Sun24…do not approach
I wake early…its not that hot yet…I explore death valley a little…its actually quite hospitable with a free public pool and a general store and compared to what you might think quite popular…I get the t- shirt…the settlements here have names like see furnace creek and stovepipe wells...by midday I am simmering gently in the pool…its like a hot tub…death valley is 280ft(80m)or so below sea level and as the weather watchers amongst you will know hi pressure hot air sinks…and at this depth it can get higher and hotter than anywhere else on earth…some of you know me well enough to know I love it hot and even when not in the pool im not that uncomfortable here…neither however did the French endurance runner who came here some time ago to run across the valley floor…he took a wrong turn…a death sentence out here …it took the rangers a while to find his body… the sun had a week to dry it out and he weighed 15pounds…I head out after lunch…don’t want to get caught in rush hour traffic….the desert has dozens of different types of terrain that’s morphs itself around me as I munch the miles…owens valley is my next stop which is next to death valley…owens is a world famous site and many records have been set there…it has a fearsome reputation…to say it can be strong in owens is like saying the germans overstayed their welcome on their french holiday in 1939…its still august and I have been repeatedly warned nobody flies paragliders there till september cos its too strong… it has been known to snap hangliders in two…its about 4.30pm…as I clear the death valley terrain some of the biggest sickest stupid bare jagged gnarly rock ive ever seen comes over the horizon…and I my friends have seen rock…I descend into owens…the sky is a beautiful clear blue but a ferocious late afternoon valley wind is bending the trees and gusting to about 45 miles an hour(27m/s)…there is what i think looks like cumulous converegence cloud way over the peaks at about 17/18000ft (5500m) and im starting to wish I had my mum with me…its dark when I find a spot in a place called lone pine to park…I can hear the wind whistling and shaking the trees outside as I go to bed…I curl up in a ball with teddy and suck my thumb… http://everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=4844