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Rhyolite and Titus Canyon

Posted by on February 23, 2013

Our plan for the afternoon was to head up to the old ghost town Rhyolite and then take the bikes down a premiere off road location in Death Valley called Titus Canyon.  My good friend Ted told us that Titus Canyon was a don’t miss ride and as you will see from the photos, he was correct.  Although 90% of this trip was perfectly planned and executed like a finely tuned Ducati, one thing we didn’t plan properly was how cold it would get as we climbed out of the valley from -282 below sea level to +3819 feet when we arrived in Rhyolite. Temps changed from 74 degrees in the Valley to the low 50’s and high 40’s up in the hills.  Jessica and I had mesh riding jackets on and were frozen to the bone. Gus and Stephanie were somewhat better equipped but not by much and they were also very cold.  This is a lesson I am sure we will all remember for our next road trip.  We arrived at Rhyolite and took in some of the highlights but didn’t spend as much time as we would have if we were warmer.  We took shelter from the cold weather at the museum for a bit and even bought T-Shirts so we would have an extra layer of clothing.  As we climbed back on the dirt bikes we were still very cold. Although we all felt like turning around and heading back to camp I have to thank Gus for having the ambition to encourage all of us to go forth with the Titus Canyon trek.

Here are some aliens I came across in the desert…

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Gus did this creative capture of the road ahead:

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And this one of Jess and me:

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Here are some of the sights around Rhyolite:IMG_1281

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And on we went to Titus Canyon! AMAZING!!!

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Like a painting:

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The views were nothing short of stunning:

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Gus found this guy in Area 51:

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This is the girls trying to get their hands warm during one of our stops:

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And it just kept getting better! One of these was taken by Gus and one by me, the background looks fake but I can assure you it is real and breathtaking.

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And around the next curve:

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This is an abandoned mine and town called Leadville:

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And into the canyon we go:

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We had packed a lunch for the trip and it was finally warm enough to stop and enjoy a picnic:

 

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Sadly we were close to the end of the canyon and our trip would conclude just as the sun set on the horizon a few minutes after saddling back up.  Back at the coach we had a LOT of fun cooking (and eating) steaks, chicken, grilled veggies and more. The dessert in the desert would be pineapple cake with ice cream. Every meal on this trek was a feast fit for a king.  For late night entertainment we busted out the Scattergories and there were so many laughs and good times we stayed up again until 3AM.

 

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Jess is taking the bait from Stephanie to hold her tongue and say a phrase:

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Photo Footnote: All photos with the GM/Photo watermark are copyright protected and property of Gus Menendez – All rights reserved.

All photos without watermark are property of Scott and Jessica Faulk and are copyright protected.

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