I grew up watching Western movies, both on the big screen and weekly television shows. The list of shows is a long one, but I sure remember Bonanza, Wagon Train, Batt Masterson, The Rifleman, Yancy Derringer, Rawhide, Gunsmoke and The Wild Wild West, just to name a few. And...most, if not all, were filmed at one point or another in and around Death Valley. Even as a 10-year old, I remember thinking how awful the place looked and wondering how anyone could survive it. As it turns out, the TV producers only told part of the story. Figures.

We visited Death Valley last week on a relatively cool day...the high was only 98...a little warm for October. It is truly a desolate, remote, dry, vast expanse of sand, salt, borax, rocks and scrub brush, but it also has colored rock layers, beautiful sand dunes, over a 1,000 kinds of plants, 51 species of native mammals, 307 species of birds, 36 species of reptiles, three species of amphibians, and five species of native fish. Who knew? The Shoshone Indians, that's who. They have lived in the area for over a thousand years and have figured out a way to exist in the lowest and hottest place in the country. Since dogs aren't allowed on any trails, we had to stick to the paved or graveled roads and thus we only saw a tiny portion of the park. The true beauty lies in the canyons and sand dunes only accessible via the many hiking paths that run through the park. Visitors from all over the world (over a million a year) come to visit and the day we were there, we heard German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Slavic and I believe Swedish. That's a lot of rented minivans!

Last, but not least, I found out from the park website that Death Valley is considered a "Gold Tier Sky Park"...meaning it's one of the best places in the world to view stars. I think the gold prospectors figured this out when they passed out from the heat and cheap whiskey and woke up later in the night lying on their backs looking up at the stars. Just a theory.

Will we ever go back? Never is a long time, but I doubt it. We'd rather view the stars from The Great Basin. They have water there.

Cheers!

Wayne, Claudia and Tuck