Death Valley, NV, Part 4 (The Final Chapter)

As promised this is the final chapter on our week in Death Valley. We were doing stuff everyday except Sunday although we did go to an outside church service held by "A Christian Ministry in National Parks", or ACMNP. This was held at Furnace Creek Ranch under the Date Palm trees.

Wasn't what we are used to and only about a dozen people total including Tom and his wife Karen who we mentioned in an earlier post, but God was there and we appreciated it.

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Now on to the the Lower Vine Tour we took on Saturday. Almost everyone that goes to Death Valley does the Scotty's Castle tour. Scotty is actually Walter Scott.

Scotty was quite the con man. For twelve years he worked as a stunt rider for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. He found some gold in Colorado and went to New York and convinced several investors he had dug up the gold in a mine in Death Valley. They invested sight unseen. Scotty lived the high life in New York which helped convince others to "invest".

He eventually got involved with muli-millionaire Albert Johnson. Johnson loved the idea of the old west. Scotty lived in 29 Palms using Johnsons money to live, Johnson decided he wanted to come see the Gold Mining operation. Johnson figured out the con, but forgave Scotty and they became great friends. Johnson decided to homestead and build a vacation home on the property now called Scotty's Castle.

Five miles away in Lower Vine Canyon he built a cabin for Scotty and his beloved mules. There are only two tours a week during the cooler months with a maximum of 15 persons per tour. This of course is based upon staffing availability. Last year there were only five tours all year!

Our tour was the last tour of this year as it is starting to heat up. It was a pleasant 85 degrees when we started. It is a 2 mile round tour hike with a gradual uphill grade to the cabin.

As it turns out it was almost a private tour as it was only Patty and myself and two others on our tour. Although there is a road leading to the cabin it is no longer maintained so you can only hike to it, and only with a Ranger.

Lower Vine Ranch Road

The fence posts around the property are all made out of cement. There are no natural trees in this valley to make wood post, but plenty of rock and gravel to make cement posts!

Fence Posts

At first Scotty had his initial "S" engraved on the post first and Mr. johnsons "J" second. 

S J Posts

When Mr. Johnson saw this he ordered to have the S & J reversed! As nice to as Mr. Johnson was to Scotty, it was still his money and his property! :)

J S Posts

Water from the springs up by the cabin were piped down to this water trough outside the fence.

Water Trough

These old tin cans were along side the road. They were Scotty's trash, but still part of history. They leave them on the ground were he left them because they are part of the history of the area. Because they are within the fenced area and it is a ranger led tour they should not be disturbed.

Old Tin Cans

We finally arrived at the cabin and the mule corral. Some of the lighter colored boards in the coral had been replaced, but the dark boards are original.

Cabin

Albert had this bath tub installed in the cabin for Scotty. Scotty didn't feel that was the proper place for a tub so he ripped it out and placed it here next to the rock formation. As for the rock formation, he dug out a small opening and put wet burlap bags over it and ran water over it for a natural cooling "refrigerator".

Bath tub and ice box

Patty and I posing in front of the Cabin. 

Scotty's Cabin

This was our Ranger Scott. We kind of thought it funny that our guide of Scotty's Cabin was named Scott. He said he had never heard that before. :)

Tour Ranger Scott

Here is Scotty's Kitchen.

Kitchen

This is Scotty's Stove. It was really in good shape for how old it was!

Stove

The tour lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Maybe a little shorter because there was just four of us.  Really a special tour because not many people get to go here. So glad we got to do it. Learned more about Death Valley Scotty then on the Castle tour because it is so private.

The Ubehebe Crater is just a few miles from where we parked to do the Lower Vine Tour so even though we saw it ten years ago we decided to go back.

Ubehebe Crater sign

The crater is half a mile wide and 500 to 777 feet deep. The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain. 

Ubehebe Crater Selfie

Well that's it for our Death Valley adventure! We had a ball here.

If you haven't been here because you think it's "just a desert", hopefully these last four entries will give you a different perspective on it. It is a magnificent National Park and worthy of at least a few days stay! We were here for a week and just saw a small part of it doing something everyday.

Thank you so much for joining us on our adventure,

Blessings,

Brian and Patty