Borax Museum - Death Valley National Park

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On a visit on 02/28/2014, our last stop of the day was at the Borax Museum. This small, hard to find museum is located inside Furnace Creek Ranch. This historic building is filled with hundreds of historical artifacts, pictures, and displays reminiscent of the borax mining days during the mid 1880’s. The picture “Dance of the Mules”, (Fig. 02), show the delicate sidestepping process required to get the large 20 mule team wagons around the difficult mountain curves.

"Swinging the team around a curve in a mountain pass tested both driver and team: one mistake could spell death for all. As the team started around a sharp curve, the chain tended to be pulled into a straight line between the lead mules and the wagon. To keep the chain going around the curve and not pull the team straight over the edge, some of the mules were ordered to leap the chain and pull at an angle away from the curve. The mules - the pointers, sixes and eights - would step along sideways until the corner had been turned. Swinging a curve successfully was an awesome demonstration of training and team work."

The museum also houses more than a half dozen large shadow boxes containing some of the best displays (Figs. 03 & 04) of mineral elements I have ever seen, including some Chain coral (Halysites) (Fig. 05) and other tabulate coral (Favosites) (Fig. 06) fossilized in limestone from the Siburian period that were found in the Funeral Mountains. But perhaps even better, is the back yard exhibit area that contains just dozens of fascinating mining, logging and farming items, many dating back more than 135 years. The set of pictures (Figs. 07-10) show the frame of a 20 mule team wagon with its massive wheels and hubs. The logging truck seen in (Figs. 11 & 12), its wheels filled with wooden pegs instead of using spokes, were some of the most unique wheels that I’ve ever seen. The steel reinforced spoked wheels of the logging cart (Fig. 13) were used in the Spring Mountains to drag logs from the site where the were felled to the loading dock, where they could be loaded onto logging trucks and taken to the sawmill. The train in (Fig. 14) is the 60 ton, oil burring Baldwin 280 locomotive (#2 engine) that hauled borate ore from the mines at Ryan to the mill and main line railroad at Death Valley Junction from 1916 to 1931. All-in-all, Bob and I both thought this was one of the most interesting and informative museums that either of us had visited in a long time.

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(Fig. 15) The Borax Museum: This small, interesting museum is located 2 miles south of the borax works, a few hundred feet inside the entrance to the Furnace Creek Ranch between the restaurants and the post office, and is filled with photos and artifacts that provide a colorful history and education about the mining era of Death Valley circa 1885-1927. The building (Fig. 01) was constructed in 1883-1885 and was moved to Furnace Creek Ranch in 1954. It is the oldest wood-framed structure in Death Valley. It was originally the Monte Blanco assay office and later served as a miners' bunkhouse when it stood in Twenty Mule Team Canyon (Fig. 15), near the end of what today is the 20-Mule Team Road. The adjacent structure (Fig 16) is the original mule-team barn. The museum and the 3/4 acre yard behind the building houses an extensive collection of historical items pertaining to the history of borax mining in and around Death Valley. Inside the building you will find a outstanding collection of minerals, small historical objects, and a few items from the Shoshone Indians. The exhibit area in the yard behind the building contains more than 60 historical objects such as mining and farming tools, the 20 mule team feed wagon (Fig. 17), stagecoaches, the 2nd of 2 engines of the Death Valley Narrow-Gauge RR (Fig. 18), and many other historical objects from the mining era. You can purchase an inexpensive self-guided tour book for exploring the back yard at the museum desk. This booklet has a note on the history and use of every item you will see in the yard. The admission to the Borax Museum is free, so the extra cost of the booklet is well worth the price. There are more than 60 items of interest.

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Goldstrike Canyon (Goldstrike and Nevada Hot Springs)

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Directions: This hike is located along Highway 93 in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, about 1 hour southeast of downtown Las Vegas. From town, drive out to Lake Mead. From the intersection of Highway 93 and Lakeshore Road, drive south on Highway 93 towards Hoover Dam. About 0.3 miles past the Hacienda Casino (formerly called the Goldstrike Casino), exit right at the first off-ramp on the new highway (Hwy Exit #2 to Hoover Dam) (refer to Fig. 02). At the end of the off-ramp, jog to the right, then left onto a dirt access road down into the bottom of the canyon. Drive down the graded dirt road for another half-mile to the end of the road. Park here; this is the trailhead (Fig. 02).

Trail Description: This moderately strenuous hike runs down a narrow, rocky canyon to a series of hot springs and several hot pools. Going out (down), most of the route is fairly easy as it descends about 600 feet in about 2 miles to the Goldstrike Hot Springs. That said, there are several sections that require some 3rd-class scrambling, six of which have fixed ropes to assist getting over and around some large, slippery boulders, a couple of which are much easier to climb down than up on the return. Once you reach the Goldstrike Hot Springs, it is roughly another half mile of tough scrambling (more fixed ropes) down to Nevada Hot Springs and the Colorado River. Water temperatures in the pools range from about 85-105°F, and water emerging from the rocks is as high as 122°F, with the temperatures of the Nevada Hot Springs being the hottest.

(Fig. 03) Trip Notes for 03/05/2014: A short distance from the trailhead at the parking area the trail jogs left and takes you nearly under Hwy 93 (Fig. 04) as it heads towards the bypass bridge. From here it turns south and begins winding its way down the wash in a southwest direction. As we wound our way down the first mile or so we passed the remnants of a couple of old cars (Fig. 03) that must have come down from the high cliffs above. Though the hike down was relatively easy (Fig. 05), the 879 foot elevation gain on the way back up was a bitch. The further you go, the more the canyon becomes choked with house-sized boulders that you have to climb around. Even though people have cut footsteps and left fixed ropes in some places to assist your maneuvering of the areas, such as the first “fixed rope” shown in (Figs. 06a, 06b, 06c), it still qualifies as 3rd-class scrambling. This, and the fixed rope in (Figs. 07a, 07b, 07c) are the only two roping areas needed to get to the Goldstreak Hot Springs (Fig. 02). Once we reached the Goldstreak Hot Springs (Figs. 01 and 08), the remainder of the hike and wash was filled with a relatively fast moving stream of water that created several small waterfalls and pools (Figs. 09-12). (more below)

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From this point forward, until you reach the Nevada Hot Springs, there are several places where the canyon is choked with house-sized boulders (Fig. 13) that you have to either climb around or repel up or down. The bolder for this third fixed rope area is extremely slippery. Even though we did a “butt slide” (Fig. 14) on the way down, we both opted to get a little wet climbing up the waterfall next to it on the right (Fig. 15) on the return. Though not in any particular order, the pictures in (Figs. 16a, 16b, 16c), (Fig. 17), (Fig. 18a, 18b), (Fig. 19) , show the four remaining rope climbs needed in order to reach the Nevada Hot Springs. (More below)

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Once we reached the Nevada Hot Springs, the canyon was spectacular. The cliff-side on the south side of the canyon was aglow with dozens of multi-colored minerals and algae (Fig. 20) created by the water (and small waterfall) streaming (Fig. 21) from the rocks above. From here we also got our first peek of the Colorado River below (Fig. 22). At the bottom of the canyon (Fig. 23), now 879 feet below the trailhead, the water from all of these springs fed into the Colorado River (Fig. 24). A major disappointment was the fact that the water in the river was so high based upon recent releases to California from Lake Meade. Normally the route pops out onto a small gravel beach at the edge of the Colorado River, where the rock visible in (Fig. 25) would have been reachable by walking the beach. Unfortunately for us, today it would have required wading more than waist deep to reach. We spent some time here having lunch, taking pictures of the vegetation (Figs. 26 thru 28), and talking with other hikers before beginning the 2.5 mile uphill hike back to the trailhead. I must admit that I found the return hike to be quite difficult. On one of the rope climbs, I ended up loosing my footing and twisting around right into a waterfall. I was totally drenched. At another climb I decided to twist around and go over the top backwards (Figs. 29 thru 31) – mistake! At the very top I lost footing and was almost unable to make the final push up and over. After I got up, I was such a mess, Harvey insisted on a picture (Fig. 32). Without the help of Harvey and some fellow hikers, I not sure I would have made it back. Needless to say that by the time we reached the parking area, I was totally spent.

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Pages Uploaded in March 2014

March 2014 Posts:
Daytrip/Weiser Mine - Weiser Ridge/Quarry - Trip Notes for 3/20/2014
Daytrip & Goodsprings Valley - Pauline Mine Road - Trip Notes for 03/20/2014
Daytrip - Goldstrike Canyon - Nevada Hot Springs
Daytrip - Borax Museum - Furnace Creek Ranch - Death Valley
Daytrip - Harmony Borax Works - Death Valley