We drove Highway 50, supposedly the loneliest highway in the US, back across Nevada. Although a good road, it still took considerably time due to the numerous mountain passes the road crosses. Mountain, valley, mountain, valley, mountain, valley...classic Nevada.
To break up the drive we stopped at a couple hot springs on our way. Spencer is an interesting area with a few hot pools scattered across a hillside. The first one we stopped at was hot- on the edge of comfort but the cooler shallow outflow fools below were just the right temperature for a cleansing soak. We shared the pool with a school of goldfish.
Further down the highway we took another detour to Bartine Hot Springs. We found the road out to the hot springs extremely muddy, in some places with large pools of water. Despite 4WD, I still precariously boated my way through these mud pits, only half in control and at time the car sliding almost sideways. Although adjacent to an interesting travertine mound, the hot springs were a let down. Hot water emerges from an old drill well. The plumbing to the nearby tub was faulty. The tub itself was filled with all manners of scum and the cows had made a total mess of the area. So we found it unsoakable. There was a new tub nearby that looked like someone had plans of installing so perhaps there is hope for the future.
Afterward we stopped in Ely for a tasty malt at an old school soda fountain. I really enjoyed this drive across the geologic grain of Nevada.
Burning Man. I feel like so much has already been said about it and I would not even know where to begin. Even having been I am not entirely sure how to describe it. It is a lot of things and a lot of different things to different people. For some an art show, for some a family-friendly vacation, for some a temporary utopia, for some the ultimate week-long party, for some the opportunity to express themselves, for some a chance to learn new skills, for some the excuse to do whatever the hell they want. For me? I guess it was a trip to the zoo.
The simple but grand idea. Burning Man is more or less founded on ten
noble principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical
self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic
responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.
On paper I don't think anyone can disagree with their cause or goals. Essentially they seek to create an open-minded, welcoming and prolific culture where people are treated equally, but also as uniquely themselves.
The Playa
The experiment. Take 68,000 people, put them on the
middle of one of the most desolate places in the U.S. for a week,
blast them with alkalic playa dust, abolish all monetary value (apart from ice and coffee naturally...),
throw in passionate works of art and about a hundred music venues, encourage self-expression/a neighborly atmosphere/the giving of gifts, include a full cross section of peoples from around the world, call it Black Rock City, see what kind of community comes out of the chaos, then burn stuff for cathartic release. While overall I had a great experience with it and I think it works for up to one week, I only sipped the kool aid and found myself somewhere in the middle on the event by its end. It still seemed to retain good and bad aspects of society.
The good. In general I was amazed at how well people chose to adopt the cultural principles of Burning Man. People were indeed incredibly friendly and generous in ways I did not expect. Strangers became neighbors within minutes of meeting and would offer anything from fruit to drinks to shade (a precious resource on the playa) without any expectation of anything in return. I almost never saw trash on the ground, even on my morning runs around the city. Passing strangers greeted and complimented one another. People wore the most extraordinary costumes, or nothing at all. I was continually amazed at the cheerfulness and creativity of everyone around me. People biked around randomly but I almost never saw anyone crash (and the result was always mutually apologetic).
Black Rock City boasted some incredible pieces of art from the enormous to the intricate. It would take too long to begin to describe some of the creative and passionate artwork people produced for public display, often with the expectation that it would be burned at the end of the week. Many of these were built with the expectation that people would climb freely all over them like jungle gyms.
The Man sculpture had an enormous flying saucer with over three separate levels and slides for exits. The Temple of the Navigator was something else entirely. This is pretty much the one place in Black Rock City that is considered sacred and people are expected to be silent. People put remembrances or goals or any other meaningful thing that they wish to be a part of the structure when it is burned in silence on the last day of the festival. It's quite a powerful atmosphere with people meditating, reflecting and crying.
Inside the man's flying saucer pedestal
Inside the temple
Lots of the art structures looked completely different when lit up at night and many were interactive. Someone made a giant scale-replica of an ichthyosaur (Nevada's state fossil) that could be swung around like a puppet. Another had a series of pads that played noises- when everyone played them at the same time it caused a carousel with ape sculptures and precision-timed strobe lights such that the movement of the sculptures created an animation (see movie below). The trap-door church was another favorite of mine. A clever idea that was well executed. Apparently at least a dozen weddings took place in it over the week too.
Another highlight was the Charcade. Each night a half dozen traditional arcade games (skee ball, shooting gallery, dance dance revolution, guitar hero, etc.) are hooked up to serious amounts of propane. In all the games fire plays a key role- either rewarding your accomplishments or punishing your competitor. Dance Dance Immolation was particularly entertaining to watch. Two contestants were placed in full head-to-toes flame retardant suits then played each other at Dance Dance Revolution on a big screen. Columns of fire rewarded good moves. Mis-steps were punished with a flamethrower directly to the face!
At night Black Rock City turned into a chaotic light show and dance party. My favorite structure was a enormous pyramid that had aerialists performing as people danced. There were probably at least a hundred dance party structures including vehicles. The noise curfew was dawn! The day was too hot to sleep (at least in our tent) so I don't know how some people managed to stay up all night!
Hands down my favorite part of Burning Man was the art cars, or mutant vehicles as they are known. The sheer creativity and dedication people put into these cars was staggering. They ranged from small 1-2 person cars to full blown party floats with professional sound systems and pyrotechnics. All the cars had to be registered at the DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) every night to make sure they were safe and fit to drive. Although there was zero guarantee the cars would take you where you hoped to go, it was easy enough to jump on, dance or relax, and then get out somewhere else. We saw well over a hundred different mutant vehicles.
Click to enlarge
The bad. As I walked around I could not help but be overwhelmed by the enormous impact of the event. Yes people are good at picking up trash and conserving water (out of necessity), but there was nowhere in the city that you could escape the drone of generators. 68,000 people. A lot of them in motorhomes. People traveling from far and wide in horribly inefficient vehicles. Generators running all the time for air conditioning or electricity. Cars essentially running around in circles constantly for a week. The number of propane tanks used every night. The number of people that fly in from overseas. The police that swarm the state of Nevada looking to pull people over for trumped up charges to help balance their budget. Amid the cheerful and positive festivities I had a lot of sobering moments considering the impact of it all.
The direct environmental impact is admittedly relatively small on the playa but nevertheless the effects of a week of people biking and driving on the playa, and the resulting dust storms and sand dunes, does not add up to the zero impact philosophy that the organization asserts.
Tickets were $380 each in 2013 and are likely to be even more the next year. The current annual cost for the event is well over $20 million dollars! This seems very expensive for a largely volunteer-run event. So much for being anti-corporate and decommodifying. I could go on but I won't. In short, despite the good intentions of all, I see the event as very unsustainable and inherently wasteful. But who am I to criticize.
The burn. In the end it is what it is. I saw a lot of wastefulness, but also a lot of ingenuity and compassion. You can get a sense of Burning Man from the photos and documentaries available but there is really no substitute for experiencing it yourself. I don't think I would say you should go or not go, but I really don't know of anything else quite like it.
Pasted in one of the porta-potties. I think it sums up Burning Man
pretty well for me.
In need of a place to camp halfway up Nevada and always on the lookout for nice hot springs, Walker Hot Springs sounded like a winner over the more accessible springs likely packed with travelers. We figured the long 4WD approach would weed most people out, and we were right. It would be the first real 4WD in my new car so I was eager to see how it performed. We had this fantastic spring all to ourselves and could camp with a few feet of it.
The sun was getting low in the sky by the time we reached Hawthorne so we tried to make haste. South from Hawthorne at the turnoff for our first dirt road, search and rescue and road workers had the highway blocked. Chatting with one of them revealed that the freak rainstorm that occurred hours before had wreaked major damage on the highway. Our dirt road was "open" but he recommended we drive very carefully and be prepared to turn around if the road was washed out. It was clear the dirt road had recently been a river, and I carefully drove over and around the many rocks washed onto the road. It was not looking promising but we continued on. Soon the road began to climb a steep hillside via switchbacks. What was usually a wide 2 lane road was barely one lane and we had large trucks constantly bombarding us and forcing me to the side at the last seconds to avoid smashing into them. Once up this grade the road miraculously improved- it seemed that no rain fell anywhere west of here. We followed this road up and down small hills, eventually crossing the pass, and then beginning a descent into the next valley. It was classic basin and range Nevada. Apart from the roads and a powerline, this next valley we drove through was pristine, grasses along its alluvial valley floor for miles around. We then turned off on a less meticulously maintained powerline road, happy to see it in good shape as well. Another turn on a narrow rutted road, and then yet another turn on the final rutted 4WD road to the hot springs.
Now the road was getting tricky and demanding my attention. Here we soon realized the guidebook failed miserably in its description and we floundered around for a time trying to make sense of it (when there was not much sense in it to make it turned out). Luckily I had the GPS coordinate for the hot springs and so could navigate by that. The road became a narrow jeep trail as it plunged over the top and into a steep gully. It was steep and narrow with a few rocky switchbacks and I drove down slowly and cautiously, aware we were a great distance away from help. I stopped the car a couple times to scout ahead and be sure there was a place I could turn around if necessary. The next major obstacle was a rutted jeep track that had loose rock washed onto it such that the narrow road tilted precariously toward the ditch on the side. Cars can always stand more tilt than you feel like they can, but still I was extra cautious.
After this excitement we reached a mine site with a nice flat ground. We were both unsure of the road from here and getting hungry. Sara cooked dinner while I decided to run with my GPS down the road and see what it was like since it was only about 1.5 miles away at this point. My run revealed the road and springs to be in excellent condition, so once dinner was consumed we drove the remaining distance down to the Walker River and along its bank to the hot springs.
A quick soak satisfied us after the night's adventure. After a good night's sleep we found ourselves in a beautiful valley with wonderful granite cliffs and spires. It was a very pretty spot to soak and enjoy the crisp morning. It certainly felt remote. We returned to the main road without incident and continued on our way. The Suzuki performed admirably on this driving adventure.
After camping the night before in the rain near Flagstaff, we decided to hike into Havasu Canyon, a remote canyon cutting through the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The canyon is home to the Havasupai people who have lived in the canyon for almost a thousand years. Their village of Supai, in the one wider stretch of the canyon, still receives virtually all their supplies and mail by burro. The canyon is best known for several picturesque waterfalls- calcium-charged blue-green waters cascading 40-200ft over red rock and travertine- go-to standards for any waterfall calendar (see one of the first posts on this blog). The long drive over the extensive plateaulands eventually brought us to the remote Hualapai Hilltop trailhead. Rogue thunderstorms bounded us but we set off hiking anyway, expecting to get a little wet but not much more.
We hiked down from the hilltop and entered Hualapai Canyon. The walls rapidly rose around us as we went down the dry wash. Thunder roared. Looking back we could see a great wall of black clouds and rain obscuring would should be the canyon's headwaters. There was no end to this storm in sight and it was headed right for us. This looks wet I thought. We continued down, our pace quickened as if we thought there was some way to outrun this beast. I started looking out for alcoves we could hide out in if it started downpouring. We went a bit further and then it started pouring. It poured sheets and sheets with thunder overhead so we ran to a shallow overhang on the canyon's true right.
Within a minute a waterfall formed over the overhang in front of us. There was nothing to do but sit and watch. Over the span of about a half an hour we saw the flood appear, build and then peak. Rapids formed where we had just been walking.
The streambed was dry about 5 minutes before I started filming. Waterfalls began appearing locally and the first water to begin flowing was from nearby sources. Eventually the rain abated and local waterfalls began to disappear as the the main flood pulse continued to arrive from the extensive headwaters further upcanyon. In particular note the large rock in the center of the flow, the gravel bar, and the waterfall downstream.
The flood continued so we wisely aborted our Havasu Canyon plans to return back to the Hilltop. Fortunately there was an easy place to climb out of the inner canyon and remarkably continuous slickrock benches we could take back. There were a few drainages and cliffs to navigate but otherwise the route was surprisingly good. Standing water filled every shallow depression on the slickrock forming beautiful patterns and reflections. Since we were already on the true right we did not even have to cross the flood to return to the Hilltop. We noticed a few of the friendly dogs that had been hanging out at the parking area were trying to return home downcanyon but were thwarted by the floods. Eventually one of the dogs crossed the river and followed us back to the Hilltop.
It was not the natural spectacle we had in mind, but was a beautiful hike nonetheless!
This was the one I had come for. This semi-secret canyon seems to rate very high on people's lists and I have heard several call it the best slot canyon in Arizona. Given these praises and its remarkably easy access considering, it is particularly surprising that the canyon was only first descended in 2007. The first descenders apparently completed the canyon entirely on natural anchors, a reasonably impressive feat. Now many more have visited the canyon and there are several bolts throughout. Despite this the canyon does seem to be in remarkably good shape, with intact vegetation and very few scuff marks. I had been talking this canyon up to the other two over the last couple days and was looking forward to seeing for myself what the canyon had to offer.
After sorting out legal parking places for our cars (a feat in itself for the Sedona area!), we crossed the river and began looking for the trail that would take us steeply up the hill. Unfortunately the trails seemed poorly marked and we headed off in the wrong direction for 10-15 minutes before the process of elimination led us to the right trail. Once on it we made superb time climbing the sweaty switchbacked trail up through the Coconino. It was just after 7am but already quite warm- if we waited a couple more hours to start the climb we would have been dying. We gained the basalt cap on the valley in about an hour's time, and continued along the trail through the forest. We were greeted by a kindly fire lookout tower attendant and relished in the excuse of dropping our packs to climb the numerous stairs to say hello to him and his little dog. After a good chat (and a reassuring view of a cloudless sky over Flagstaff), we headed on, this time across country. We followed our nose (with helpful suggestions by the GPS), to one of the drainages feeding the canyon. After descending a steep hill, we bushwhacked our way through wet foliage. This was arguably the least pleasant part of the trip. We did find our way though and reached the start of the canyon in about 2.5 hrs.
It started with some small downclimbs and short slots alternating with corridors of greenery. Then we turned a corner and things started to get dark and illusion-y. We climbed through one nice arch and swam through yet another. The water was brewed dark and matched the mood of the slot perfectly. We downclimbed several beautiful fluted dryfalls (with the occasional jumping option) and swam several nice flooded corridors. We found yet another arch, this one we could rappel right through! The quality of features in this canyon was excellent, right up there near the top.
The canyon then opened up into another secret garden before narrowing again into another slot. This time the slot dropped more dramatically with several medium sized rappels and a few tall downclimbs. Again we found several nice potholes and dark corners in this sustained middle slot. It briefly opened up enough to let some light in before narrowing down again for a beautiful 100ft rappel right out of the slot into a grotto. We had thought this was the end of the canyon (and Sam seemed quite satisfied by this grand finale), but were confused when the short slot after posed no obvious keeper pothole as we had been told. Instead the canyon opened up into yet another garden.
Looking back on the abrupt end of the second narrows
Sure enough in a couple hundred feet the canyon narrowed again for one last round. Here too were a couple more rappels down a spectacularly fluted section of canyon. Turning one last corner the world dropped away and light flooded in. Here was the 120ft abseil as promised. Just as we started to rig the drop, thunder resounded with terrifying amplitude. It was quite motivating. I went down first and quickly saw that the keeper would be an easy exit. What I did not see though was the incredible stench of the pool. Just a few weeks earlier it had three dead bears brewing in it. I swam across and climbed out with all the hast in the world. What a rude way to end an otherwise fantastic canyon! Sam did the same. Once Jeff dropped the pull cord I rigged it as a guided rappel to spare at least one of us the nastiness of having to cross the pool. We walked on a further hundred feet to make sure we were clear of the stench before de-suiting and snacking.
Jeff avoiding the evil pool
There was still a fair bit of boulder hopping and creek bashing to go before we reached the West Fork of Oak Creek, but the travel was considerably easier than above the canyon so we were thankful for that. We abruptly ran into a 40ft nuisance rappel. No obvious or convenient way around, we put our harnesses back on and rapped. At least it gave us an excuse to keep our harnesses on after the rap (and thus looking cool for the tourists). Eventually we reached W. Oak Creek and had a pleasant stroll down a beautiful bedrock-lined creek. Shortly after we reached the end of the tourist track it started pouring raining. Unfortunately this meant we still had over 3 miles to go to the car park and my feet were majorly suffering from wearing wet neoprene and canyoneers all day long. Although beautiful, I was in pain and just wanted it to end at the point. After a long but uneventful walk on the good trail we reached the carpark. Sam made my day by volunteering to walk back to the car so we could complete the car shuttle. Hats off to him.
We completed the trip in about 8.5hrs, apparently an unheard of good time for this route. It was a fantastic canyon, easily one of my two favorites for Arizona. Again it is surprising that it was only discovered in 2007 considering its relatively good access. It really made me wonder what other low hanging fruit might still be hidden out there. Thanks to Jeff and Sam for a great weekend away.
