Went to Death Valley...

[akueck]

...and forgot the camera. Ah well.

For such a foreboding name, it sure was mild (even cold!). Our "rain in the desert" streak remains unbroken, as it drizzled on us Saturday night. Temps in the valley hit a balmy 75 F (normal this time is around 90), and our camp in the neighboring valley at ~5000 ft was 36 F in the morning (normal in the 50s). Awesome stars and sunrise though! A morning hike in Mosaic canyon found several puddles , and the pupfish were engaging in adult activity with gusto.

Favorite parts: no people! ridiculous quiet (my ears are so loud!), pull-off-here-and-camp, clear night skies (stars upon stars!), and geology run amok.

Least favorites: dry air, $5+/gallon gas, and did you know there is a golf course in the middle of Death Valley? WTF?

What did you do this past weekend?

[Echostatic]

This weekend? Nothing so exciting... Popped open five 375ml bottles of JAO with friends, but no exciting desert expeditions. That sounds really nice though. Did you see any ants out there? (Another hobby of mine, I'd be looking all over for them if I went there.)

[Tiwas]

Least favorites: [...] $5+/gallon gas [...]

W00t?? Too cheap for you?? Our gas is around $2.50/liter...

[JayH]

Flew back from Canada, went to a friends birthday party in S.F. and then drove the better part of 500 miles on my motorcycle to get home on Sunday. Then kegged 5 gallons of Petite Sirah and 5 gallons of a 12+% 'Porter'. Sorbate and Sulfite and then a bit of honey to back sweeten it and a pound of coco nibs in the bottom. It should be at the SCHB festival next year under the name "Chocolate for my honey porter". Now comes the hard part, waiting.

[K5MOW]

I have not been to Death Valley in a long time. I hope you had fun.


Roger

[TheAlchemist]

Love the freedom from lightnoise. Best on the new moon.

[wildoates]

I went to a geocaching event on Saturday, Bottled some reunion beer on Sunday, and met with my accountant Sunday night to discuss taxes (ouch). Tried not to think about testing going on this week. As I type this as a matter of fact, they're taking the science test, part 2.

[akueck]

Love the freedom from lightnoise. Best on the new moon.

Lack of light and sound was awesome. We could see Las Vegas, but it was pretty faint and only stained a corner of the sky. Never seen so many stars. The wind was pretty light while we were there too. In the canyons you could hear...nothing. A bird flew by and sounded like a helicopter; we could even hear these sleek birds (looked sort of like martens) zooming by, even though they were only soaring. A raven or something a hundred feet up even made wing noise, slow and steady. Wild!

We did see a few ants, they were red. Lots of kangaroo rats, one unlucky enough to dart out in front of the headlights as we were arriving. [sorry, rat!] The pupfish were interesting too, seeing as they live in seriously salty water (it crystallizes along the banks). Only one hawk, lots of raven-like birds, some turkey vultures, things like sparrows, things like martens, and some weird black birds with sideways-folding tails. [Obviously I am not a biologist.] Had a very good time, thanks to all the people who slept in while we hiked in the canyons by ourselves!

[TheAlchemist]

Wow.
Sounds awesome.
Thanks for sharing the details.

[Chevette Girl]

Favorite parts: no people! ridiculous quiet (my ears are so loud!)

What did you do this past weekend?

About the loud ears part, I realize that every time I go to my parents' cottage... not so much with my in-laws' place, they've got a 6-bedroom house in the middle of nowhere near Sudbury but there's enough going on there that the quiet is rarely as startling.

I rode my pony (she was a moron, thoroughly convinced that there was an evil deer or something equally scary hiding behind every tree or rock, she's 22 going on 3), threw children around for an hour for the kids Aikido class I help with, got thrown around by the adults for an hour in the open class following the kids class, made supper for the masses attending our Saturday night D&D game, then Sunday was my European swordwork class and I hate my armour (I changed one little thing and now none of it wants to fit, grr).

Monday I fell in love with my raspberry wine all over again when I racked it...

[mccann51]

did you know there is a golf course in the middle of Death Valley? WTF?

Seriously, W.T.F.!?! It blows my mind that people don't realize how absolutely absurd and wasteful something like this is. And then these same brown-stars turn around and wonder why the west is going dry.



As for my weekend? I don't remember now, which means I was probably in the lab.