Travels with Bodgey: In Search of Desert Adventure

Bodgey is a mature ginger cat on his annual winter trek around the warmer parts of the country. He is traveling in an RV with his humans, my daughter Klaire and her partner Patrick. Bodgey communicated through Klaire that he would appreciate my presence to provide extra petting behind his ears and under his chin, some neck scratching plus gentle stroking the fur along his spine to the base of his tail! I was assured that he would let me know if I got any of his preferred spots wrong! Though elderly, his teeth and claws are still sharp! Never been to California or Nevada so I was happy to oblige. I was able to quickly book a flight to Las Vegas where his humans promptly picked me up and Bodge greeted me with loving indifference. The day was young, so we made tracks out to Death Valley National Park, a couple of hours away.

First up was a hike out on the salt flat of Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the US.

We hiked out further than most and the expansive views were incredible. I felt like I was on another planet, perhaps the moon! With daylight to spare, we drove a short distance to the Natural Bridge Trailhead and walked a mile or two through the canyon to the area’s namesake.

Before heading to Sunset Campground at Furnace Creek for the evening, we traveled a 9-mile scenic drive aptly named The Artist Palette.

Day 2: Today’s adventure was all about hiking and what a hike it was! Starting on the Golden Canyon Trail with a detour to the magnificent Red Cathedral then a short backtrack to Gower Gulch Trail. It was then onward to the Zabriskie Point Trail. We did some off-trail navigation down a steep ravine and back to Gower Gulch, looping back to our starting point for a total of about 8 miles. Lots of water consumed today! I can’t imagine hiking here in the summer.

Traveling with Klaire and Patrick means not letting any daylight go to waste, so off to the Mesquite Sand Dunes for a stroll before the sun set. Nearby Stovepipe Wells Campground provided accommodation tonight!

Day 3: Much of Death Valley is inaccessible by car and particularly for an RV, so Klaire had arranged to rent a Jeep so we could explore the backcountry. The Racetrack Playa, a dry lakebed was our destination today.

I found it fascinating to learn about the tracks left by the moving rocks here. Only recently have scientists determined that the rare combination of wet conditions, freezing and thawing temperatures, and strong winds propel the rocks across the Playa leaving permanent tracks until the next event. The mud is over 1000 feet deep, and the surface pattern is very intriguing, and I might add, makes for very comfortable walking. We walked around the huge rock formation called The Grandstand and Patrick and I climbed up to the top. This was a really fun area!

We retraced our steps back to Teakettle Junction and sped along another dusty road to find the Lost Burro Mine. We realized we had passed it when we ran into a group of serious off-road adventurers and got to watch them negotiate a particularly difficult stretch of sand. We took their advice to not give it a try ourselves and retreated back to the mine.

The Lost Burro Mine was one of my favorite destinations with its grand views and fascinating artifacts from gold mining days of the past. Hard to believe that people actually lived and worked in such rugged and harsh conditions.

We arrived back on pavement just in time for a sunset hike around the perimeter of the Ubehebe volcano.

Day 4: Another day of adventure in the Jeep! First stop was the Keane Wonder Mine which appeared to have been quite the goldmining operation in its day.

We ventured just outside the National Park and back into Nevada to visit Rhyolite, once a boomtown but now a ghost town. So interesting to think that up to 5000 people once lived here and the town had a hospital, school, and even an opera house. The town was founded in 1906 but was in decline by 1910 and was totally abandoned by 1920.

We ventured into the backcountry through 27-mile-long Titus Canyon! What a thrill to drive the narrow, one-way twisting gravel road up and over Red Pass. Magnificent scenery and again many relics of mining days gone-by.

We stopped briefly at an unusual desert sight, Klare Spring. Interesting nearby petroglyphs. Wonder what they are trying to convey?

After traversing through the canyon, we stopped and hiked about 4 miles on the Falls Canyon Trail.

Closing in on the time to return the Jeep so we went for one last drive through Echo Canyon and to the Inyo Mine. This was the most rugged of our rides and was really cool to do at night though would have loved to see it in daylight too! We night-hiked for a couple of miles at the end of the road.

Day 4: Last day in Death Valley and we are back to traveling in the RV and head over to Mosaic Canyon. Fantastic 4-mile hike with quite a bit of tricky bouldering. Although I had thought that the desert would be a lot of the same thing, there are so many different ecosystems and geological formations. It is incredible and I am taken aback by the beauty. Many of these narrow canyon walls seem to be lined with marble!

We had spied a side trail up to an overlook so decided to scramble up to check it out on the return trip. Definitely worth it! I spotted one of the few creatures, other than the human type, that we saw in the desert. Google lens says a Common Chuckwalla Lizard. It was a good 12″ long and the end of its tail resembled that of a rattlesnake.

Before leaving the park, we headed over to Zabriskie Point again to check out an unofficial ridge trail we had noticed several days prior. Initially there was a sketchy cliff that required pulling yourself up and Klaire didn’t feel comfortable doing it. Patrick and I managed to get up and hiked along a very narrow trail for about a mile or so. It was spectacular!

On the road again! Klaire and Patrick wanted to stop and show me a hot spring they had discovered while passing through the area several years ago. The Tecopa hot spring was a short walk off the highway, and you’d never have known it was there except for the cars parked along the road. Ahhmazing!

Today turned into a long arduous day as we traveled south of Vegas stopping for dinner and supplies along the way and ultimately reaching the Black Canyon area, officially now in Arizona. We camped at an upscale campground at Willow Beach on the Colorado River.

Day 5: Did not sleep well last night. The gyro I had eaten yesterday was delicious but sat in my stomach like a heavy rock and I did not feel well. Patrick had booked us a guided kayaking adventure, and I really did not feel up to it. Klaire shared supplements and herbs from her traveling farmacy and I felt somewhat better. I decided to try to power through and certainly did not want to miss out on this latest adventure.

It was an 8-mile paddle to the Arizona Hot Springs, 4 miles below the Hoover Dam. It was interesting to see the ruins of the home of the water gauger. His 4-mile daily commute to work included walking along a narrow path, taking a cable car across a ravine and then another cable car across the river to the gauging station on the Nevada side. He evidently worked at this location for 17 years during the time the Dam was being built. Exciting to see several long horn sheep! I started to feel better upon arrival at the hot spring. No more gyros for me!

Our excellent guide, Morgan didn’t mind spending over 3 hours at the hot spring which was so inviting and incredibly warm. He told us that sometimes folks actually cook food and make tea where the spring bubbled out of the ground. It was another 8-mile paddle back to Willow Beach and we arrived at sunset. Much gratitude to Patrick who paddled me up and down the river like I was the Queen since I wasn’t in top form today.

Day 6: Several people we met yesterday at the hot spring recommended the nearby Goldstrike hot spring and since we were enjoying the springs so much, decided to make it our destination today. It was a 3-mile hike down a steep canyon to the river. We were warned that there were some ropes at the really steep sections, and it was considered class 3 bouldering. There were 7 rope sections, and we did them slowly and deliberately. This was such a fun and exhilarating hike with the bonus of a nice soak at the end.

Much easier going back and up the ropes and we made it just in time for a glorious sunset. Las Vegas bound for my flight home in the morning and to experience a different kind of light show. Bet you can guess which was my preference!

We enjoyed a fantastic meal in Chinatown and boondocked at the Orleans Arena parking lot which was amazingly quiet for downtown Vegas. Too tired to play the slots and not really my thing anyway, plus I had to give Bodgey his last cuddle! He never did bite or scratch me, so I guess I got it right! See ya on the flip side Bodge!