Death Valley '09

The camping trip to Death Valley was a lot of fun.


We had a nice camp site nestled in the hills.


Day 2 was met with a 8.4 mile hike up Death Valley's second highest peak. We were quite optimistic here at the start.


Then it just started getting cold...


We still made it to the top in the 20°F breezy weather.
No matter how tired, hungry, cold, and sweaty we were.


Day 3 we hit up the sand dunes.


It was the warmest we would be all trip (about 50+°F) .


Salt Creek


Golden Canyon
We saw some rocks that looked like steps. So we followed them. They went no where. And I almost fell to my death. Good times.


But that didn't stop me from climbing more rocks.


There was something about this place that made me think: Tatooine.
I just can't put my finger on it.....


Then we went to Artist's Palette for sunset.
It was quite a view.


I made a sculpture by stacking rocks.
A random man complimented it and said it looked like a duck.
I proceeded to knock it down by throwing more rocks at it
(contrary to his advice of leaving it be).

I think I made a bigger statement by not letting him tell me how to make my own art.
Also--they were stacked rocks for heavens sakes.
(my intention was target practice anyways)

All in all, it was a great trip. Had lots of fun. Saw lots of wild life. It was a great way to end the year. I didn't get a chance to water color like I wanted to, but that was because our days were quite eventful. I only got a page in a my sketchbook in, but nothing worth mentioning.

The night sky was absolutely wonderful. The moon is incredibly bright--you really can't appreciate it in the populated places with so much light pollution, but it casts so much light. It really makes it easy to see at night. And once the moon was gone--the stars were AMAZING.