Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007: Death Valley National Park bikepacking / Day 11: Furnace Creek to Tecopa Hot Springs via Funeral Mountains 44
To avoid the forecasted 110 degrees in Death Valley today, I climb out of Death Valley slowly over the Funeral Mountains, starting at 280 feet below sea level and peaking at about 3300 feet.
I am surprised at how well I'm acclimating to the heat. I drink lots of water, as often as is practical.
It's not quite as hot up on the summit of the Funeral Mountains at 3300 feet elevation, after which I descend back into the heat at Death Valley Junction, Shoshone, and, finally, Tecopa Hot Springs, today's destination. 66 bicycle miles, and it does reach 100 degrees.
Just before leaving Furnace Creek
OK, I've really left Furnace Creek now
On the way out of Furnace Creek
Lots of greenery a little further up Highway 190
I stop for a toilet break at Zabriskie Point, just above Death Valley
Looking down toward Highway 190 from Zabriskie Point; my world is slanted
Leaving Zabriskie Point
I reach the 1000-foot point of elevation gain on the way out of Death Valley
Higher above Zabriskie Point on Highway 190
Rising up into the Funeral Mountains on Highway 190
Higher up in the Funeral Mountains and looking back down
3000 feet, I'm almost at the top of my climb out of Death Valley
At the summit of Highway 190 in the Funeral Mounatins is the remains of an extensive RV camping park (or something like that)
Standing in the middle of what was probably the campground's office
More of the old tiled floor at the former campground's entrance
Standing in the middle of the abandoned campground's swimming pool
The old road through the trailer park hasn't returned to nature
More at the abandoned campground
Back on Highway 190, I begin the slow descent to Death Valley Junction some 15 miles further and 1000 feet lower
The tiny village of Death Valley Junction sits off in the distance another 7 miles or so
The Amargosa Opera House is the main building in Death Valley Junction
The former service station across the road from the Amargosa Opera House
The Amargosa Opera House complex is really quite large and parts of it are not in use
Old gas pumps sit in an alcove along the opera house's covered walkways
Covered walkway in front of the opera house
Leaving the blit of civilization that is Death Valley Junction
Petro Road
A bit of drama on southbound Highway 127
Flood markers along Highway 127
Interesting earth piles in front of the Resting Springs Range along Highway 127
A series of short hills surprise me along southbound Highway 127
I stop for a break and look back at Eagle Mountain, which I passed a while ago
This sign for Badwater, 55 miles, tells me that my loop through Death Valley is now complete
Black rocks that look like giant charcoal briquets
A row of cabins along Highway 127 in "downtown" Shoshone
The 10-ton bike and its sore knee take a break at the Shoshone general store and gas station
A quick stop at the Shoshone Museum, across the road from the store
Riding from Shoshone to Tecopa Hot Springs near sunset
The badlands along Highway 127 near Shoshone and Tecopa always get my interest
Riding down Highway 127 through the badlands between Shoshone and Tecopa Hot Springs
I turn off Highway 127 onto Tecopa Hot Springs Road
The light dims here on Tecopa Hot Springs Road
Any body of water out here in the dry desert, however small, beckons for attention
Grimshaw Lake has an eerie appearance at sunset when captured by high-speed, grainy, disposable-camera film