China Ranch Dates

First thing this morning I headed out to meet a ranger who was leading a photography walk from Zabriskie Point, the most photographed place in the park. He took us to his "secret spot" - the goal is to take a different picture, not the same one everybody else has! Following the talk, an excellent hike down the remains of a road down the canyons to a borax mine, long ago abandoned. Unbelievably picturesque!

Then we headed south, in search of a date plantation a Ranger had suggested, through little burgs (barely breathing) of Death Valley Junction and Shoshone (outrageous gas prices!), arriving at Tecopa Hot Springs. After going down several miles of narrow canyon dirt roads, we finally arrived at the China Date Ranch. (Named for a Chinaman who had built a supply depot for gypsum miners back in the day, before he mysteriously disappeared). It is now a fully operational date grove, producing thousands of pounds each year of many different varieties. They have a gift shop which features Date Shakes - awesome!  One of Linda's goals on this trip was to find pots for our patio. On our way back through Tecopa Hot Springs we noticed these homes, trailers, etc in the sand surrounded by pots. Turns out they were for sale, so we got two (at a good discount!)

We arrived back at Furnace Creek (after an encounter with a coyote)  in time for a nice swim in their beautiful pool, then off to Stovepipe Wells for dinner at the Saloon, to be followed by a walk among the sand dunes. We were a bit late to see the shadows cast by the setting sun.