Tag: Titus Canyon

Titus Canyon, Artist Palette, 20 mule team, and heading home

Folks, you just thought I had a lot of pictures in previous posts! Get ready for even more.

The most amazing thing we saw at this year’s Encampment was a 20 mule team pulling newly built borax wagons. The wagons are 2 years old, and carefully created by a wagon builder in Montana to the original specifications. They are huge! The Death Valley Conservancy paid for them, and they helped fund the mule team too. The mules are from Bobby Tanner, an outfitter and packer in the Sierras, and he is one of only a handful of people able to manage such a team.

See the FedEx truck? Yeah, so did everyone else! The road was closed, but he thought he could get past the NPS, CHP, and the Sheriffs. Didn’t work out too well for him.

This is Kevin’s picture, taken from a high hill so you can see the bigger picture. The wagon train consisted of two huge wagons for borax, a water tank, 18 mules, and 2 horses. Yes, the term “20 mule team” is a bit inaccurate, but that’s the way it was done historically. And the team isn’t driven from the wagon but through a “jerk line” wielded by Bobby Tanner in the blue shirt and hat on the horse in front.

And I got the most amazing video I have ever made! Click on the link to see it, and turn up the volume to hear the mule bells. Watch towards the back of the team to see a mule “jumping the chain” to change the wagon direction. The wagons had solid axles, and they had to be turned by brute force.

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We didn’t hit many of the standard places for Death Valley pictures because we have done them so often. We did make an exception for Titus Canyon and Artist’s Palette. Titus Canyon requires a high clearance vehicle and some confidence, but it is a lovely drive. It is one way on a very rough gravel/rock road with tight turns and steep climbs, but the views are well worth it.

Layers and colors
A small window
You eventually drive down a wash with narrow walls
Water means everything here.
It is all about the layers
The town of Leadfield boomed for about 6 months and died. It was a hoax.
Someone didn’t believe the road needed high clearance. This resulted in a dead car and two days of the canyon shut down until they could tow the car out.
I did say something about layers
On the road into the canyon from Beatty.
From the top of the pass
A lovely isolated grouping
Look at the layers curling more than vertical! That is an example of the stress the land has undergone

The Artist’s Palette is another famous section of one way road. The formations has different minerals that provide a wide range of colors. And no, the green isn’t copper.

It is pretty, isn’t it? I hope you now believe Death Valley is more than sand dunes and dull brown rocks.

We left this morning for the 1200 mile trip back to Iowa. We made it to Kingman, AZ at Fort Beale RV Park. Quite a change from the spacious spot we had at DVNP, but such is life. We did get rewarded by a fantastic sunset tonight though. Too bad it is the result of smoke from the fires in California.