Death Valley & Valley of Fire

  I was excited to be joined by three ride buddies from Seattle for this adventure into the desert in early March.  Every day was filled with laughter and good natured ribbing. And of course, riding, eating, sleeping and repeating.
  Before even arriving in Las Vegas, the adventure began, as we were advised of high winds which were bordering on the limits of a safe plane landing.  Our pilot was able to land on his second pass and all aboard were glad not to have to go to Phoenix.  The wind persisted the next day and the 28 mile ride to Hoover Dam was a real ordeal, with the headwind objecting to our forward motion. From the dam, we rode the 4 mile slog up a busy, no shoulder highway with the slow-moving traffic which really wasn’t an issue. 
 Day 2 took us 27 miles into the Valley of Fire. Aptly named for the flaming red mounts surrounding us. The one long, never ending climb ate up the majority of the 2000 feet of climbing but the reward was 12 miles of descent with little braking and beautiful scenery on the approach to Death Valley.
  We started Day 3 with a visit to the ghost down of Rhyolite.  Fascinating history from this early mining town with a peak population of around 6000, in the middle of “nowhere”.  We rode from the ghost town up another long never ending climb of about 1200 feet to the top of Daylight Pass and were rewarded with another beautiful descent into Death Valley and Furnace Creek.
  Day 4 was a break from riding with an otherworldly hike from Golden Canyon to Zabrinski Point.  One of the Star Wars movies was filmed here.  The views and the geography of this area are truly amazing.
  Day 5 shuttled us to Ubeehebee crater for a short hike and lots of photo opportunities.  We rode from here to the Mesquite Flat sand dunes, about 33 miles, where we enjoyed another fantastic lunch before returning to the hotel in our shuttle.
 Day 6 was last day of the trip and not a moment wasted!  We shuttled to Badwater Basin and enjoyed looking up to sea level and checking out the evaporating Lake Manly.  The wind returned on the ride back to our hotel and even 15 miles of climbing was made more difficult by the headwind.
 Many thanks to our guides James and Charley and Bicycle Adventures, for another great adventure.