Day 84 – Special guest at the camera-set and birthday in the desert

Distance: 71.52mi | Time: 5:25 | 1967kcal | 1894 vertical feet

camping-in-the-desert-near-death-valley

highway-to-death-valley-on-bicycleAfter one day of break due to a cold we kept going with new energy on the Freeway 395 with extreme tail-wind. Also it was Caro’s 24th birthday and therefore we had a cake breakfast instead of oatmeal. While riding, we suddenly saw them lying next to the road. They really exist: Rolling bushes from the western movies! We took one further to a good spot and invited him as our special guest for some video-scenes. During our ride on the Freeway we also got followed by something similar to a fox. Due to our really strong tail-wind we were probably too fast for him and so he lost interest quickly. We made it shortly before the entrance to the Death Valley National Park. The landscape is here a real desert: Sandy, dry and many rocks. We also found some cacti and Joshua Trees. Currently we camp directly under one of these funny looking trees and watched the sunset from our really nice spot here. As soon as the sun disappears, the temperatures fall, since we’re still around 4000 feet, and therefore we hopped soon in the tents and our warm sleeping-bags.cactus-near-death-valleybicycle-riding-with-a-rolling-bush-in-the-desert

Day 85 – Now we know Caro is afraid of tarantulas

Distance: 44.57mi | Time: 4:56 | 1634kcal | 3793 vertical feet

tarantula-crossing-the-road-in-death-valley

riding-the-bicycle-through-panamint-valley-endless-roadSoon after leaving our campground Caro saw a huge tarantula crossing the road. We stopped right away Mathias took some close pictures of the spider and made her a little mad. Caro on the other side just realized, that we were probably camping in the middle of a tarantula family that would explain all the big holes in the ground we saw the other day. The holes were almost as big as from mice. Shortly after the sighting of the spider Mathias saw some really huge cacti growing next to the road. They were hard to spot since they almost have the same color then the soil but they are big enough that they could pop our tires. At the Panamint Springs we had lunch and, and this is really no joke now, in this region rabbits with antlers exist which is a crossing between deer and rabbit. Due to the extremely clean air in this region, things like mountains appear closer than they are in reality. We realized this when we traversed the Panamint Valley, where the road is just going straight for about 10mi. At the end of the day we arrived at the Emigrant Campground just shortly before going all the way down to Death Valley. Here they let everybody camp for free and we took this opportunity. riding-california-190-to-death-valleycactus-near-death-valleyriding-down-the-last-miles-to-death-valley

Day 86 – HOT, HOT, HOT… Death Valley by bicycle!!

Distance: 61.30mi | Time: 5:17 | 1442kcal | 2320 vertical feet

death-valley-by-bicycle

death-valley-mesquite-sand-dunesWe made it through Death Valley and we are still alive. Well, at that time we have to say the temperatures are not too extreme, but seriously we do not want to be there on a bike in the summer time! From our campground we came down to the Stovepipe Wells, where we first had a buffet breakfast to get energy for the entire day (we also took a lunch box) and kept going through the main part of the valley. Actually we thought there is really nothing, but Death Valley is more alive, then you might think. There are some bushes and cacti at the beginning. Only the last part beyond the sand dunes is pretty much dead, only rocks and sometimes one bush. Interesting was also a huge salt lake directly in the middle of the lake called “Badwater”. In earlier days the cowboys and Indians probably drunk the water sometimes when they were extremely thirsty not knowing that this water is even more harmful to the body then no water. In nowadays there is no water problem in Death Valley, due to discovered springs in the mountains one of the resorts around Furnace Creek even has a pool in the yard. Pretty luxurious for this region still! At least we could take a shower after days!death-valley-bad-water-salt-lakedeath-valley-salt-lake