Roadside Beggars

Death Valley coyotes are a pretty common site anytime of day here. They are such beautiful animals, but these pictures relay a very sad message. These two coyotes are roadside beggars. They are here, waiting, because someone fed them recently at this site. Park rangers have documented coyotes starving themselves to death waiting for another handout. Once they have been fed at the roadside or wherever, they will continue to wait on the next handout. If they don't get it, they will starve. People just don't realize why they shouldn't fed these beautiful creatures. They have been in the this environment long enough to fend for themselves. They don't need help.

Ibex Dunes

Ibex Dunes and Saratoga Springs are two of our favorite spots in Death Valley. They are at the extreme south end of the park accessible by a gravel road that spurs off of the Badwater Road. We had a night and the next morning off from work a week ago, so we decided to drive down and visit.

The muddy Amargosa River.

We have heard that on wet years it actually flows through the south end of Death Valley, but have driven through here several times and have never seen it. Well, it's true....it does exist!

We also ran across some wild burros.

After they ran beside us and in front of us, they stopped to watch.

A few puddles are still left around the dunes.

A beetle leaving his trail.

An unusual line in the sand.

The moonrise over the dunes.

Ibex Dunes has some of the coolest rocks we have ever seen.

Andrew took a few night photos of the dunes under the moonlight.

The next morning we headed over to Saratoga Springs for the sunrise.

The Panamint Mountains in the distant.

Telescope Peak

The rocks are crusty with dried up minerals.

Beautiful grass around the spring.

We continued on the gravel road over Ibex Pass to complete a loop back to Furnace Creek. We were a little concerned about the deep sand that has never been a problem in the past with the truck, but the Rav did great! We both figured it would do fine that's why we went through with it, but you never know until you try (and we did have to work later that day).

1.55 inches

In the last few days we have had almost an entire year's worth of rain. Death Valley averages less than two inches of rain a year, and in three days we have received a grand total of 1.55 inches. And, there might be more to come this week. Hopefully, all this rain will bring nice wildflowers in the Spring. The park naturalist has just updated the wildflower report at http://www.nps.gov/deva/naturescience/upload/Wildflower%20Update.pdf.

Monday

The forecast last weekend predicted a series of storms to hit Death Valley over a ten day period. It all began on Monday...

Late Monday afternoon we drove down the Badwater Road to see what we would find.

A few good streams were flowing.

The rain brings out the colors of the mountains.

The rain in the valley stopped just before sunset, but beautiful storm clouds remained around the mountains.

Great sunset colors above the Black Mountains.

Sitting above the Inn, looking across the valley at the Panamint Mountains.

Tuesday

Tuesday, we drove to Lone Pine to enjoy some cooler weather and fresh snow on the Sierra's. We spent the night in a cozy little cabin at Boulder Creek RV Resort and woke up early Wednesday morning to photograph the sunrise in the Alabama Hills. The little bit of snow on the AL Hills was a nice touch. A spectacular morning led right into a full day of adventures....

After the sunrise we decided to head back to Death Valley.