It Never Rains In Southern California

Unless you visit the driest part

Umm... What?

It all started innocently enough on a cold Monday morning at Newark airport when the entire Continental Airlines computer system crashed exactly 82 minutes before my flight, leaving many eager pilots wondering why their planes weighed 132 people less than they should. Some people would be discouraged at this turn events, but for the intrepid Mike Bonte, it was merely another occasion to bitch and whine like a child at anyone who would listen. Five hours later it didn't really matter.

Into The Desert

A few hundred miles into the desert from Vegas one finds the sprawling metropolis (2 trailer parks and a whorehouse) of Beatty, NV. Contained within its borders, the pristinely decrepit Ensenada Grill; home of some of the best Mexican food I've eaten. Just up the road is Rhyolite, a thoroughly modern ghost town containing all the proper amenities.... Paved main street, dedicated exit ramp from the highway, handicap accessible benches, safety fencing, and interpretive signs. Very cool authentic ruins of a once booming mine town, and Walt Disney would be proud of the delivery.

But just a little further, up over the aptly named Funeral Mountains, lays the main attraction: Death Valley. Several million square miles of what one expects to be the most desolate space in these parts... and therein is the beauty. Descending to almost 300 feet below sea level, you actually find another planet. Hidden amongst the thousands of ravines, valleys, mountains, and gulches, lay the ruins of centuries of mining, prospecting, and looking for a better life... it is somewhat depressing to think that this place was the symbol of hope for so many.

Certainly, though, it is among the most intriguing places I've been. From the abandoned mining settlement of Harrisburg, which was as far as I pushed my rented Explorer into the back country, to the oasis of Furnace Creek, the life changing sunrise at Zabrieskie Point, to the blackest of night where you feel you might actually be standing at the edge of the Earth. This place has everything and nothing, all at the same time.

And, should one get lucky, an enormous thunderstorm will push it's way across the valley floor, as dusk rapidly approaches, and you are scrambling to get out of dodge lest your rental car (which you didn't take the insurance on) gets washed away to Baker, CA. It was strikingly beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. Regrets? Sure... that I didn't stop and take some long exposures of spectacular lighting from the lowest point in North America. So, I guess I have a reason to go back.

Updated: Wednesday, February 10, 2010