Desert Adventures for Thanksgiving

Julie and I spent about a week away from Napa for Thanksgiving, with our destination Las Vegas and family time. We did things a bit differently this time around.

Scrambling in Red Rock

The primary purpose was still to see Julie’s mom and stepdad, but a few months ago I noticed camping openings at Red Rock National Conservation Area. With the campground only 15 minutes from the house I booked camping Monday-Friday.

This solved a key challenge when we visit their housing development: we can’t park our van at the house overnight. The campground is meager but with a key benefit: very close to some of our favorite hiking spots. Two of the mornings we drove into the loop before 8am (after that you have to have timed entry permits) and scrambled amongst the beautiful red rocks.

Golfing at Furnace Creek

With nice weather and the passes through the Sierras open, we decided to take an extra day on the return and pass through Death Valley. This time we didn’t hike at all: we golfed at Furnace Creek! We only played the front nine but it was a delight: robust coyotes, beautiful wetlands and ponds with birdlife, and a fun and challenging course.

We dispersed camped in Panamint Valley on BLM land, doing a trail run up into the foothills during the crisp cool morning. After driving by Father Crowley’s Canyon we dropped down to Owens Lake where Julie and I both noticed that the causeway roads into the heart of the mostly dry lakebed are open to the public.

Gulls in Owens Lake

We diverted without much map and GPS support and wandered our way west and north through the lake, which is largely a series of pools and wetlands. Saw some new-to-me birds in the wandering from Panamint to Owens Lake: loggerhead shrike, least sandpiper, mountain bluebird, and western grebe.

Viewpoint along the Eastern Sierras

From there we wandered north across familiar territory: Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Bishop, Mono Lake. The day was cool and glorious, with snow in the mountains but not enough to impede our journey back to the other side. We overnighted south of Lake Tahoe in more BLM land, returning through the foggy and rainy Sacramento Valley on Sunday after Thanksgiving.