November 4, 2013 - Trip to Strozzi’s Ranch

I was up early this morning to see the beautiful sunrise and this wonderful little creature.  I stood very still and he came very close -

We packed our lunch, piled in 2 vehicles and went to the staging area for our trip to Strozzi’s Ranch. We were told yesterday that the guides could only take a total of 12 vehicles on a tour (including the guide and tail runner) per new National Park Rules (?) so we wanted to make sure we got in on that tour.

Molly is ready:

After signing the releases off we went:

Our first stop was the Rhyolite cemetery where we took a short break, explored the cemetery, and left some air out of the tires for a smoother ride.

There were many graves, marked and unmarked and some new graves - very interesting place.

The ghost town of Rhyolite in the distance:

More information can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyolite,_Nevada

Our journey continues:

We made it to the end of the road - Strozzi’s Ranch.  This area was homesteaded by Caesar Strozzi in 1931 and was used seasonally between 1931 and 1947.  It now belongs to Death Valley National Park.

We took a break here, had lunch and looked around.  It was cold - Brrrr.  The ranch is at 6000’.

Many artifacts were just laying around and were neat to see. One of the girls on the trip picked up a canteen to take and was told to put it down (not allowed to take the artifacts in a National Park). She finally did end up with a piece of something - such a shame. She wouldn’t listen to anyone and pretty much was going to do what SHE wanted to do.

Sometimes I think we should have just got her name and reported her but we didn’t.

The view from the ranch:

We continued on our way back to the valley:

Then up another hill where we stopped to enjoy the view:

The road we came down before we stopped:

Now this is where it got interesting for me.  Most of the people that know me, know that I “freak out” when I am going down a steep hill on a narrow road with no guardrails  (Yes, I have been known to scream and yell to let me out - sad to say.) 

So as we went down, I watched, then looked away and probably repeated that many, many times. 

Here is the first picture:

Here is the last picture when we are down - and nothing in between:

Some day I may get use to it.  In the meantime, God bless my friends who can handle my craziness!

From there we went to the ghost town of Rhyolite.  No pictures, sorry, I was pooped!  Our last stop before heading home was Beatty for gas and an ice cream.

Another wonderful day in Death Valley.

Stay tuned and enjoy today.