Besides a massive chemical plant, there is literally nothing else out here. No lights, no boats no motorcars Not a single luxury. In fact, my circuit through Death Valley and south onto Shoshone and Barstow would see me travel over an hour at one point without passing another car. It is a queer feeling to have so much open land all to yourself. You might not think so but it plays on your mind.
Isolation can be both frightening and exhilarating.
However, to imply I conducted this trip in perfect solitude would be misleading. I saw people on my venture, no doubt, but not the throngs that usually clog the trails and roads back East. I arrived at the trailhead, in fact, to see a couple packing up from a night s stay. They hadn t gone to the summit of telescope but mumbled something about it being a very cold night. In the valley below at dawn I had noted 23 degrees.