2015-03-01 Pahrump & Death Valley

Yesterday was a road day - 340 miles from Black Canyon City, AZ to Pahrump, NV.  Our Garmin flaked-out on us and tried to take us on a 950 mile tour of Utah instead.  Had to go back to the old fashioned way and use our maps - haven't done that in a while.

We passed Hoover Dam and Lake Mead on our way and was at least able to see the Colorado River from the highway.

Pahrump is a nice size town with all the necessary shops and restaurants crammed into a one mile strip which includes lots of casinos with old Vegas style buffets and old Vegas prices.  Awesome!

Today we drove through part of Death Valley.  I can't imagine what settlers felt travelling through here.  It is miles of low brush, rocks, and sand - and then you reach the base of these mountains. We went from 50 degrees to 70 down in the valley (Furnace Creek) and then back down to 50.  It looked like a mix of snow and rain in the mountains so we stuck to the main roads (no Jeep trails).

We also took a side trip through Twenty Mule Team Canyon - it was like being on another planet.

Here is a short video of the end of the drive through the canyon - 

http://youtu.be/vvoCM5qhtXY

(Sorry for the bugs on the Jeep window!)

In Rhyolite Ghost Town there was a house built mainly from bottles - you can see all the bottoms facing out.

On our was back to Pahrump we saw signs stating to watch out for wild burros - we did happen to see 3 close to the road.  This fellow was nice enough to smile for me.