I reflected that a place such as this would be perilous during a rainstorm. Luckily it does not rain very often in Death Valley. But in times past this wash must have been a torrent - we saw several deep erosions in the rock, dry waterfalls, rippling with petrified mud. I did not dawdle underneath it. Back in the car and heading north, we detoured through Artists Drive, where mineral-tinted rocks blaze in odd colors of green and yellow and red.
Death Valley abounds with played out mines and derelict towns.
This one was located near some sulfur hot springs. We picked our way around old mining debris until we could see places where warm water bubbled up. It was strange to see green reeds suddenly poking their way out of a hillside, nourished by warm water in the middle of the desert. By now the short winter day was waning and we had one more stop to make. Near the Stovepipe Wells camping area a dirt road leads to rows of sand dunes.