Death Valley 2014 - Page 2
We decided to spend the day exploring the area around Gold Point, the ghost town we are making our basecamp. Gold Point has a lot of interesting history surrounded by many mines, a few of which are still being used. There are other settlements in the area, such as Stateline, that supported the miners in a harsch landscape many years ago. A cabin still stands and is maintained by anyone who wants to help. Its always interesting to read the log books of folks passing through the area.
We also visited an old ranch with a broken down corral and the former owner's bed is still hanging from the post. We drove the LR3 for the day she performed admirably, even across the washboards. She is a bigger truck than she appears and is perfectly suited for this travel.
For lunch, we stopped on a high mesa overlooking the valley for incredible views. We also saw a few petroglyphs on the rocks. We headed back to camp in the late afternoon and had a dutch oven cookoff. I am very impressed with the meals that cooked in a dutch oven and understand why it was so essential to the settlers hundreds of years ago. The food we made was incredible and consisted of beef stroganoff, chili mac, and fresh apple cobbler. Delicious!
When we got back to camp, I put out my Goal Zero solar panels and it charged up my GZ Extreme350 battery pack in a few hours. I have a Nomad27, two Nomad13.5s and an Escape 30 for a total of 84 watts. The battery charges faster from the solar panels than from a 120v wall socket. I can run the fridge and recharge the Extreme350 indefinitely now. DV 2014 - Page 3
DV 2014 - Page 3