Darwin Falls and Death Valley

Yesterday's hike up to the Ashram left us a little tired and sore.  Apparently I have not been doing sufficient calf stretching, and the backs of my calves hurt from having my heel so much lower than the front of my foot for the slog up.  So a day trip was in order.  We've been debating on going to Death Valley.  We're here - we should go.  But what would we see?  A valley full of sand, or death?  No, you will see so much more than that.  If you haven't been, you should go.
This the first canyon we saw on the first climb up.  It's just magnificent.  It's hard to get a good angle on it so you can see how deep it is.  Deep, very deep.

After cresting the first climb, one must then go down.  Look at the road, descending into the distance.  It's long, it's stunning.

After completing the first descent, we turned right onto a dirt road, which is 1 mile before your reach the outpost of Panamint Springs.  We were on our way to Darwin Falls.  The road surface is not bad.  I wouldn't try it in a low slung car, but a regular car could do it with no issues.

You walk in .7 miles in a gravel filled wash.  It's totally uninspiring, and if I hadn't read the trail reviews I would not have believed there would be water.  When you see the trees, you're getting close.

The creek level is very low.   Crossing it was not an issue.  There are some boulders which must be scrambled over, but they are not an issue, either.

There really is a water fall back there.

 At some point in the year, there are huge water volumes moving through the canyon.  I have put Jim in front of one of the piles of debris for perspective.

After the falls, we continued on toward Stovepipe Wells.  Panamint Springs was so awful looking, I have included no pictures.  It's full of abandoned buildings and RVs.  The restaurant looks ok, but the RV park is really rustic.  This is the road as it leaves the first valley.

It's just beautiful out there.

These are the Mesquite Dunes.  Dunes are interesting.  They can only form if a specific set of circumstances exists to funnel the winds.  It was 101F when we were looking at them, so we did not walk much.  It was more of, take a picture, get back in truck.

After the dunes, we headed back.  It's a long day in the truck but it's worth it.

The wild flower bloom is ON.  The orange ones were everywhere in great profusion.  There are a lot of others in bloom, but these were my only decent pictures.  It was really windy, and the flowers kept moving.

There is a lot of climbing on narrow twisty roads.  The worst grade was 9% for 6 miles.  They were very serious about people slowing down.  There are several 8% sections and 6% sections.  We did not see any Class A RVs on the road.  I know people have driven their big RVs through the park and lived to tell about it, but I personally don't recommend it.  Also, bring a lunch and a full tank of gas.  Services are limited and very expensive.