TULE LAKE #5

Facing East

There is a notable thumb of land, sometimes called the Peninsula, sometimes called Petroglyph Point, or on some maps, Castle Rock. Depending on which side you are on, catches either first or last light. Once surrounded by water, these cliffs are now high and dry.

Look one more time again at the previous picture. Towards the bottom, there is a patch of white with horizontal stripes. In 1917, Charles Coppock, born at the century mark, decided to express his frustration with being underage to join US forces during WW I. The result was this flag, dated August 15, 1917. He rowed out to a nearby spot, anchored a platform and painted what you see above. After 94 years some of the color has faded out.

When Charles Coppock returned to the area to farm, machines replaced the mules his father used. These vintage trucks spanned several decades - 30's, 40's and 50s.

Suffering from hard use, this old Ford still has most of its hardware intact.

Two more old battlewagons, a Ford and Chevy, appear to be more recently retired. Both have their license plates still attached. That is likely a field of young horseradish growing behind the trucks.

In that same early morning light that illustrated the "Flag" (above), a Canadian goose sits high above on a nearby spur of rock. Beyond, cliff swallows pepper the sky as they prepare to nest or feed their young.

TULE LAKE #4

Lava Bed National Monument

This medicine pole, also called a medicine flag, was placed at what is called the Captain Jack Stronghold. This pole was placed by the local Klamath Indians to commemorate what the Modoc Indians did to fend off the US Cavalry many years ago.

This is the northernmost edge of what is known as the Captain Jack Stronghold. Named after the fearless Modoc leader of the same name, this site remains important to Native Americans. Tule Lake was once much bigger. The southern shore touched where the sign in the foreground is and water covered the landscape north and east as far as the distant dark hills. Most of the recovered land is now either part of Lava Bed National Monument, The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge or privately farmed.

To give you some understanding of the difficulty that the cavalry had in attempting to oust Captain Jack, this natural trench line was one of many that crisscrossed this patch of hostile lava. This natural fort was good enough, that at first, just 51 Modocs repelled over 300 army & militia soldiers.

This is what is left of a small fort that was garrisoned by troops lead by Major General Edward Canby. Their job was to attempt to corral rebellious Modoc tribal members, including Captain Jack, and put them back on a nearby reservation. For his effort, the general was killed by Captain Jack. This came after an illustrious career established in part by Canby's actions during the Civil War.

Not in many public places can you find a cross without a lawyer attached. This monument is on the Lava Beds National Monument and the inscription is almost as notable as finding a cross on Federal land. It says, "Gen. Canby, USA, was murdered here by the Modocs April 11, 1873". A medicine pole and a cross give testimony to two people who served their respective nations without fear. War is like that, isn't it. Sometimes with great meaning, sometimes meaningless.

FLATTER THAN FLAT

Racetrack Playa

Tiny as ants, these visitors are out on Racetrack Playa. Though "playa" is Spanish for beach, in geology it means the flattest possible natural surface. This is also a near-permanently dry lake.

What the surface of Racetrack looks like up close.

In the middle of this 2.5 mile long oval is this excretion of rock called, what else but, "The Grandstand." The day I visited I was surprised to find rock climbers tethered to a boulder or two. 

There is only a 1.5 inch differential over the playa's entire 3 square mile surface. You may have read about "mystery rocks" that move and leave tracks across the playa without human intervention. Best educated guess comes from NASA. Winds are very strong in this narrow valley. When an infrequent rain hits the playa, it turns the hard pan into shallow silt. Stiff winds follow and can move the stones across the surface and cause the weight of the rock to carve its path on the playa.

SO THAT'S WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM

Teakettle Junction

This colorful bit of remote humor is in nice relief from the starkness that is Death Valley. 

Teakettle Junction is on the way to the Racetrack - which is the next stop on the blog too.

UBEHEBE CRATER

Death Valley's Volcanic Past

No matter where you stand it is difficult to convey the size of the bowl that is Ubehebe Crater. 

This volcanic eruption is relatively new - just 2,000 years old!

The crater does show its age in a different way. 

Pronounced as it looks, U be he be, each layer of rock represents several millions of years in the building of the earth's crust.

This Google Earth screen capture conveys a little bit better the size. 

It is one-half mile wide and over 700 feet deep. Other volcanic eruptions are visible as well.

MOSAIC CANYON

Marbleous!

Like a multilayered wedding cake, Mosaic Canyon is a confection but one made of stone.

In places the rock looks rough and brittle. Adjacent deposits though are hard and as beautiful as some of finest Roman marble. 900 million years ago magnesium rich limestone deposits (called "Noonday Dolomite") were laid down then buried deep. The depth also produced great pressures and temperatures that caused the limestone to metamorphose into marble. Tectonic forces pushed this remade material to the surface and you can see this unique layer in the canyon.

It doesn't take long to hike up Mosaic Canyon to see its wonders. 

The trip back down features a different beauty as the distant desert floor commands your view.

Inhospitable as this dry canyon first appears, there are pockets of hardy greenery. Spiny and waxy, this Rock Nettle somehow thrives and survives. Despite its thorny appearance, blossoms are pleasingly fragrant.

SCOTTY'S OTHER "CASTLE"

Where Legends Really Reside

A man's home is his castle, or so it is said. Not for Walter Scott, the "Scotty" in Scotty's Castle. When the gates were closed, Scotty didn't bunk down here if he could avoid it. For many years Scotty was whomever other people wanted him to be: a cowboy in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; a huckster, verging on the criminal, for low-grade mines and finally, entertainer for eccentric Albert Johnson's guests. It was Johnson's vision and money that built Scotty's Castle. The real Scotty was an ornament.

In some respects Albert Johnson was an honorable man and more than likely became one of Scotty's few real friends. Johnson built not only the Castle but also the house that Scotty got to live in and finally be himself.

Unusually plush for a simple desert structure, considering it was built in the late 1920s. It was constructed with 2x6 insulated walls and clad inside and out in redwood. Scotty's real home was truly his castle.

Here he could be himself. And that self was a slob, as this one of many historic photos indicates. The National Park Service has obviously cleaned things up. The tour is not often offered. Indeed there were only 3 of us that met the ranger for the mile hike to Scotty's home.

Both the Castle and the cabin share the same method of fencing that has been in place for almost 100 years. The wire fence has never had to be replaced as rust is held in check by the remarkably low humidity and lack of rain. The fence also surrounds both properties. The "S" & "J" stand for Scott and Johnson. From the hills behind that fence springs give up 420 gallons per minute. That's what the fence protected.

With the same fencing as mute evidence in the background, our guide, Ranger Scott Combs, shows how Albert Johnson defused the barricading of the water supply for those who once lived or ran animals in the area. He built the stone structure visible in both the photo and behind our guide. It was a catchbasin for a water pipe that delivered water to those outside the fence. That is Walter Scott and Albert Johnson by the cistern.

At one time, Johnson and Scott cleared a 5 acre plot and for one season planted and harvested alfalfa in order to meet government requirements for homesteading the land.

Characters and charlatans come and go, but what is almost ever present is the animal life that surrounds us, all the more remarkable in Death Valley. The National Park Service chooses not to use traditional bait (which may kill other critters) but rather the lure of a nesting material (cotton). Our guide told us that in three years giving this tour in the Park, he's never seen a trap sprung.

DEATH VALLEY HUB

Furnace Creek

In the desert mulepower beat horsepower. More often than not mules beat both horses and oxen in getting the job done. It took 20 mules to pull the train of wagons above and it was the Pacific Coast Borax Company that made the "20 Mule Team Borax" name famous. 

Such was the mystique of Death Valley that the firm even created and sponsored "Death Valley Days", which was dramatization of true stories from around the early West. Heard first on the radio from 1930 to 1945 then seen on TV from 1952 until 1975, the TV program was at one time hosted by Ronald Reagan before he got into politics.

One of the few places for fuel in Death Valley National Park and the only place for diesel. Even if you had a mule, you'd still have to carry a lot of water. That's why, in the preceded photograph, every wagon train out of here trailed a big tanker of water.

Of course, there's always a bike. Some folks we talked to at our campground did bring their own bikes and got a rude shock the day they rode. It was the first day of spiking temps. Bad enough their thermometer read over 100 degrees when they climbed up to their turnaround point, but the wind came up and they had to pedal to go back downhill.

Expect the unexpected in Death Valley.

Not Grand But Rocky

Rocky Mountain National Park

Fall Preview

Though there isn't much fall color in this picture, there is fresh snow on what is probably Chief's Head Peak. In the early morning hours a storm left a mantle of white on this 13,579' alp. The tree line begins just about where the snow is the palest.

Panorama

If the internet allowed it, this would be a 20 mile wide panorama. A few of the big peaks can be seen at right. Colorado has over 700 peaks over 13,000' and of that number, 54 are over 14,000'.

Fall On The Ground

One of the reason that there wasn't much color to see in the upper altitudes was that leaf peeper season in Colorado in general was early this year. There were plenty of seasonal shades on the valley and canyon floors.

Contrast

Not only color but animal behavior was on display in the valleys,. Rocky Mountain National Park is home to a specie that takes on the name of the area: Rocky Mountain Elk. Bigger in rack size than its more westerly cousin the Roosevelt Elk, the bulls use these Aspen trees to shed their velvet in the Fall. Most every tree in this grove was marked. 

103 YEARS YOUNG

The Stately Stanley 

There are two "Stanley Steamers." One is the carpet cleaning company that many of us are familiar with; the other is an early automobile that not many of us have seen. Unlike the later cars that Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler built, the Stanley Motor Carriage Company made popular early steam powered automobiles.

1909: A Car & Hotel

The Stanley Hotel came about when one of the founding Stanley twins, Freelan, plagued by tuberculosis, followed doctor's orders to seek out a drier and higher climate. He and his wife Flora came to Estes Park and thrived. Took just two summer seasons to build the hotel

So THIS is Neo-Georgian!

With a touch of Rocco. For many years it was a seasonal hotel - when the first snows came, they shuttered in Inn - it had no room heat! This from a man who well understood steam. Just out of sight at left is an expansive sculpture garden full of bronze animals.

Copper Everywhere

This is the bar. Both tables and ceiling are copper clad. The piece at far right is a translucent silhouette of the nearby Rockies. The hotel sits close to the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Music Room

Imagine John Philip Souza lighting up this room with a band-full of sound. He did so annually for almost 25 years. Theodore Roosevelt, the Emperor and Empress of Japan made trips here. More recent visitors have been novelist Stephen King and actor Jim Carrey. The Stanley Hotel has a big following among those who come to study its reputation as being haunted by multiple ghosts. Some have checked in but have never checked out.