Saline Valley: A Remote and Allusive Passage to Death Valley

Saline Valley Road Map



Saline Valley welcomed us to the colorful and extremely fascinating desert Shangri-La that is Death Valley in the Mojave Desert.

Officially within the Death Valley National Park boundary, Saline Valley is mostly overlooked by those heading to its more arid and popular big brother Death Valley farther to the south and east. Saline Valley makes a great introduction to the park, for those with the time, and for those looking for an escape from civilization.


A huge dry lake with a salt marsh occupies the center of the valley, but most people come to see the sand dunes and of course, to soak and relax in the natural hot springs. That is, if you're not bashful about exposing skin (and I mean ALL of it) and don't mind the drive through dozens of miles of washboard roads to get there.

The lonesome road is perfect for four-wheelers, and on most occasions you can drive its entire length without seeing another vehicle (well, at least on land). But with scenery so delightful, the total experience is well worth the trek!

Hippies in the Hot Springs

In the 60s, Saline Valley Hot Springs became popular with nudists, and today, although nudity is against general Park regulations, it is now "clothing optional" and highly regulated. But for the sake of tradition (and the right to bare your assets) authorities and the eclectic - often eccentric - visitors maintain a civil relationship. However, the springs here do not appear on ANY National Park Service maps.

To be so free, stripped of your worries and disclosed to nature, soaking in medicinal water under the golden sun and the unclouded blue sky against rugged mountains - your mind can't help but wander until...


A Jet Flies By

A common sight in the valley, low flying jets (along with who-knows-what-else is "out there") maneuver in neck-breaking speeds. Just over the mountains lie a restricted U.S. military complex. The jets generally don't bother, nor scare people, in fact, Chris and I enjoyed the private show.



Antique Alien Space Modules?

Our love affair with the mountains, hot tubs, and supersonic fliers dissipated as we reached the center of the valley. Here lies a different kind of spectacle. Back in the early 1900s, salt was harvested from Saline Valley and transported across Inyo Mountains and Owens Valley to be milled and shipped to Nevada. They constructed tall tram towers connected with cables for gondolas carrying 800 pound loads of salt to traverse from one tram to another. Now, these ruins stand in eerie uniform distance to each other like giant characters from a Star Wars movie.

It seems ironic to call this a "dry" lake with its voluminous salt marsh, but its glassy and contemplative nature make this spot popular with photographers from sun up to sun down.

Charlie Was Here

Saline Valley also had a brush with evil back in the days. Cult leader Charles Manson (along with his helter-skelter followers) was obsessed with the springs and believed them to be "The Hole," a bottomless pit that leads to a secret city beneath Death Valley. Saline Valley was the fave hangout of this gruesome murderer before his 1969 arrest in nearby Panamint Valley.

Saline Valley is truly enjoyable, whether or not one knows its history. The Native American people who lived here during prehistoric times, the affluence of salt and minerals, the gold-seekers who became miners and drudged to make a living, the 60s mainstream expatriates and the cult members who chose to make this their sanctuary - these are stories obscured by wide open spaces, panoramas of leathery layers of mountains, sand dunes gracefully sculpted by wind and the elements, and a secret oasis for naturists.

There is no doubt Saline Valley is captivating, relaxing and beautiful, but if you think that jets are not the only flying objects here, or that the hot springs are actually portals to a Utopian underworld, I will just have to take that with a grain of salt.

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* All photos and content copyright 2007 J. Reque and C. Foley unless otherwise stated.
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48 California State Parks at Risk of Closing

Rikki and Chris at Manchester State Park, May 2007, Our first trip in our own RV

Please join us in protesting the potential closure of 48 California State Parks to help balance the state budget. Several of our favorite parks are set to close, including Manchester State Park in Mendocino County. It is our favorite rustic camping spot along the California coast.

We ordinarily keep our politics to ourselves; however, we hope you will join us in protecting the 48 state parks in California on the chopping block. Closing these parks would save nine million dollars, yet save only 0.1% of the state budget. The impact would be a loss of 20% of the state's parks.

Click the link below to learn more from Environment California about the proposed closures. At this link you can also sign a letter of protest to the governor.

http://environmentcalifornia.org/action/preservation/state-parks?id4=ES

Travel, Photography, Art and Blogging

Hi Everyone, just a little note squeezed in our travel blogs here...

Bi coastal artist Elle Gamboa, who draws, paints and shoots, mentions our travel blog in his digital workshop page (http://myphotosafaris.smugmug.com). Elle holds digital photography workshops in California and New York City aside from his online classes. Thanks, Elle, for showcasing our photos and travel blog.

http://myphotosafaris.smugmug.com/
http://ellesart.tripod.com/index.html

Olympic Peninsula, Washington State

My cousin Mary and her husband John took us on three days of incredible drives around the Olympic Peninsula, including its' namesake Olympic National Park, their town of Sequim, historic Port Angeles and Lake Crescent. We thoroughly enjoyed our days there and fell in love with this beautiful and unspoiled area. Most importantly, I had a long overdue reunion with my favorite cousin. Thank you Mary and John for a wonderful trip and opening your home to our 12 feet!





Olympic National Park. These are extraordinary mountains. We picked up a National Park 'passport' and our first park stamp here.



Can you imagine Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children running across this mountain-top meadow? We didn't see the Von Trapps, but we did enjoy a yummy picnic of chicken, salad and home baked brownies. Thanks Mary - it was all so delicious!




Later that same day we hiked along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca . The strait and the shoreline are so beautiful. There is so much variety in this area.







Oh my, did we make a turn through a wormhole? It seemed I blinked and we were in France. Nope, it's still the Olympic Peninsula - now becoming a major world producer of lavender. Ah, so fragrant, so beautiful.











Our gracious hosts . . .












. . . and their lovely home












Thanks John & Mary - we had a great time!

What's in a blog?

I cannot believe how time passes so quickly. 2007 has ended and we are embarking on a fresh new year. We look forward to many exciting travels in 2008. Areas we want to visit this year include the canyonlands and parks of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. We would love to revisit Eastern Oregon, the Snake River area of Idaho and the Cascades in Washington.

I am thrilled with our blog and want to thank Rikki for his leadership and creativity. I think he has done such an outstanding job starting our blog and keeping it going. I cannot believe we have such a worldwide audience now!

I am struck by what makes it to our blog and what doesn't. Less than a third of our adventures actually appear here. When we return from a three or four week trip we generally have about 5,000 photos and dozens of hours of raw video. Looking back over the year, there are some wonderful times that didn't make it here, not for lack of desire, rather from lack of time.

One particular trip was to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Rikki, Fox, Spencer and I spent three days with my cousin Mary and her husband John at their beautiful home in Sequim. Mary treated us to an insiders tour of Olympic National Park, as well as the abundance of seaside and mountain terrain in their semi-rural and historic area. I don't have our photos organized, but I hope to have them up soon as these are some of our favorite moments from 2007.

Another area I would like to reflect on before 2007 slips too far away is our back road 4x4 trips. These are some of my favorite experiences. We had a lot of near vertical road trips, including the White Mountains above Owens Valley, and off road jaunts in the Cascade Range in Washington, the deserts of California, as well as the Coastal Range in Northern California. Lots of mud, many gasps, lots of car washes, lots of fun!

Lastly, I hope to post some information on our style of camping and adventure. We joke a lot that we hate RV parks. Look for a post about how we have outfitted our RV to be self-contained, self-sufficient and able to handle back country roads.

Rikki and I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

From the four of us - Chris, Rikki, Fox and Spencer - we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

Be adventurous, live healthy and explore. Go out and discover a new world for you this 2008!

Hey, we'd like to see YOUR pictures! Share us some photos of what you did this Christmas or New Year and we'll post them here during the holidays!

Please include the following: 1. Photo(s) 2. Names and/or Description 3. Link to your website or photo albums and 4. Your Location

Send them to rikki@Traveling12Feet.com (or reply if you're getting this as an email) and share your holiday photos with everyone! We'll post the pictures here in the coming weeks!

Alabama Hills: In Pursuit of Cowboys, Big Monsters, and Space Aliens

The town of Lone Pine, aside from being the gateway to Mt. Whitney, also has one big gold star pinned on its bosom to brag about: A Hollywood star. Between the steep, eastern escarpment of the Sierra and the town of Lone Pine are the Alabama Hills. This is the other side of California: the high deserts embraced by endless scenic mountain ranges. Because of its barren beauty - giant granite boulders, windswept grasses, wildflowers and even occasional meandering streams - Alabama Hills have been a constant filming location for the big screen, television, and even video games.


Close to 500 movies have been made here, dating back from 1920 ("Cupid the Cowpuncher" with Will Rogers), all the way to the present ("Adventures in Wild California" in IMAX). Its impressive list contains "Gunga Din" with Carry Grant, Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger, "Rawhide" with Clint Eastwood, "Gunsmoke", "Tremors" (<--- oh this place will just remind you of it!), Star Trek V and VI, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, "Dinosaurs", the list just goes on and on... But in its humble beginnings, it was the western movies and their celluloid heroes that really endeared Alabama Hills to the heart of Hollywood itself.

Can Chris outrun these rocks?

The Alabama Hills was named by local miners after a Confederate warship (responsible for wreaking havoc to northern shipping) during the Civil War. It has nearly 30,000 acres of public land, with "rolls" and columns of smooth granite rocks as far as the eye can see!

You'll probably recognize Alabama Hills even if you haven't been to Lone Pine:

See it for yourself! Click the photo above for a 360-degree Virtual Reality view. Drag your mouse to move your own camera! (Opens on separate window and requires Quicktime Player)

This place - Lone Pine, Mt. Whitney and Alabama Hills - has been a magical treat for us. We definitely had both a relaxing and adventurous time here, exploring the town, star gazing on a dark night with a clear sky, hiking and sight-seeing, investigating old mines, rock formations, and scenic off-road routes. If we weren't as determined as we are to get to Death Valley, we would have stayed here longer. Say, six months enough?





As we rode off to the sunset in true western fashion, we tipped our hats off to Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wayne, and in the fading distance, Lone Pine.

Death Valley, here we come!...




Check out these links!
- More pictures of Lone Pine, Mt. Whitney, and Alabama Hills
- List of movies made in Lone Pine
- Alabama Hills in 360-degree Virtual Reality (Courtesy of Don Bain's Virtual Guidebook)
- The most famous rocks in movie-making history

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* Click photos for bigger versions. All photos and content copyright 2007 J. Reque and C. Foley unless otherwise stated.
Traveling12Feet.com

Mt. Whitney: The Highest Mountain in the Continental U.S.

Aaah. My Ansel Adams moment.

At nearly 14,500 ft. above sea level, Mt. Whitney, the most frequently climbed peak in the Sierra Nevadas, provides a gorgeous backdrop to the charming little one-horse town of Lone Pine, CA. This is our second opportunity here, and this time with the fall colors and the snow coming in, our experience is even more breathtaking than the last.

Looks familiar? Next time you cool off with a cold bottle of water, look closely at the label! Chances are you'll see the mountains above. Next to Mt. Whitney is Olancha Peak, a protected source in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A major US bottling company began sourcing from its spring to produce bottled natural alpine water. Now you know how "refreshing" this place is!

We camped in one of Lone Pine's finest RV park for the second time. During the daytime we explore the town, imbibe local history, experience some western town flavor and of course (and I do mean OFF-course!) search for roads less traveled for some off-road, 4-wheeling and sometimes fist-clenching excitement.

For Fox, wearing the red scarf is analogous to going out. He loves hikes like these where he can be free to roam around and explore by himself close by.

Mt. Whitney marks our official journey in search of the highest and the lowest elevations in the continental US. We've already seen the highest point, but before we continue to Death Valley National Park a few hundred miles away to see the lowest, we explore the other fascinating treats Lone Pine has to offer.

Next stop, one of the most recognizable movie sets in Hollywood: Alabama Hills!

* Click photos for bigger versions.

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All photos and content copyright 2007 J. Reque and C. Foley unless otherwise stated.
Traveling12Feet.com