It's raining in the desert (week 9)
We were planning to stop in Capitol Reef and Great Basin National Parks on our way into Reno to visit a friend, but the weather forecast was quite cold and rainy, so we drove north instead, through the big salt flats which were more of a vast, salty, shallow lake, and spent a few days in Reno with a close friend.
Though we would not be attending the burn this year, we couldn't help but take a short trip to the Black Rock Desert for our own private pilgrimage. We didn't know what condition the playa would be in, but we were nonetheless not all that surprised when we arrived at a lake instead of a dusty desert. We walked out to the water's edge, leaving the car on the gravel road (just in case!). It was nice to visit a place meaningful to both of us, but without all the burning man hustle and bustle. Leaving the car on the road was a good idea: the water had encircled us while we were wandering around, and we had to cross ankle deep streams of squishy clay to get back.
Though we would not be attending the burn this year, we couldn't help but take a short trip to the Black Rock Desert for our own private pilgrimage. We didn't know what condition the playa would be in, but we were nonetheless not all that surprised when we arrived at a lake instead of a dusty desert. We walked out to the water's edge, leaving the car on the gravel road (just in case!). It was nice to visit a place meaningful to both of us, but without all the burning man hustle and bustle. Leaving the car on the road was a good idea: the water had encircled us while we were wandering around, and we had to cross ankle deep streams of squishy clay to get back.
We spent some time relaxing in Reno and reviewed our plans for the next portion of the trip. The abnormally heavy snow and rainfall in the region meant that many of the nearby parks we were aiming to do (like Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Crater Lake, and Giant Sequoia) were still covered in snow (measuring feet rather than inches), and many of the roads were still closed, some until May or June. After much deliberation, we opted to detour back south to LA via Mono Lake, Death Valley, and the Mojave Desert, and to make our way slowly up the coast from there. Hopefully that might mean less snow and slightly warmer temperatures as we drive north to BC.
I liked Mono lake a lot; it didn't look like much from farther out, just a big lake surrounded by gray volcanic craters dotted with pine trees against a backdrop of spectacular snowy peaks, but its odd features become quite pronounced from the water's edge. Bubbling fresh water leaking into the super salty lake causes a chemical reaction; the calcite solidifies, creating lumpy spires standing in its emerald waters, full of obsidian flakes. Since people cut off all of the lake's tributaries, the water's been receding significantly over the last half century or so, revealing the spires. There are efforts underway to try to restore the lake.
We thought we'd have many camping options nearby, but it turns out that most campsites were still closed, and some of the ones that were open were still inaccessible due to snow. Instead, we drove south to find a dispersed site on BLM land. We went from our chilly 3 degree site through 38 degree Death Valley (where we sweltered the afternoon away in the shade at Furnace Creek) and ended up camped at the same spot as last time.
There's not all that much to do in the heat in Death Valley, so we continued south to the Mojave National Preserve and found a lovely, free, and secluded campsite in the desert yucca scrub around granite mountains and decided to stay a few nights until we returned to our friends' place in LA. |