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Showing posts with the label Death Valley

California, 5th November, Ballarat to Sequoia, via Trona

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Our aim was to get eventually to Sequoia National Park, hopefully before it got too late in the day. We drove back Emigrant Canyon Road and exited the park through Panamint Springs. Here we saw our last glimpse of the valley, lost in a heat haze. it was nice to see a green tree after the barren hills. Driving south along the 178 we passed a sign for Ballarat, another 'ghost town'. We didn't like to pass it by so drove up the road to find a collection of rough housing, mainly inhabited and a sign inviting us to stay. We had seen lorries going backwards and forwards under the mountain so guessed that some sort of mining or quarrying activity was being undertaken. Unfortunately we found their notice rather scary as it said we were free to buy their drink and use their guns, so we turned back onto the main road. The first picture is the 178 going south and the next the road up to Ballarat. Our next stop was the town of Trona, a settlement based

California, 5th November, leaving Death Valley, Emigrant Canyon Road and Eureka Mine

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We spent our last night in Furnace Creek after a pleasant evening around a campfire with Mairi's friends Lily and Susie. We would not be seeing them again as our paths were diverging. It was sad to see the last of Death Valley. We had enjoyed it more than Yosemite, I think mainly because it was quieter. Also I must admit it was nice to feel  the warm sun. We drove out south east along Emigrant Canyon Road as we wanted to see Eureka Mine on the way. The road was very quiet and rough for the last part towards the mine. The scenery was barren and no one else was around. The mine was created by Pete Aguereberry, a French Basque who came to Death Valley in 1905 and nearly lost his life travelling across it in the summer heat. He visited the Eureka area with Shorty Harris and found gold so they both filed claims for the area around the hill. A tented camp known as Harrisburg was set up nearby and 300 men women and children eventually lived and mined around here. Pete worked the Eureka