Thursday, November 15, 2012

Titus Canyon in Death Valley

This I believe was the first time I had been to Titus Canyon and it will be the last of our Death Valley blog. My brother Jack wanted to test his Jeep on this 24.1 mile dirt road so off we go.



Just a about two miles from the Titus Canyon turn off is Rhyolite, the ghost town.


Rhyolite started in 1904, became a huge gold boomtown (why was it called Rhyolite is anyones guess) and the lights were turned out by 1916. It's funny that Charles M Schwab (no relationship to the banker) a protégé of Andrew Carnegie, bought the biggest mine for 2 million or more in 1906.


After about ten miles we stopped for a break and looked back behind us...what a beautiful valley we drove through without even noticing it till now.


At about mile 13 we are getting near the top of the pass that leads down to the canyon.


Partway down the pass we came to this cut in the hill. All the rock was heavily polished which leads us to believe that, because of the angle on the hill, it must be an ice fall. We could see where no sun hits it for a good part of the year.


My brother was giving me some good real estate advice about buying here in Leadfield. Seems it was quite a con job getting folks to buy into this town that went from boom to bust in one year.


Not sure if Leadfield has a zip code, but I know people who could fix and flip this tin shed.


This photo may not clearly show that the alluvial fan coming out of this small canyon was carrying uniformly sized and uniformly, the same purple color rock...not something that I see everyday.


Within the deepest part of the canyon you are virtually an arms length on either side of the vehicle.


By looking at the wall you could almost feel the amount of energy and pressure it took to break, fold and flip the sediments and rock. As a side note...not sure at this point how much more of Jacks "gayest imitation" of Huell Howser's California travel narrative I can take...people do have their limits!


After 24 miles, we only have 1/10th of a mile left of the beautiful Titus Canyon. The canyon suddenly opens up to the north end of Death Valley floor, a welcome sight.


Upon exiting the canyon, Jack and I were greeted to one of Death Valley's violent, but rare fall storms.
This pretty well sums up our visit to Death Valley, a stop that will most certainly be added to our future travels.











3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ice fall is very cool, who would of thought!
Did you guys up and look it & feel it? smooth like glass or?

Unknown said...

Naw, too much of a hike for me. It was just an observation from me that I couldn't think of any other reason it would be polished like that.

Anonymous said...

Hey Tom…… man, you be the sport! Thanks again for indulging me in the trek down Titus Canyon. Terrific sightseeing and photo ops, especially exiting the Canyon and seeing those two storm fronts doing battle! Never seen that kind of weather phenomena in the valley, I also captured some winning photos. Next time I do Titus, I will take more time, more stops and enjoy. Thank again………….. Jack