September 28

~11 miles, 1000’ loss

This day would see us leave Death Valley National Park and take us to the foot of the Inyo Mountains. We continued to cross a high desert plateau toward the top of Blackrock Canyon into which we descended. We took an extended lunch break in the canyon to allow time for looking at petroglyphs throughout a section of the canyon. I marvelled at how they often revealed themselves after gazing at rock faces for a while; some well worn from centuries of sun and weather. We descended further down the canyon into Lee Flat, a vast high desert with Joshua trees far into the distance.

Once across the valley we made our way northwest on a dirt road to a remote western entrance to the park where we met Mike and Travis for a short break before making our way, again cross country, to a camp and to pick up a resupply higher up in the Inyo’s at about 5,000’. Mike and Travis drove to the spot via an old mining track, and they brought ice and root beer. Such a treat! We all enjoyed an evening around a campfire, our campsite amidst pinon pine and juniper. I finally broke out my tent, having cowboy camped each night previously. We were now out of the desert and moving into the higher mountains.