.jpg "Highway 190 and the Panamint Range Death Valley NP CA")
Highway 190 and the Panamint RangeAfter hiking Mosaic Canyon we drove out of the valley floor into Emigrant Canyon in Death Valley National Park.
.jpg "Emigrant Canyon Death Valley NP CA")
Emigrant CanyonDidn’t explore many rough looking gravel side roads because of traveling in a friends overloaded Subaru. Yet the road was paved into much of Wildrose Canyon where trails begin up to Wildrose Peak at 9064 feet (2762.7 meters) and Telescope Peak the highest peak in the park at 11049 feet (3367.7 meters). We hiked to neither and instead explored the charcoal kilns.
.jpg "Wildrose Charcoal kilns Death Valley NP CA")
Wildrose Charcoal KilnsTen perfectly-aligned stone charcoal kilns each standing 25 feet high with an average diameter of about 31 feet.
.jpg "Wildrose Charcoal kiln Death Valley NP CA")
Charcoal KilnDesigned by Swiss engineers and built by Chinese laborers in 1879, these kilns produced charcoal for Modoc Mine smelter, about 30 miles west of here. The kilns closed after only three years of use.
.jpg "Inside Wildrose Charcoal kiln Death Valley NP CA")
Charcoal on inside of kilnWorkers filled the air-tight kilns with pinyon pine logs and fired them. Stumps can still be seen on the hillsides. The burning, which reduced the wood to charcoal, took 6-8 days. Cooling took another 5 days.
.jpg "View NW from Wildrose Charcoal kilns Death Valley NP CA")
View NW from kilns toward the Sierra Nevada RangeHeading back from Wildrose and Emigrant Canyons a mine distracted us.
What cool kilns. The world is filled with so many interesting things.
MM is right about the world filled with so many interesting things.
I have a friend who lives in beatty, Nevada–out in the desert. She said there is nothing out here and I told her I want to know everything historic and she looked around and found so much. and soon was looking at the beauty of the area she overlooked before. MB
tha sky is soooo blue!
tha sky is soooo blue!
SCC: you are right, there is always simething to see but people sometimes do not notice them until it is pointed out to them and the start looking.
Gaelyn: a wonderful post.Is this going east from Vegas or north?
How strange seeing those huge kilns all in a row! The last photo is beautiful looking toward the Sierra Nevada Range with all those layers of colors and textures.
The pics are all gorgeous, but the kilns have piqued my interest. I'm off to learn more about charcoal…
The kilns are beautiful. They look like bee hives.
I've seen some similar kilns in UT while riding bike. So symmetrical.
I remember these kilns…next thing I saw that big, actually bigger, were beehive-shaped mausoleums in Mycenae, Greece.
Those kilns are so neat looking. I suppose the Death Valley climate is what's kept them from deteriorating, even after so many years?
A fascinating place so rich in history.
Hi Gaelyn, I have enjoyed your photos of Death Valley thorugh your many posts. My office mate was there last year in February, and I saw how beautiful it was! We are planning to go but cannot pick which is the best month to experience the same beautiful sceneries you have shown here.
Thank you for this tour!
The kilns are an interesting sight, all lined up, with an interesting history, too. Beautiful blue skies there.
and I didn't think of how charcoal would be made…what workmanship from so long ago..it is were made today, you would need to replace it in a couple of years..Michelle
Gaelyn, I have always wanted t see Death Valley and now you have brought it to me to enjoy. I love the charsoal kilns, Their shape as we as their purpose.
Wonderful photos too.
The kilns are interesting sight all lined. Great photos.
These landscapes looks so much like our own Karoo area. Hot and dry with very spares low bush.
So much diversity in such a small area.
It certainly would have been time consuming and expensive to maintain the Kilns.
Gaelyn: Those kilns are really neat.
Why did they close them after only 3 years? did they run out of Pinyon pines?
Howdee Gaeylyn,
I am so thrilled to be in a wifi coffee shop reading about your trip to Death Valley. We plan on going there next week and you do such a wonderful job explaining history, geology etc…thanks.
I will blog about my travels but I wont do it justice like you do…
thanks..you are paving the way for our trip.
If you have any additional info you might have let me know..we have a 40 ft rig..4 wheel drive vehicle..our 23 year old nephew is joining us and wants to tent beside us.
we love exploring like you do.
Oh also ..we will be in Quartzite for a week arriving around the 16th of Jan.
Hoping we might meet.
Take care..and again thanks for all the great info..
oh..one more thing..is there wifi anywhere around death valley? Or Cell service? I do have my broadband card.