I got walloped by a...

Pineapple Express! 

After hiking in Fall Canyon, I heard the forecast of impending monsoons and wind. At this point I figured staying below sea level in an area known for mud slides and flash floods might prove (at times)  I'm not the sharpest pencil in the holder.

So... I ran uphill with Barley to beautiful (yawn) Kingman, AZ. It's pouring Niagara Falls here. 

I scored the Gun Show rate at the local Days Inn. Don't tell the hotel owners my stand on weaponry. They might chase me down with two smoking barrels. 

Who knows where I'll be mañana. Hopefully somewhere Pineapple Express proof. Probably not at the Kingman Gun Show.

Be safe and keep your powder dry,

Jeff

From Dante's View Peak...

(don't you just love names like that) it's another 4 miles of ridge top scrambling (uphill both ways-really) to Mount Perry.

At 5,750' this ain't no Everest. However, the big sky views and abundant oxygen provide plenty of "oos and ahs." 

I'm not sure about Sherpa guides here. Google it. 

Today's Body Count (other than my own) was one skittering lizard and one flittering bird.

Did I mention it was quiet too? 

Wind and rain in the forecast of Death Valley.

Not screwed this time...

By Corkscrew Peak. Today, there was no wandering around. The cairns guided me up and all I had to do was chase them. Kind of like a bloodhound on a scent!

At 5,801 feet, it's a Colorado anthill. In Death Valley, it's a challenge. (3,300 feet elevation gain in a scant 4 miles). 

OY! I was shvitzing! (Sweating). 

In the most populated state in the U.S (California has 38 million denizens) I saw one lizard, one chipmunk and one fluttering butterfly. Madame Butterfly is now mounted on a pin and can be seen in Barley. Only joking. I may be a lot of things, but I am no lepidopterist. 

Look closely. That's standing water in Death Valley. Surfs up! Dude!

This is one mountain worth the shvitz labor to ascend. 

Good night once again from below sea level,

Jeff

Farblonzhet in ...

Death Valley National Park...

The Yiddish word for lost. I wandered around (remember my blog's title) for over three hours searching for the route up Corkscrew Mountain. I journeyed up washes, gullies and canyons before Eureka! I found actual cairns leading towards the peak. By this time it was too late to continue upon this 9 mile RT hike.

There's only 9 hours and 45 minutes between sunrise and sunset here. A long blink and you can miss it. 

Like General MacArthur I shall return (mañana) and shoot photos to prove it.

Tonight you will have to settle for Mosaic Canyon. In the fire service they told us to always have a Plan B in case Plan A's not working. Here's Plan B photos. 

Enjoy!

Time to squelch...

the rumor that I have forsaken my traveling buddy for a pipsqueak roller skate of a car.

Not so. Here is Barley posing for a Ford commercial. 

Is there anyone in the Motor City noticing? Barley has star qualities written all over him. 

Looking Good! Barley!

OY! It's so humid...

in Death Valley National Park. 

Within the past week, California finally received some much needed moisture. During the precipitation event, Death Valley scored six-tenth of an inch of rain. For a region that averages less than 2 inches/year, this was a virtual Noah's Ark Deluge. 

There's standing water, mud and morning dew. While hiking the spongy air feels more Florida than Furnace Creek. Go figure!

I think this waterfall is contributing to the wet feeling too. 

Direct from Furnace Creek, California it's Sunday Night Live!

There's Heaps...

Of human history in Death Valley National Park. One would figure the name alone would cause most folks to turn tail and run. Not so.

The Timbisha Shoshone Indians didn't name it Death Valley, for them it was home. They figured out ways to survive and thrive in this unique and harsh land. All this without air conditioned movie houses. Now that's tough. 

They moved up and down between the valley and mountains with the seasons. They were altitudinal "Snowbirds." 

Next came the miners, tourist promotors, borax harvesters, con men and a host of other get rich quick schemers. They left behind a legacy of cool stories, abandoned mines and ghost towns to prove their very existence. 

Death Valley National Park rocks on so many levels.

Good night from the almost lowest point in North America,

Jeff