Death Valley 2013, Day 03

A Crater and a Colorful Canyon

First, yes, we did fall off the end of the earth. We are, after all, in Death Valley, and the Internet here is, as I may have mentioned before, iffy at best and non-existent a good portion of the time. Throw in a sand/dust storm, and, what can I say. We do not exist in the outside world.

In the morning, however, the dust storm had not yet hit. There had been hints of its coming the last day or so, but we headed out to the crater, knowing we would have clear air for the lava crater.

It is an other-worldly place. I am sure some films have been made here. If you look at the posters around our hotel, “Star Wars” and Gregory Peck’s “The Gunfighter” stand at opposite ends of the entertainment scene and era of movies made here.

At first, our group looked more like deer in the headlights, but soon, they found their vision and had fun making different photographs. You saw my owl from the other day scouting.

Breakfast only lasts until 10:00, and we found ourselves scrambling back to the hotel to make it in time. There was no question of calling. Cell service? What cell service? It is what it is, and we all know that coming out here. In Death Valley, there are places where there are signals, and we take advantage of those locations to catch up with the outside world.

In the afternoon, we headed for a canyons filled with colors of all sorts — mauves, teals, coppers, chocolates, creams, ochres, roses, plums, etc. It is an amazing place and speaks to the fantastic geology of this land.

On the way, I started making noises akin to a cat chattering at a bird just outside the window. There were beautiful, soft