Darkness Over the Land
Michael Collins | Nov 20, 2009 | Comments 5
The park’s colors inspire worship as the heavenly 2009 “Living Death Valley” video shows. Without vegetation, splashes of pink, purple, green and blue minerals color the rocks, especially around Desolation Canyon and Artists Drive. Other canyons such as Mosaic, Titus, or Falls Canyon contain walls of sheer marble and granite. Walking through their multi-layered narrows is like walking through time, giving one a distinct perspective on how truly short our lives are.
Wild, Wild Life
Despite Death Valley’s harsh environment, the park is home to diverse wildlife and plants. Big horn sheep and ibex roam in the mountains, while kit fox, jackrabbits, and roadrunners roam below. On this trip, we also witnessed bats, a tarantula, and the clear impression of a sidewinder snake. These rattlesnakes are venomous pit vipers. Perfect for Halloween.
The raven is by far our favorite desert creature – they mate for life. These highly intelligent birds rule in Death Valley, and they know it. They greet us each morning when we stay at Stovepipe Wells village, claim their space on the railing, and go about their business which often involves grooming their partner but a few feet away.
Some of Death Valley’s wildlife is not found anywhere else. I came upon one such strange creature by Salt Creek south of Stovepipe Wells. This is where the rare Death Valley pupfish have survived since Lake Manly, nearly 100 miles long and 600 feet deep, dried up at the end of the last ice age.
That’s not all I came upon.
Desert Rose caught me by surprise in a canyon close to the creek. She was a statuesque being, adorned in a pink fur riding outfit with elaborate masks and headdresses that make her look like a desert goddess. She looked like she needed a good trot on the tundra.
Pulling up, she looked at me longingly. Desert Rose doesn’t speak, but who needs words when pacing the badlands of this fanciful land? I knew what she wanted; the Racetrack Playa called out to her from over the mountains.
The Racetrack is at the end of 28 miles of bad road and Desert Rose hasn’t been there yet. She is chomping at the bit to get a chance to gallop across the mysterious playa where stones move across the surface carving channels hundreds of yards long.
The mystery of Racetrack’s moving stones seems to have been solved but that hasn’t dampened Desert Rose’s high spirits. She wants to race across the playa. I’m betting she comes in first.
Filed Under: EnviroReporter
Michael,
I have heard that there is an Opera house in Death Valley, where Denise could do a multi-woman show. Tickets should sell like HOTcakes.
She certainly sounds (and looks) like an amazingly gorgeous and talented performer. No wonder that your descriptive prose is almost poetry.
With so many different women, you will never become bored. You might get arrested for polygomy, but I am sure you can write or talk your way out of it.
Would that you could also talk Boeing out of their unsurprising but disruptive law suit. Hopefully, by the time they are finished, they will have turned SB 990 into pure gold!
I enjoyed reading your Darkness Over the Land story, or vignettes… I lived in Death Valley from 1979 to 1981. I was a mechanic and tow truck driver at the Furnace Creek Garage. Met some interesting people that way. I also made friends with some of the employees. There were times when there was more wildlife IN camp than outside of it
I sometimes wonder what became of Death Valley Sally, the gal with whom I had evidently slept with in my trailer. I awoke to the sun’s rays screaming through the trailer window early one morning, and there she was, lying naked beside me. Yes, Death Valley has a lot of wildlife. I could tell you stories about Crazy Carl, or “The Wall People”, the Bongo Sisters, etc. One of these days, I’ll get around to compiling my stories, maybe put them on my website (q.v.).
I left Death Valley and moved to Lone Pine, where I lived from 1981 to 1987, then moved to Bishop where I lived until 1992. I have returned to the DV area, including Panamint, Saline, Eureka, and Deep Springs Valleys many times. I have loads of photographs, not to mention unwritten stories… I know the area well: I have backpacked, hiked, and driven my old IH Scout many places where others fear to tread.
If you have any questions regarding “Death’s Valleys”, I may have answers. Appetite whetter: In an attempt to preserve Zabriskie Point, the Nat’l Park Circus in 1941 gouged out a diversion ditch to keep floodwaters away. This resulted in the man-made creation of Gower Gulch, which can be explored today from the Badwater Road.
Ciao, Max.
Oh, one more thing… Regarding Marge Brown’s comment, the opera house to which she is referring would be the Amargosa Opera House, which Marta Becket started in 1967. Because Marta would often perform without an audience, she painted balcony scenes on the walls complete with painted patrons to watch her. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Becket
Makin’ Tracks Max,
In 2008, Dawn Wilde and I eased into the Furnace Creek Garage needing to plug a tire and what did we hear? The chunky crunch of Angus Young’s guitar on “Rock and Roll Train.” We asked one of your successors what the racket was and, wild-eyed grinning ear to ear, he shouted “Black Ice – AC-DC’s new album!” Of course we were thrilled as you can imagine after reading “Hell’s Belles.” And we were thrilled that this gent opened the garage and plugged our tire.
That surely ain’t all the pluggin’ going on in Death Valley, reading your witty and hilarious comments here. Your Death Valley tails have the reporter in me wondering what exactly did you do when you woke up with Death Valley Sally? And our imaginations are running away with us trying to conceive of who “The Wall People,” Crazy Carl and the Bongo Sisters are. Don’t leave us hangin’, MTM… who are these folks who make up this wildlife? Inquiring minds want to know!
Regarding your informative response to Marge Brown’s sweet comment, we see that Marta Becket retired from performing at the Amargosa Opera House at the end of the season this year. We applaud her long loving run. Now that Denise Anne has created two dozen characters, with more to come, she could be the Bad Girls In Residence, performing a different girl nearly every night of the week with no repeats in an entire month! I wonder which gal of hers would be the most popular… I’d be tempted to say Dawn Wilde but then Darkness might curse me for eternity which is something I would try to avoid.
I enjoyed your post. Regarding Marta Becket, she hasn’t entirely quit performing–she just does it sitting down now.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her on two occasions, and wrote about her over at my blog MERE WORDS:
http://chidder.livejournal.com/4132.html
http://chidder.livejournal.com/19300.html
Enjoy!
Kevin