Death Valley is sort of Dead...

Compared to mid-February when I was fortunate to be here at the height of the Super Bloom.

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/super-bowl-vs-super-bloom.html

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/i-bloomin-in.html

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/parting-is-such.html

All those lovely blooms have now gone to seed. However, that's not what's making Death Valley seem lifeless. There's hardly any people here. Measured by the National Park Service's barometer of crowds, the Selfie-Stick Index, the Park is a virtual Ghost Town.

What's the Selfie-Stick Index you ask? Why it's the number of visitors welding Selfie-Sticks/100. The Index was pegging in the 80's when the Park resembled a Flower Shop. Now it's down to a more manageable 20-30 range. This makes walking around the overlooks a lot safer. Have you ever been "cloths lined" by a Selfie-Stick? 

I'm now in Barley the Van, getting a bit seasick as we get jostled by northerly Banshee breezes. Unfortunately, it's not the "When this Van is rocking, don't come knocking,"  kind. Rats! It's also raining. A lot. But, it's a warm rain. Oh yeah, there's flash flood warnings too. 

These photos were taken above DV today, before the wind and the rain came by. 

Excuse me while I blow up my water wings. 

This sure beats White Death. 

Jeff

PS. If you care to visit, get here soon, it's 20 degrees cooler than normal now. That won't last and neither will I. Triple digit temperatures will be returning next week. The NPS closes all the campgrounds in the Valley by May 10. I suppose it's a way of preventing heat related bad things from happening to the clueless. Think of it as a form of Heat Hibernation. 

PPS. Last photo, there were pupfish swimming near Barley this morning.

Clara Sambur didn't raise a schmegegge...

G(Yiddish for a stupid person)

As told in my last post, 

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/04/bryce-canyon.html

Barley can get kind of cramped when I'm forced inside by inclement weather. So after another frigid night being buried beneath five blankets, I figured somethings gotta give. 

I checked weather forecasts for the Red Rock destinations of southern Utah. It was a litany of White Death at the higher elevations and cool and sodden at the lower ones.  Incessant cold winds were added as a garnish. No Bueno.

Hmmm. I might not only have to lower my altitude, I needed to lower my latitude. 

I checked the forecast for Death Valley National Park. OY! Perfect! Tank tops, flip flops, baggy shorts and sleeping once again with all my windows open. Is that not  Heaven on Earth? 

So I drove through one cold front after another for 300 miles to sit outside in Shoshone, California. There's no wind, the Bluesy Bullfrogs are croaking from a nearby spring fed pond and I'm wearing a sweatshirt and a grin. 

I can now drink beer without hiding it from the authorities like I did in Utah. I'm in California, the Land that elects movie stars for Governors. 

All is Bueno.

From my Super Bloom posts of Death Valley from February.

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/super-bowl-vs-super-bloom.html

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/i-bloomin-in.html

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/02/parting-is-such.html

Come on Summer!

Jeff

"Little Bryce Canyon"

Is the US Forest Service's term for Red Canyon. This amber colored area sits down yonder from that much ballyhooed National Park. 

I wandered around for 11 miles in Red Canyon. I think its wishful thinking to say it's a baby Bryce. However, you won't hear a molecule of complaint from me. I liked it for what it didn't have. And what's that, Jeff?

Bus loads of selfie stick wielding mobs on a "National Lampoon Vacation" journey. 

"There's Bryce Canyon!" 

Snap! Goes the I-Phone on a Stick.

"Everyone back on the bus! We have another three parks to see today before we eat our next buffet!" 

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye to a selfie-stick.

I think Red Canyon is sort of a local's secret. The trailheads aren't signed from scenic Highway 12. The parking lots are camouflaged behind ponderosa, pinyon and juniper pine trees. You need a Forest Service trail map to figure this all out. Most of the time the Visitor Center seems to be shuttered. This year was the first time I've passed this way to find Old Glory fluttering in the breeze. I scored a map and now it has opened up another play venue for this WWJ. 

Speaking of breezes, I've been seriously windburned in the last few days. There's been Amphetamine-type gusts that even judder Barley the Van to and fro. What really stinks on ice, it's a cold wind. 

This life I lead is very weather dependent. Barley the Van sports about 78 square feet of living area. The Queen sized bed (more wishful thinking) takes up most of this space. In other words. Barley can get very claustrophobic during a bout of marginal weather. 

The Forecast? Marginal weather including the possibility of White Death. That won't do. 

Out comes the maps and the Weather.com app. 

It might be time to lower my altitude, but not my attitude. 

Come on Summer!

Jeff

Try to figure out which photos came from where?

PS. My IPA supply is down to one storage area. I don't think I'll need an emergency air-lift to get me back to the more IPA friendly Colorado. Touch wood.

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2016/03/be-prepared_24.html