An Encounter With Death

Hey all, be not alarmed, be not afraid, nothing grave has come to pass to myself nor my family. However, I did recently discover the fantastic epicness of Death Valley National Park in Nevada. It's one of those places you always hear about but you never go. So, my brother, Nathaniel, and cousins Eli and Liza and I decided to change that on the return portion of our road trip out to Palo Alto to drop Eli off at Stanford. Yes, he's a big deal. (Everyone was thinking it, but was too scared to ask.) Anyway, on Friday the 6th of January we bombed off to Avi Resort in Nevada...a single, far from forgotten casino at the southernmost tip of the state. It was, dare I say, quaint? No. That might be a stretch, but it was a half breath of almost fresh air from what could have been a night's stay in Las Vegas.

The second day of our trip landed us in Palo Alto, where we bunked in Eli's dorm room. I was extremely impressed by Stanford's campus. Very well organized, maintained and all-round attractive. The architecture reminds me of a Spanish-style compound, maybe akin to what I might expect if I were visiting one of the original mission settlements. The following day we made our way roughly an hour south to Santa Cruz to get the official tour of UCSC by Nathaniel, who had attended the school for a year as part of an exchange program. Also a breath-taking campus, nestled into the redwoods with building tucked away here and there. Not to mention the ocean. Right there. Not a bad place to be, but maybe a tricky place to study.

It is worth noting that this past week California was experiencing the worst storms it has seen in a decade. We were there for it and that surely had an effect on my perceptions of the two schools. I'm told Stanford seldom sees rain. It was raining literally the entire time we were there. Also, because of this, my camera didn't come out at all during the stint on the coast, as I was afraid of ruining it. You'll have to imagine it. A picture's worth a thousand words and you're forced to make due with a paltry 227.

However, on the way back we routed through Death Valley and, as you might expect, it was dry enough to whip the old Nikon out for some clickage. What you might expect, though, is that we went on a hike to a 11,000 ft. summit while in Death Valley. Telescope Peak is the highest point in the park and from it (and the way up to it) you can see down to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in both the park and the Western Hemisphere. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking...with oh-so-handy captions to assist comprehension.

Some In-n-Out menu deliberation

Waiting for a burger or a friend

Eli working hard to clean up in Barstow

Nathaniel scrubbing...

...and it was an uphill battle.

Wildrose Campground the night before attempting the Telescope Peak summit

Taking a moment to appreciate the beautiful view of Death Valley on the
way up the mountain

Amazing views, all in the first 2 miles

Quick pic break

Nathaniel and Liza making their way across the saddle. You can see Telescope Peak up to the right. We were the only ones
on the mountain all day, as most people choose to hike the mountain in the non-winter months

Liza and Nathaniel making their way up the final
ascent. Final because we were unable to hike all
the way to the summit due to the amount of snow
and our lack of crampons or axes

This is where we stopped

Liza and Nathaniel at the 'Summit'

Making profile pics happen

By the trail head there are Charcoal Kilns. Built in the lat 1800's, these were used to produce charcoal for a local smelt, but
were only in use for 3 years

It turns out Death Valley has sand dunes also, and this is what a sunset
looks like sometimes when you take a photo from them

Nathaniel and Liza cresting a dune. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes spreads across roughly 17 square miles

Road kill on the way to Badwater Basin 

Badwater Basin (visible throughout our Telescope Peak hike), the lowest point in both the U.S. and Western Hemisphere 

As the salt crystallizes it expands, forming interesting patterns on
 the basin floor 

That's all for now, folks! Visit Death Valley. It's worth it!