have exposed land below sea level an extremely dry climate is necessary. The average annual rainfall in Death Valley is 1.5"

Salt Water Flats
Over 10000 years ago the floor of the valley was covered by a huge lake, what is left is a five mile wide salt flats. Sodium Chloride makes up the majority of salt here. Other evaporative minerals include calcite, gypsum and borax.

Desert Varnish
Death Valley was not created by a rivers erosion. Movements in the earth's crust have dropped it to such great depths. The shine on the rock here is known as Desert Varnish but was caused by friction.

Salt Creek
This small creek is a surprise in the middle of the desert! It is flanked by sand dunes and a lot of heather is growing on its banks

Sand Dunes
An ancient breed of fish, Pupfish live in the creek and in Devil's Hole, a natural well formed along an earthquake fault that is pulling apart. They became marooned when the Ice Ages ended. The fish live in the smallest habitat for a vertebrate animal known in the world.

Scotty's Castle
Another surprise in the desert was Scotty's Castle. Scotty was a scoundrel who made friends with a very rich business man in Chicago. Scotty persuaded the man to invest in a fictitious gold mine.

Death Valley Scotty
Business man, Albert Johnson loved the wild west desert and although he found out that Scotty had hood-winked him, their friendship flourished. This was the Johnson's vacation home which they fondly allowed to be called "Scotty's Castle."

Wiley Coyote
A regular visitor to Scotty's Castle. Unfortunately has been habitualized, preferring left over sandwiches to desert rats.

Comments

[Al]

Great pictures of the desert Lyn. I drove thru Death valley when I took a course in Scottsdale. 1968. It was summer so I had AC installed on the old ford van.