More Desert Pix

I've been home for a week and am just getting around to posting pix from my trip back from Las Vegas. This is Panamint Valley, over the mountains to the west from Death Valley. It's almost as deep and spectacular as its better known counterpart.

Attention Steve's Bike Blog...The Trona Tornadoes are still going strong...I think. As for the town of Trona, it's a bleak place. Half ghost town, half industrial wasteland. Abandoned buildings are widespread, as are Borax works based on Searles Lake, an almost completely dry alkali flat adjacent to the town. At this time of year there are a few sprouts of green grass and a few puddles in the lakebed but it's still pretty godforsaken. Did I mention 110 degrees in summer?

Here's a prettier spot...Red Rock Canyon State Park on Highway 14 between Ridgecrest and Lancaster. Beautiful rock formations abound, with a good sprinkling of Joshua trees. Notice the two toned arroyo in the foreground; obviously sediment from both colors of rock visible in the pic flows side by side during wet periods. It's a little early yet but with this winter's adequate rain, this area should be awash in wildflowers by the end of March. I've been through here before when it's been a garden!