The Racetrack

In a Christmas letter we received last year, one of my old friends mentioned that something she'd done that year had been a "bucket list" item for her. And I thought, bucket list? When I was younger I had a long mental list of big things I wanted to do, and I did a lot of them, too. But right now I'm mainly living day to day. Oh sure, I've got some vague plans and dreams. For instance, when the boys are a little older (i.e., old enough to know what a state is), I'd like us to visit a few different states each summer, so they gradually get to know the country. Also, I'd like to have a novel or other book published someday, but even that is all wrapped up in just wanting to do lots of writing, make it better and better -- if I do publish something someday, I won't consider that item checked off, but rather only just begun.

But once in a while I remember that there are a few very specific things I really want to do.

We've been wanting to go to Death Valley for several weeks now, but it keeps getting put off. Finally we decided that yesterday was do or die, because very soon it's going to be too hot for us to go there again until next November. "Is there any place special you want to go?" Rocket Boy asked me, because Death Valley is a Really Big Place and you kind of have to decide what you want to do there.

"I want to go to the Racetrack," I said. Ding! Bucket list item.

The Racetrack is a dry lakebed in the northern section of Death Valley, and it's home to an interesting phenomenon -- rocks that move around the lakebed seemingly by themselves. When you read articles about Death Valley, the Racetrack is always mentioned, and it sounds so intriguing. I've always wanted to go. But what we learned when we moved here and started visiting Death Valley is that it's almost impossible to get to the Racetrack and the rangers don't really want you to try. Each time we've asked a ranger at Stovepipe Wells or Furnace Creek about going to the Racetrack, they've always told us we have the wrong type of car, the wrong type of wheels, the road is in worse shape than usual, try again some other time....

This time we were going. We just absolutely were. Nothing was going to stop us. We packed a picnic lunch, lots of water, extra clothes for the twins, sunscreen, money, everything we could think of. We even left the house really early (for us) -- we were out the door by 9 am.

Of course then we had to stop for gas, and put some air in the tires, and get Starbursts for the road, and that took half an hour. Then we drove to Stovepipe Wells, which is 100 miles. There we stopped and talked to the ranger. "We were thinking about going to the Racetrack," I said casually.

"Oh, you don't want to go in that car," the ranger told me immediately.

"It has really heavy duty tires," I pointed out. We had brought Rocket Boy's Ford Escape, which has huge thick tires.

The ranger took the time to actually look out the window at the car. "It does have high clearance," he admitted. "But you know, punctures are really a problem out there. The rocks on that road are chert, which is volcanic and very sharp."

"I'll talk to my husband about it," I told him, and we were off to the Racetrack.

First we had to drive the road to Scotty's Castle, which takes forever (about 45 miles), except that you turn off just before it and go to Ubehebe Crater instead. We got to the crater parking lot around 12:30 and decided to have lunch. I hadn't seen Ubehebe Crater before either and it's really something. Here are Rocket Boy and Baby B looking down into it.

 

We hiked around there a bit and then ate our nice picnic lunch. No picnic tables, but there's a ledge to sit on, which was an acceptable substitute. You can see our new picnic "basket" in the picture -- Rocket Boy got it from Blue Cross as a thank-you for attending one of their lunchtime wellness talks at the base.

So now it was 1:30 pm, time to drive to the Racetrack, which is 27 miles from Ubehebe Crater. Since we knew it was a bad road, we figured it would take us about an hour. Ha ha ha.

First you drive 20 miles to Teakettle Junction,

then 7 more miles to the Racetrack.On the Worst Road Ever. It took us just under 2 hours, which meant that we arrived at 3:30 -- yes, that's right, six and a half hours after leaving home. We did not get a flat tire, but we worried about it a lot. Each time we stopped, we checked all the tires, and we agreed that if we got a flat, after changing the tire we would turn around and drive straight back, no matter how far we'd gotten. It's not like there's anyone around to help you out if you get stuck. But we didn't get a flat. And we made it to the Racetrack.

Was it worth it? Yes and no. It's quite a sight, though not exactly what I was expecting. I did find a rock with a visible trail behind it (showing that it had mysteriously moved).

 

But what we also found was evidence that people have been doing what all the literature says you must NEVER do -- drive on the playa. That seemed sad. Maybe that's why the rangers try to keep people from visiting it.

The boys had fun climbing on the weird mass of rocks in the middle of the Racetrack, called the Grandstand. And Baby A and I walked way way out in the middle of the Racetrack, looking for rocks. And now I can say I was there.

And I suspect I will never go again. Because then we had to drive back. We only spent about 45 minutes at the Racetrack, leaving a little after 4 pm. We drove the bad road a little faster going out, but it was still slow. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells for a quick dinner, and then drove on toward home -- with just one little detour to Panamint Springs to buy fabulously expensive gas (almost $5.50/gallon) when we realized we didn't have enough to get to Ridgecrest (there's no gas in Trona right now). Got back to the house around 10:15 pm, the latest we've gotten home in just ages. It was an insane trip. But hey, I finally saw the Racetrack!