2004 Las Vegas
Just before Black Canyon we look up to see a F-16 only 1 mile in front of
us and fully banked over making a turn about 100 feet off of the ground.
Seeing one of those jets flying like it was designed to fly is an awesome
sight.
Of course we were then hooting and hollering as we entered Black Canyon and
continued on zigzaging our way up to the Pinnacles just out of Trona. I say
zigzaging because you can't travel straight across the California desert anymore
due to all of the millions of acres that have been closed off as Wilderness
area. From Trona we were going to Goler Wash which cuts through the Panimint
Mountains on the West side of Death Valley. We had the choice to get there
by going over the Slate mountains on an uncharted way that we had heard about,
or take the known route, a boring 23 miles by highway up to Ballarat and then
back down a easy dirt road to Goler Wash. Since this was a 285 mile day and
we did not have the extra time to scout out a new route we took the long boring
ride up to Ballarat and back down to the entrance of Goler Wash (Here is a
link to a nice description of Goler Wash http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/mar/stories/Goler.html).
After Goler we cut up and east across Death Valley with its long sloping valleys.
While riding through Death Valley we saw 3 guys in Hummers, one of them was
stopped and watching what the other two were doing. It totally had the look
of rich guys out in their $70,000 toys, messing with each other. Anyhow we
finish Death Valley and made it to Shoshone before sunset.
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