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16/24
Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007: Death Valley National Park bikepacking / Day 9: no bicycling! Instead, a drive to The Racetrack and Goldbelt Spring with Phil and Renée from Emigrant Campground /

We arrive at Goldbelt Spring and its thicket of head-high wild roses (the dark green patch in the middle of the photo)

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gb-000026-goldbelt-spring.jpg We drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt SpringThumbnailsClose-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt SpringWe drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt SpringThumbnailsClose-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt SpringWe drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt SpringThumbnailsClose-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt SpringWe drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt SpringThumbnailsClose-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt SpringWe drive 10 miles across Hidden Valley toward Goldbelt SpringThumbnailsClose-up of the giant wild roses at Goldbelt Spring

I don't think I've ever seen wild roses so tall and bushy. The species around San José (rosa californica, I think), is a dwarf compared to these.

Maybe they aren't as huge as they seem. Maybe the illusion of hugeness is being created by the contrast of their green lushness with the very dry surroundings adjacent to them.

I had read about Goldbelt Spring's wild roses in Hiking Death Valley, so I was expecting them.

I've heard that there is sometimes some usable water here at the spring--that's what keeps the wild roses so green and healthy. So I walk over to see if I can locate some water.

I just have to know: could I have come here by bicycle and used Goldbelt Spring as a water source?