Stovepipe Wells to Trona (115 km)

Leaving Death Valley means passing the mountain ranges surrounding it. And the passes are high, especially when you start below sea level. It was a usually winter morning here, a cloudless morning, just a bit frosty. From the hotel, we had to climb on route 190 West and it was a step climb up to Towne Pass at 4956 feet. On the way a black pickup was standing on a parking line, with two guys watching us in disbelieve. "Hi" we all shouted at each other. Just when we had passed them, they saw óur little Swiss Flag and in Swiss-German a "Grüezi" followed. So we turned and had a long chat with them, two young farmers from Neyruz in the French part of Switzerland. They were just two weeks in the US and it was their 3rd day, on which they were heading to Las Vegas. 

View from the pass down into the next valley

From the pass we descended into a next huge dessert valley, which isn´t part of Death Valley anymore but still looks like it. Very dry dessert!!!! From time to time we passed in a distance old ghost town, most had their glorious times late in the 19th Century. Gold and Silver was mined there, but obviously not enough to give this places a future. In the dry climate, old building conserve very well, so some are still there to be seen.

We did not have time to make a detour to see them, as we had a second pass to get over and we were runing late. The problem traveling this time of the year are the short days. Sunset is now at 4.15 pm, at 5 pm it is dark and becomes very quick very cold. The short days are on this long daytrips a real concern. 

Our Motel room, at least we had a big empty refrigrator

The whole day we did not pass one gas station or village and even though we though to have enough liquid on us, it was not enough. When we finally arrived in Trona in the dark, we were not only exhausted but also seriously dehydrated.
The was just one Motel in this dying village, 45$ the room. Very basic, the heater did not work properly, but we were just glad to have a room.