The Purple Penguin

Up well before dawn, dressed and in the car. Drove in the dark all the way up to Dante’s View where Joe got all settled for photos. In the freezing cold. Really freezing cold – it was about 32F. Brrrr. Watched the sun rise and Joe take photos, while freezing. Once the sun was up I sat in the car to warm and Joe kept taking photos. He was the first out on the spur and the last back. And thinks he got one or two photos.

We then headed to Artist Drive to see the colours and got several photos there. It was lovely with sun coming in; colours really stood out. Probably won’t show up in the photos but we tried.

Then we went back to Furnace Creek for breakfast. Had a very good breakfast which fueled us up for the day. We then sorted out a rental jeep for tomorrow.

So once everything was sorted we headed out to Salt Creek to see pupfish. There aren’t many out there this time of year – they hole up in the deeper water (what little there is) but we got to see some. They are very tiny. We also saw three or four different types of birds getting ready to look at the photos and ID them. We also saw why some rangers are talking about closing out parts of the park – the area has a boardwalk which you are suppose to stay on – fragile plants and animal life, not to mention the water (which is saltier than the sea but supports life). So we watched while people jumped off the boardwalk to stroll around the creek and tramp into the hills. Even saw the prints where some idiot took their dog for a walk in the creek. Disappointing.

We then went to have a quick look at the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells. They don’t look that impressive until you see the people on them and then the scale becomes apparent. Against the mountains in the background they look tiny, but they are actually very very large.

We then drove out to Rhyolite, a ghost town near Beatty, which was quite interesting. It has a bottle house and ruins of several buildings as well as the remains of mines in the hills above. Very interesting to walk around. Joe got some photos of the moon but not sure how those came out!

Then it was a hurry back to pick up our jeep. We’re off early again tomorrow, out to Racetrack Playa and then to where ever we can get to before the jeep is due back!