I took a lot of photos at five minute intervals and 10 seconds of video every couple of minutes for at least 40 minutes as the sun rose. Although it was a clear sunrise I would not think of it a spectacular but I am sure that in the right conditions it would be really something to see.
Because I had spent the last of my trip last night driving in the dark and also due to not having a good look at the northern end of Death Valley due to time restrictions yesterday I decided to retrace my steps back into Death Valley to get a better look at the scenery.
I started off at 7am to ensure that I would be able to travel there before it got very hot later in the day. I was firstly driving down a mountain range that I had driven up last night in the dark and was glad that I had come back as the views were amazing. On my right as I drove south were the Eastern Sierra Ranges, which are part of a long mountain range that has quite a few snow skiing resorts along it during winter.
Whilst driving down one of the steep sections I came past a big semi trailer that was locking it's brakes trying to slow down whilst going downhill. As I drew along side the truck I noticed that one of the wheels brakes was red hot and that a small fire was coming from the brakes on the wheel. I continued past the truck as the driver finally got it to stop on the side of the road where he jumped out as I lost sight of him in the rear view mirror. (When I cam back later there was no sign of the truck so he must have got it sorted out and moved on).My first stop was at Bishop where I had stopped the previous evening. I took a few photos of neon hotel signs that I thought looked good.
Whilst driving through yesterday I had noticed the Bishop Country Club, an 18-hole golf course, on the southern side of the town. As I drove past it this morning it had a sign saying breakfast served from 7am on Saturdays so I swung back around and went inside the clubhouse. I was able to get a good home cooked breakfast for $8.50 and was on my way again quickly. As I have said Bishop is a town with a lot good fishing streams nearby, I saw this sign on next ot one of the bars in town. I thought it was quite funny.
Also around Bishop is some good crop farming, there seems to be plenty of irrigated water available for the crops.
I drove south again to Lone Pine and then turned east and drove the 55 miles back to Panamint Springs, recording on video the drop into the valley. I have rigged up some gaffer tape to put over the video camera to hold it in place on the dashboard.
The trip from Lee Vinning to here had taken three and a bit hours, so to drive back to where I started would mean I was driving for 7 hours today, even thought I had originally planned it to be an easy day.On the way into the valley there was a lot of rock walls with quite interesting rock patterns.
Once there I took a series of photos from the floor of the valley including to the eastern end of the valley where there is a patch of desert sand which has accumulated there by being blown along the valley floor to the end of the valley.
I stopped at the petrol station I had stopped at yesterday to get a drink and noticed glass Coca Cola bottles for sale. They looked slightly different to the other ones I had seen and on looking at them closely I saw that they were from Mexico. I bought a couple of them to get the bottle tops and also bought myself a chocolate bar for morning tea.
Driving back out of the valley I stopped at Father Crowley Point which provides a breath taking view back down into the valley floor and show off the colours of the mountain ranges in the area.
I then drove back out of the national park
Stopping at Bishop again on the way back home. I went into a coin shop and bought a old share certificate and a Guinness Book of Records in a paperback size. I when went to another two antique shops but only managed to pick up three small Australian Olympic badges featuring three different Koalas in Australian track suits.
I stopped at a supermarket and found a 12 pack of Heineken Light which I bought. I had not seen it before and will send it home in my last parcel I will post on Monday or Tuesday. I also picked up three M&M containers that have little plastic bladed fans on them that work by switching on a battery.
From there I went only 100 yards up the road to stop again at the Indian Casino I stopped at yesterday. I was after another pack of the playing cards that had been used on the gaming tables. The lady behind the counter said I could only get them if I joined the casino players club. I joined the club and got my members card and was given another packet of playing cards.
The members card had put on it $5 worth of poker machine credit on it so I went to the poker machines and put in the card expecting to have a couple of turns before the $5 ran out. Well I won with the first pull and again with the second. I ended up playing for about 10 minutes before I pulled $50 out of the machine. So I was glad I had stopped at the casino as the winning money will give me a tank full of petrol for the trip.
I then drove up to Tom's Place, which is a township consisting of a group of cabins, a lodge, a general store/café/bar building. Originally built in 1917 it has been a favourite place for fishermen and hikers ever since. The bar and Café are full of items that have been place there for 90 years. It is a great place for people to stop to look at the items on display.
Leaving there I travelled a bit further north to Mammoth Lakes which is a winter Skiing resort town but during the summer has some great lakes for fishing, water skiing and hundreds of miles of wilderness to walk the forest trails. There is a lot of pine and other large trees in the area.
Also in the town is the Mammoth Brewing Company and I stopped at their factory come shop to say g'day to the staff and get some memorabilia. When I said I had driven from Las Vegas to come to get some gear the lady said that it was the furthest she knew of anybody driving to come to them. Well she was blown away when I told her I had actually travelled around the world for 6 weeks to get to their brewery.
After talking for a while I bought a couple of T-shirts a cap, a glass and some coasters and the lady gave me some bottle tops, a couple of stickers, a couple of different plastic cup that had different events on them and two bottle labels.
I ten drove back to Lee Vinning and went through to a turn off to Bodie which is a ghost town last inhabited in 1932. In the 1890's it was the second largest town in California due to the gold rush boom. It has been preserved as a national park and still has over 200 building standing. Many of them still furnished as they were left after the bush fires destroyed most of the town in 1932. Unfortunately I was too late to go into the park area as it closes earlier during the afternoon once summer finishes at the end of August.
I then went to the shoreline of Mono Lakes and saw the formations called Tufa Towers. Tufa forms when fresh spring water full of calcium comes up through the bottom of the lake and mixes with the salty lake water full of carbonates. These two combine chemically to form calcium carbonate or Tufa. This material spreads out forming towers that tend to stop growing after rising above the lake level and get exposed to the fresh air.
I drove around the area for a while just looking at the mountain scenery.
From there I went back into town and visited the Laundromat to do my final load of washing before I head home on Tuesday. I did the washing and used the dryer before heading off to one of the two local restaurants to have a large steak and with fresh salad for dinner.
I then went back to the motel to get a reasonably early night as tomorrow I am off to Yosemite National Park and afterwards driving half way to San Francisco for tomorrow nights accommodation.
Once there I took a series of photos from the floor of the valley including to the eastern end of the valley where there is a patch of desert sand which has accumulated there by being blown along the valley floor to the end of the valley.
I stopped at the petrol station I had stopped at yesterday to get a drink and noticed glass Coca Cola bottles for sale. They looked slightly different to the other ones I had seen and on looking at them closely I saw that they were from Mexico. I bought a couple of them to get the bottle tops and also bought myself a chocolate bar for morning tea.Driving back out of the valley I stopped at Father Crowley Point which provides a breath taking view back down into the valley floor and show off the colours of the mountain ranges in the area.
I then drove back out of the national park
Stopping at Bishop again on the way back home. I went into a coin shop and bought a old share certificate and a Guinness Book of Records in a paperback size. I when went to another two antique shops but only managed to pick up three small Australian Olympic badges featuring three different Koalas in Australian track suits.I stopped at a supermarket and found a 12 pack of Heineken Light which I bought. I had not seen it before and will send it home in my last parcel I will post on Monday or Tuesday. I also picked up three M&M containers that have little plastic bladed fans on them that work by switching on a battery.
From there I went only 100 yards up the road to stop again at the Indian Casino I stopped at yesterday. I was after another pack of the playing cards that had been used on the gaming tables. The lady behind the counter said I could only get them if I joined the casino players club. I joined the club and got my members card and was given another packet of playing cards.
The members card had put on it $5 worth of poker machine credit on it so I went to the poker machines and put in the card expecting to have a couple of turns before the $5 ran out. Well I won with the first pull and again with the second. I ended up playing for about 10 minutes before I pulled $50 out of the machine. So I was glad I had stopped at the casino as the winning money will give me a tank full of petrol for the trip.
I then drove up to Tom's Place, which is a township consisting of a group of cabins, a lodge, a general store/café/bar building. Originally built in 1917 it has been a favourite place for fishermen and hikers ever since. The bar and Café are full of items that have been place there for 90 years. It is a great place for people to stop to look at the items on display.
Leaving there I travelled a bit further north to Mammoth Lakes which is a winter Skiing resort town but during the summer has some great lakes for fishing, water skiing and hundreds of miles of wilderness to walk the forest trails. There is a lot of pine and other large trees in the area.Also in the town is the Mammoth Brewing Company and I stopped at their factory come shop to say g'day to the staff and get some memorabilia. When I said I had driven from Las Vegas to come to get some gear the lady said that it was the furthest she knew of anybody driving to come to them. Well she was blown away when I told her I had actually travelled around the world for 6 weeks to get to their brewery.
After talking for a while I bought a couple of T-shirts a cap, a glass and some coasters and the lady gave me some bottle tops, a couple of stickers, a couple of different plastic cup that had different events on them and two bottle labels.
I ten drove back to Lee Vinning and went through to a turn off to Bodie which is a ghost town last inhabited in 1932. In the 1890's it was the second largest town in California due to the gold rush boom. It has been preserved as a national park and still has over 200 building standing. Many of them still furnished as they were left after the bush fires destroyed most of the town in 1932. Unfortunately I was too late to go into the park area as it closes earlier during the afternoon once summer finishes at the end of August.
I then went to the shoreline of Mono Lakes and saw the formations called Tufa Towers. Tufa forms when fresh spring water full of calcium comes up through the bottom of the lake and mixes with the salty lake water full of carbonates. These two combine chemically to form calcium carbonate or Tufa. This material spreads out forming towers that tend to stop growing after rising above the lake level and get exposed to the fresh air.
I drove around the area for a while just looking at the mountain scenery.
From there I went back into town and visited the Laundromat to do my final load of washing before I head home on Tuesday. I did the washing and used the dryer before heading off to one of the two local restaurants to have a large steak and with fresh salad for dinner.I then went back to the motel to get a reasonably early night as tomorrow I am off to Yosemite National Park and afterwards driving half way to San Francisco for tomorrow nights accommodation.
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