Death Valley - Part 4

Day 4 Highlights (Saturday)

1) Darwin Falls

We hiked first thing in the morning Darwin Falls, which is located just past Panamint Springs. This, like so many things in Death Valley, is really interesting. Basically on this mountain there is a spring that creates this small creek that snakes its way down the mountain creating 7 waterfalls. When we were on ledges above the stream it was so easy to tell exactly where it went because everything would be dead except along the stream where there would be trees, cattails, grass, etc. This climb proved to be the most challenging of the trip since we had to climb over the seven waterfalls, but it was well worth the challenge.

First waterfall of seven in Darwin Falls

Without too much of a challenge you can reach the second waterfall, which in my opinion is the coolest one. Shown below is a picture with Troy standing in front of it and at the very top of the fall (can't see it) the fall as a cool little twist in the path.

Second waterfall of Darwin Falls

Then once we reach the very top there is a large relatively flat area, which we hiked back into. All over the place is horse poop from wild horses, but unfortunately we didn't get to see any of them. After a short hike you come to a small ranch that someone once attempted to start. Besides some rusted out cars and building foundations there is a small pond off to the side and in there are tons of goldfish.

Pond with goldfish at the top of Darwin Falls.

After taking a break after the daunting climb to the top and having our lunch we decided to go back down a different way (supposedly easier). Basically for this ranch thing there is a road that leads to it and since Troy had never check out where the road went we decided to just walk down the road. We were pretty sure the road had to lead back to our car because the road continues but 4-wheel drive is required to go on further...after driving on a couple 4-wheel drive recommended roads we knew there was no way we could drive on this road. We assumed it must just wrap around this one range and then head straight down to the car, but after hiking for quite awhile and only going up we really started to wonder if we were correct.

Picture taken after hiking about 20 minutes uphill from the top of Darwin Falls.

The picture above was taken probably half way up to the actually top where we would start going down...the lowest point is where the top of Darwin Falls is. I think Troy and I were getting close to giving up and walking back to the top of Darwin Falls and just climbing back down when we finally saw that the road begins to head downhill. Unfortunately what we were looking wasn't actually the road and the actually road when at a very steep angle to nearly the highest peak in the range. However at this point Troy and I decided that we man as well climb it since once we are at the highest point in the range we know for a fact its going downhill from there. The view was beautiful once we got up there with the exception of the many miles of snaking road that lead downhill. After a couple moments of enjoying the view from this pass we began the decent.

The decent seemed to take a very long time and along the way we found another ghost town but no pictures were taken because all we wanted to do at this point was get off this mountain. We even would jog down some stretches of the road because we just wanted to cut down the time. Plus at this point we were really starting to wonder if this was the road that lead to our car or to some other random location. Then we came around a bend to see our car...oh what joy. Troy took off running to the car and gave it a big hug...we had been hiking/climbing for over 5 hours at this point (we actually thought we had been up there for closer to 7 hours though).

2) Panamint Springs
We then drove to Panamint Springs to get water and have lunch...definitely needed.

3) Father Crowley Point

A few miles from Darwin Falls is Father Crowley Point, which overlooks the southern valley of Death Valley National Park. So we drove up there and took a look.

Father Crowley Point

4) Packed up

We were suppose to stay another night out there but since we did Darwin Falls quicker than expected we decided why not sleep in a comfortable bed instead of on rocky ground. So we drove back to Emigrant, packed up our stuff, and drove back to Vegas.

Last picture before driving back to Vegas.

5) Showered

Once we got back to Vegas I was able to take my first shower since heading out there and then sleep in a very nice bed at Troy's cousin Nancy's place.


Day 5 Highlights (Sunday)

1) Hoover Dam

Since our flight wasn't until late Sunday we decided to drive out to Hoover Dam and take a look. It was here that my camera stopped working (below is the last picture it took). Plus with this quick trip I was able to visit three states (California, Nevada, and Arizona).

Boring side of Hoover Dam

2) Family Christmas Party

I then attended Troy's extended family's Christmas part, which was pretty fun even though I didn't know anyone besides Troy.

3) Gambled

Troy and I got the airport and our flight was delayed some giving us some time in the airport. We agreed that we have to gamble some if we are going to be in Vegas, so we played the slots in the airport. I lost everything (everything = $2) and Troy won big (big = $1.50 approximately).

4) Flew back to Michigan

We then flew back to Michigan on the red eye. We landed in Michigan at 6am Monday and got back to my apartment at 8am.

THE END