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Death Valley is a forbidding, yet magical place, and over the years, I've fallen in love with the stark beauty of this hardcore desert valley, within Death Valley National Park. Camping, four wheeling, wildlife watching, star gazing, exploring, relaxing, fine dining... you name it, and you'll enjoy it in Death Valley. As with all of reviews that I publish, I have no affiliation with the restaurant reviewed, and there is no monetary gain on my part, as I am simply a person who likes to eat, and I love to write-up, and publish my dining experiences.
Photo: Mid Monday morning, November 11, 2024, Robert and I stopped at Toll Road Restaurant, located at Stovepipe Wells, to enjoy a breakfast buffet. Truly, it was a break from the camp cooking we'd been enjoying in Panamint Valley for the last several day.. Click on the image to enjoy our complete dining adventure at this fine restaurant, located in Death Valley National Park. After spending six days in nearby Panamint Valley, and enjoying CA4WDC's 38th Annual Panamint Valley Days four wheel drive event, we decided to extend our stay in the area, and head over Towne Pass into Death Valley proper, and camp at Texas Springs Campground for a few days, as my friend of 30+ years Robert had never been to Death Valley. I promised to show him around, as I'm a veteran of the area.
Photo: Late Monday morning, November 11, 2024, we set up camp in Space #22 at Texas Springs Campground, located just south of Furnace Creek, in the heart of Death Valley. The campground is divided into two sections, with the lower section being tent only, with NO generator use allowed at any time. Yeah!! The price to camp is a reasonable $16.00 a night, but for veterans - like us - or senior card holders - like us - the price is halved. The camp is staffed by friendly volunteer camping hosts, who, besides collecting the fees and enforcing the few basic rules, will be happy to chit chat, answer questions, and point you in the right direction, should you have any questions about where to go or what to do. Texas Springs Campgound is divided into two sections, upper and lower. The lower section is tent camping only, and many sites - including ours - offer shade and seclusion. The upper section is open to tents, trailers and smaller motorhomes, and very few sites offer shade or seclusion. Much of it resmebles a paved football field. Generator use is NOT ALLOWED at either the lower or upper campground. Like all the days we enjoyed camping at Texas Springs, this Monday turned out to be a beautiful day.
Photo: This afternoon proved to be a great time to simply relax around camp, enjoy adult beverages, and soak in the beautiful scenery.
Photo: Robert volunteered to cook dinner tonight, so that worked out well for me.
Photo: The first course of tonight's dinner was salsbury steak patties in gravy, along with avocado and diced jalapeno chili peppers.
Photo: Second course of tonight's dinner was Polish sausage, and sauerkraut on the side.
Photo: Tuesday morning, November 12, 2024, we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise, which promised to provide for a beautiful day. The night before, Robert and I went to Furnace Creek Village - about two miles from our camp - to take a look around and to scout out groceries and restaurants. I was beginning to run low on beer, which is always a necessity, and we were scouting out dining options. There are a couple of restaurants, including the Last Kind Words Saloon - where I enjoyed a "49'er Burger" back on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - along with numerous souvenier stores, and one general store, that has a decent selection of canned food, snacks, beer, wine and licquor. But... watch your plastic or your wallet as the prices are sky high... I checked out a 12-pack of Coors beer for $35.99! What? No way! ...we decided to take a drive over Daylight Pass to Beatty, NV, and enjoy a great breakfast and to purchase supplies at a reasonable price.
Photo: We pulled into Beatty, NV mid-morning, and headed to Gema's Cafe to enjoy a fine breakfast of ham, potatoes, eggs and toast. Click on the image to check out the complete article. After breakfast, we went to a local store and purchased necessary supplies for a reasonable price. On the way back to camp, we stopped at the ghost town of Rhyolite, and checked out the ruins of this one-bustling metropolis for an our or so before heading back to Death Valley, where warmer weather awaited us.
Photo: On the way back, we simply HAD to stop and take a typical tourist photo.
Photo: The well-preserved ruins of the "Keane Wonder Mine," which operated in the early 1900's and actully made the owners a handsome profit. The mine is located west of Daylight Pass in the Funural Mountains, on the way to Beatty, NV. You park in the dirt parking lot and hike around a quarter mile to where this photo was taken. You can hike all over the mining operation, including up the tramway that goes up the hill. Be careful when exploring, as the rocks are quite loose and there are numerous audits and shafts in the area.
Photo: The base of the tramway at the stamp mill. The "Keane Wonder Mine" is a must-see for history buffs, as it is well preserved and gives a good idea of how a early 20th mining operation ran in the early 1900's in Death Valley.
Photo: On the way back to camp, we stopped at the ruins of Harmony Borax Works, which is just outside Furnace Creek, and is an easy walk from the main campground. This borax operation operated in the 1880's through the late 1890's.
Photo: Twenty mule team train, including two borax wagons and a water wagon are on display at Hamony Borax Works. Back in the day, the mule teams hauled around 20 tons of borax 165 miles across the desert to the nearest railroad station, at Mojave.
Photo: Here's a relic from the past that still stands in Texas Flat Campground... a gunuine Bell System phone booth, sans phone, complete with a skeleton, who I presume died while waiting for dial tone that never came. This former pay phone actually was in operation until about 2008, when it was finally removed by AT&T.
Photo: Robert went into Furnace Creek for dinner, while stayed back in camp, fired up the stove, and heated up a can of beef stew.
Photo: Canned beef stew and a biscuit for dinner tonight. Simple, easy and delicious.
Photo: Wednesday morning, November 13, 2024, we began a full day of exploring by enjoying a delicious breakfast at The Oasis at Death Valley, with super friendly Moises as our server. Click on the image to see the full article on this fantastic eating adventure.
Photo: After enjoying a delicious breakfast, it was time to tour Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest dry land in North America. This is a tourist shot that I simply couldn't pass up.
Photo: There is a small pond at Badwater Basin, but there are endless salt flats you can walk out on, and enjoy the beauty of this harsh environment. Today was simply a beautiful day, with the high temperature hitting around 70 degrees, in contrast to the 120+ degree days of summer.
Photo: Visitors gather around a ranger, as she gives a talk on why Death Valley is so dry. The valley receives around 1-1/2 inches of rain every year, sometimes skipping rain entirely for a couple years. It's the hottest and driest place in North America.
Photo: Our friendly ranger illustrates a point during her presentation. She used cups of water and a sponge to demonstrate the rainfall patterns affection Death Valley, and what makes it such a hard core desert. Very interesting!
Photo: Next stop was Devil's Golf Course, where only the Devil could actually play golf.
Photo: Robert and Boo Boo explore Devil's Golf Course. This is a large area of rock salt, located north of Badwater Basin, where over the years, the weather has shaped the rock salt into jagged spires. I tasted the salt, and it was simply delicious. If I wasn't in a national park, I would have brought some home for the table, but that's a no-no and I play by the rules. Good luck at achieving par on this golf course.
Photo: Artist's Palette was on the way back to camp, and the 5-mile detour seemed like a great idea, as I'd never had the chance to explore this area before this afternoon.
Photo: About a mile into the drive, there is a pull-out parking lot, and a trail that leads up a small hill, where at the end, you'll be treated to a breathtaking view of the Funeral Mountains and a colorful valley below you.
Photo: Death Valley proper provides a dramatic landscape, with the foothills of the Panamint Mountains in the background.
Photo: These hearty souls, tourists from the United Kingdom, biked from their camp at Furnace Creek to enjoy the view at Artist's Palette.
Photo: When we got back to camp, Robert decided to go to the village and enjoy a buffet dinner, while I chose to relax and watch the sun set, from the luxury of my camp chair.
Photo: Good Thursday evening - actually it's late afternoon - as I heat up a can of chili on the camp stove. The sun set around 4:45 in the afternoon, and it was totally dark by 5:00.
Photo: Tonight's dinner was kind of a sandwich thing, with a can of chili scooped on to a couple leftover hamburger buns. Restaurant meals at Death Valley are extremity expensive, but breakfast at the Inn is surprisingly reasonable. I had plenty of canned food leftover from Panamint Valley Days, so I made good use of it for dinner.
Photo: Thursday morning, November 14, 2024, it was time to enjoy another delicious brekafast at The Oasis at Death Valley, with super friendly Moises as our server. Such a delicious breakfast, served by friendly staff at a reasonable price. After breakfast, we really didn't feel motivated to anything except hang around camp, chit chat and socialize with our neighbors. The couple camping next to us was from Ontario, Canada, and we found them interesting to chat with about all kinds of things. Later in the afternoon, we all played several rounds of penny-ante poker, which was a lot of fun. During the course of the afternoon, I think I won and lost around $2 to $3.00, and it almost broke the bank. One comment the couple made that I found quite amusing is that they didn't care for American beer.
Photo: Besides enjoying the company of our neighbors, this guy kept us entertained, as he hopped around various camps looking for lunch. You're camping in a national park and you're not supposed to feed widlife, including roadrunners. But...
Photo: Mr. Road Runner strikes a pose in our camp. At night and in the early morning, we could hear his friend, Wile E. Coyote and numerous of his gang howling at the moon.
Photo: For some reason I was hungry, so I started dinner well before the sun set behind the Panamint Mountains.
Photo: A can of chili con carne, along with a couple of toasted corn tortillas made for a great Thursday evening dinner. A little Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce added a little bit of much needed pizzazzzz.
Photo: Boo Boo and I enjoy a fire, thanks to a Duraflame log, which is handy and makes a decent fire, but isn't anything like a REAL fire of pine, cedar or oak.
Photo: Friday morning, November 15, 2024 I climbed the hill in back of camp, and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over the lower section of Texas Springs Campground. Our camp is in the lower left hand corner of the photo and Furnace Creek Village is in the center, with the Panamint Mountains in the background.
Photo: There is nothing I love more than to get up early and enjoy a beautiful sunrise. If you look closely at the left rear tire of my truck, you'll see that Mr. Roadrunner has arrived in camp, and is paying us a visit on this early Friday morning.
Photo: When I'm camping, I wake up hungry, so my first order of today's business was to get breakfast going.
Photo: Today's breakfast was pork 'n beans, Vienna sausages and toast. Too bad I was out of eggs, but nevertheless, this breakfast was delicious and hit the spot.
Photo: Today's adventure was to explore Echo Canyon and the Inyo Mine, at the end of the trail. From CA Hwy 190, it's about 8 miles down a good gravel road to the Inyo Mine, at the end of the trail.
Photo: After driving east four or five miles over the alluvial fan, we entered Echo Canyon. The road to the Inyo Mine is a good, graded gravel road, and we didn't need four wheel drive. You could carefully drive a passenger car on this road, but I wouldn't recommend it. Good, heavy duty tires are a necessity, and four wheel drive would be very useful is the unpredictable weather turned ugly. I truly understand how the canyon got it's name, as when you shout, you can hear your voice echo around the canyon walls.
Photo: The Inyo Mine began operations in 1905, and was a going operation for a couple of years or so, before things began to get quiet. The mine operated sporadically until 1940,, when it shut down operations for good. The mine is quite well preserved - thanks to it being in a national park - complete with head frame, equipment, and many outbuildings, including ruins of the bunkhouse.
Photo: Mine head frame, cyanide tank and machinery are reasonably intact. This operation was quite large, and you could easily spend an entire afternoon exploring. Watch out for mine shafts and audits, along with mine debris and rattlesnakes.
Photo: One of several "cousin jack" houses at the Inyo Mine. These dugout houses were very popular in period California mining operations, and nearly every mine or ghost town has numerous examples of these practical dwellings.
Photo: About a half mile before you arrive - or depart - Inyo Mine, there is a trail junction, with what looks like to be a reasonably doo-able trial heading over to Amargosa Valley. The sign reads, "Amargosa Valley 15 High clearance - short wheelbase - 4.4 advised!" Back in camp, I asked our friendly camp host - who has expert knowledge of every 4x4 trail in the area - about the trail, and he described the sign as an "understatement." He said the trail starts out easy, but there are dry waterfalls, stair steps and narrow canyons to negotiate, with winching possible, and the trail should only be attempted by well-built four wheel drive vehicles, traveling in a group.
Photo: On the way back to the highway, you pass the famous "Hole In The Rock," and it's easy to see how it got the name.
Photo: We take a break on the alluvial fan, near the entrance to Echo Canyon to admire the beauty of the Panamint Mountains in the distance.
Photo: Back at camp, in Texas Springs Campground, it was time to relax and reflect upon the day's adventure.
Photo: Exploring mines is hungry work, so after the sun set for the evening, it was time to fire up the stove and enjoy a Friday dinner.
Photo: A pot of canned menudo, with fresh jalapeno pepper slices is heating on the stove for tonight's dinner.
Photo: Menudo, garnished with sliced, fresh jalapeno pepper, along with toasted corn tortillas made for a great Friday night dinner.
Photo: After dinner, it was time to light another log, and enjoy the last camp fire of the trip. Boo Boo always loved to relax close to the fire.
Photo: Saturday morning, November 16, 2024 we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise, but it was time to pack up and begin to head home. I truly didn't want to leave, after having camped six days in Panamint Valley and five days at Texas Springs, but all good things come to an end, and it was time to head home. I truly enjoyed "happy trails!" Robert and I enjoyed five nights and six days exploring, eating, relaxing, camping and simply being off the grid and away from everyday life. I look forward to another visit to Death Valley National Park, and camping at Texas Springs. Death Valley National Park Copyright(c) 2024 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. We've been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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