Letter from The Death Valley of California ... April 2009

Reaching the Earth's Lowest point in Death Valley

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California situated within the Mojave Desert, it is the lowest, hottest and driest area in North America, 3000 sq miles. The valley is surrounded by mountains while the surface is mostly flat and devoid of plants.

When I first heard of the “Death Valley” in sunny California I had vision of a barren vast landscape where people died from all sorts illness, creatures and aliens from out of space. Not the one to walk away from an offer of a journey to the valley, I quickly accepted an invite from a friend who had been there. However, for me reaching the death Valley itself was a bit of a disappointment because there were lots of tourists like me, (probably not wondering around with same thoughts as mine) but they were there in truck full and so were the hotels to accommodate them and so were the typical American type of tourist centres with gift shops to make sure all those visitors go home with a fridge magnet or two!!

 

There are 300 people who live and work in the valley. There are different versions of how the valley got its name and here is one story from Google search engine. “Long before it was established as a national park in 1934 the Death Valley received its name from a group of hikers who used the valley as a shortcut to gold in California. One person died of dehydration and one of the hiker who lived to tell his tales was quoted as saying “goodbye, Death Valley”. The name stuck and since becoming a National Park people who go there are better prepared and thus there are few reported deaths, approximately six every year. So people do die, but not from creatures from out of space or dreaded illness like malaria!

 

For me the most adventurous part of my journey to Death Valley was the whole American style experience of travelling for 14 days by car from Vancouver ( approx. 1000 miles to the valley from Vancouver). My two hosts did the hard work of driving everyday, covering long and sometimes lonely roads whilst I became the back seat driver with a camera. It was the most scenic journey I had ever experienced in my life in such a short space of time. Our inland journey from state of Oregon (USA) started with miles and miles of flat land of tulip farms; we moved on to the mountainous region where it snowed making it difficult for our onward journey; we went through acres and acres of farm land where we got lost and we had a chance to climb the sand dunes. We went through vast region where the Indians and Cowboys roamed the land, which looked desert like with extraordinary hills of numerous earthy colours. The scenic route was very unpredictable and so was the weather; there were days when it was cold (minus 2 degree) with snow on the ground and there were days when we suffered heat waves, there was rain and lots of rain and there were days when the strong wind made the driving dangerous on isolated roads.

Our return journey from the Death Valley to Vancouver was all along the coast, through the Californian vineyards and the Redwood forest and lots of sea views every few miles. Throughout the journey my camera did not stop clicking, I took 300 photos in 14 days!! Each night we stopped in a motel (three in one room, cheaper) and the following morning after breakfast we moved on to the next port of call and for 14 days we stayed in 12 different motels, stopping in quirky, small towns off the beaten tracks which I have never heard of but felt very much at home with the American style friendly welcome we received each time. (For my own records I made a note of each place we stopped whilst travelling to and from the Death Valley.. Biggs, Bend, Alluras, Bishop, Beatty, Calico, Fresno, Petaluma, Fortuna, Bandon, Palackmas, Portland also passing through San Francisco and Island Whidbey back to Vancouver).

 

On 23^rd April 2009, Shakespeare's birthday we were in town of Bishop, just when I thought the world had gone to sleep with out knowing my date of birth the following day (24th April) I woke up in the middle of the night to find the bath tub full of balloons and the following morning the land full of snow outside and fairy cakes with candles inside; unforgettable 59^th birthday treat! I should go away more often on my birthdays?