There is just something about me and deserts. Call it karma or kismet .. Deserts and I just don't get along that well. To quote Auric Goldfinger (from the Bond movies fame) - 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action'. Frankly I dont want to face any enemy action.Twice I have visited deserts and both the times I have landed in a 'not-so-pretty' situations. The most recent (and hence fresher in my memory - not that I am ever gonna forget either of the two instances anytime soon) was in Death Valley, California.
Now there is a reason why this place is called 'Death Valley'. Death valley is a part of the Mojave desert, and home to the lowest (282 feet below sea level), driest and hottest place (Avg temp in summers - 47 Deg C) in North America. The ground tempratures in this area reach up to 90 Deg C. Not a place for the faint-hearted I tell ya. I mean, just look at the names of the hamlets inside Death valley - Furnace Creek, Bad Water,
Stovepipe wells. Even the geologists call such places - BADLANDS. Now that should give you an idea. The origins of the name 'Death Valley' can be traced back to packs of travelers from the East who, in search of riches during California Gold Rush, decided to take a 'short-cut' through the valley only to be decimated by the harsh, dry ruthless desert.Having said all that - this place is also one of the most beautiful places to see Mother Earth in her magnificent splendour. Having been mostly untouched by man for hunderds of thousands of years, here one can see the most striking views of untamed desert, colorful geologic formations, and scenic vistas. The metamorphoric rock layers expose themselves at various places reveling the wonderful mosaic of colours created over thousands of years. Very much like a quote I read before visiting the valley that
- "Being in death valley is like seeing 'layers of time' suspended in animation". Believe me when I say these photos (or for that matter any photos) don't do justice to the beauty of this place.So here we were all packed and on our way to Stovepipe Wells (which is more of less in the middle of Death Valley) where we had a cottage booked for the night. Along the way, we decided to take a small detour to see some charcoal kilns built in the late 1800 by chinese labourers (who else) in a place called Wildrose Canyon. On our way back to the main road listening to Indian Ocean's 'Maa Reva' on a sharp curve, BAM- we hit a jagged rock protruding out on the narrow road and that was it. Flat tyre, bent rim, stalled car and both of us. Needless to say - I panicked. After a few moments of disbelief and subsequent hyperventilation, I jumped out of the car and looked both ways - not a soul in sight. We both wipped out our cell phones to check for any signals - and u guessed it - zilch.
I decided to man-up (not that I had a choice) and change the tyre my self. I had done this before - not in the middle of a desert with no help whatsoever, but I had done it. Its easy - use the jack, lift the side, unbolt t
he wheel, replace it with the new wheel and done.Rolled up my sleeves, got the spare out and what do u know, the jack was some very different looking contraption with a mechanism I had never seen before. After tinkering with it a bit, I hoisted the car up and managed to get the flat out, but before I could replace it with the spare, the jack slipped and down came the car. I must have done something good in one of my earlier lives - that none of us were injured in that slippage. A closer look at the jack reveled that it was an AUDI jack in a VW car and it was faulty.
So there we were in the middle of nowhere, with a flat type and dwindling ho
pe. Having already spent close to two hours with the fruitless exercise of changing the flat, we realised that now there was nothing more we could do. So we dumped the luggage, flat and jack back in the car and decided to take our chances hiking back 5 - 6 miles to a ranger station we 'thought' we had seen. Just 5 minutes in to the hike, lo and behold we saw our saviours in a white horse (actually it was a grey Kia). Can you believe our luck - stranded in the middle of nowhere and an Austrilian who had worked as a mechanic and his partner happened to drive by. Now that is stuff out of the movies right - 'Serendipity II - Lost in the desert' :D.
This mate showed me how a professional does it - using stones for support and getting down on all fours in the hot desert, 10 minutes later we were good to go. I must say I now have a new found respect for Australians (despite Ricky Ponting :D).
We did have a wonderful experience for the rest of the time we spent in Death valley and I would recommend it to anyone who has time on hand and a thirst for some adventure. Go Aussies !!!
PS- the other incident of being stuck in a desert was in the Arizona desert with my cousin. Will leave that for another time and another place.
