Racing Across the Desert

 

The long drive to the back county of Death Valley will first take you to Teakettle Junction before you arrive at Racetrack Playa to consider the Secret of the Rolling Stones. 

Although you can sit in the grandstand, the race is best observed from the playa. It is an improbable place for such an event. You can stare at the participants for days but will not see them move. You can think they will  travel on a straight course, when out of nowhere one will take a sharp turn.  But the racers participate in geological time. They are in no hurry.

The humans are the main issue. We are prone to go where we want and make everything into a rush, no matter what the result.  My interest in this area was rekindled after reading a recent Reddit post showing deep tracks on the very sensitive playa. The tracks might outlast whoever caused the damage.  

Tea Time

 

We rented a full jeep to get out here. We had no problem driving our smaller Renegade on Titus road and other locations in the park, but heard stories about flat tires out here. The first flat might have covered much the cost of the rental, the second would have been a problem. I think I might have avoided driving over a sharp rock but there was something to be said for peace of mind in the middle of the remote desert. 

I regretted not bringing a teapot here. No one knows why this otherwise nondescript intersection in the middle of nowhere became a shrine to one of the world’s most beloved beverages. Some theorize that it was a signal that water was nearby, but apart from not seeing anything that might resemble water, why would you get rid of a teapot when it would be most needed?

If you come all the way out here you will want tea. The best way of enjoying it is to bring a table, white clothe to go over it, linen napkins, scones, clotted cream and other savories. And then have the perfect blend of teas ready to fix. But after doing all of that, people will need to go. There are mines to dig, racing tracks to see, and other desert wonders. It would be mad to waste time and water washing dishes and cleaning the pots, so people started to leave their kettles. The tradition grew from there.

If somebody drives up while you are about ready to pour tea, make sure you have some extra cups to share. Desert hospitality is obligatory. It you are lucky they might have English Double Gloucester cheese to share with homemade bread for the sandwiches.

Don’t forget the basic rules of etiquette. You might see people poking fun at the rituals of afternoon tea. They dunk their scones, swirl their tea with their teaspoons, and put their pinkies up, but might be considered impolite. Remember to always use the teacup handle and return to the 3 o’clock position on your saucer.

For a change, you can practice the art of the tea ceremony, preparing and serving matcha green tea using the principles of harmony, respect,, and tranquility. You may not have time for the full ceremony but mindfulness will help you prepare for your visit to the Racetrack Playa.

After tea time be sure to open a some of the pots that have been left here. Some may have letters tucked safely inside, waiting to be pried out and read. Write your own using a geocaching decoder ring to keep it secure. If you trade a pot just remember to trade even.

We stopped here briefly on the way back, to turn at the junction to head up to the Lost Burro Mine. We found the mine but not the Burro.

The Racetrack 

The playa has long been on my bucket list. This is a place so flat and desolate that the rocks decoded they needed a hobby and began to hold their famous races.

When we arrived we had the track to ourselves so we turned our attention to its secrets and looked at a number of rocks.  The desert holds many secrets and nature guards them carefully.  We think we might know the answers, but questions remain.  Why do the rocks move?

I first thought of Magnetic Anomalies. Any geologist knows that when you are in doubt, blame the magnets.  Deep inside the earth, the mantle shifts and moves, perhaps the magnetic forces then pushes the rocks.

We also considered the merry Pranksters. Perhaps the same people who create crop circles have been here.  Imagine a guy in a ghillie suit dragging a boulder at 2:00 AM just to mess with a geologist’s PhD thesis. 

Then there are the Aliens. Specifically, aliens who traveled light years across the galaxy just to play shuffleboard with the rocks. That did not seem likely but perhaps a passing space craft could disrupt a sensitive area and push rocks across playa. We asked Aura Raines, the topmost commander of the Clarian fleet and a friend to geocachers all, whether there was any truth to this. She tested the effect that the Clarian hyper-vortex drive might have on the rocks, but that did not explain the movement.

That left the ice. To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, if you eliminate the impossible, the truth will be what remains.

But even better are the life lessons to be drawn from a moving rock. The good news is that if you are literally a rock, you can still go places. You just need a very specific set of environmental triggers, a total lack of witnesses, and the patience of a stone. I asked one of the rocks what they have learned from their desert journey. Unfortunately they were too busy to be interviewed. There was a gust of wind in the 1990s and they are still dealing with the momentum.

Along the edge of the playa and in the Grandstands there were other rocks watching the excitement.  You can join them in cheering the contestants on, and if you see tire tracks on the playa feel free to curse whoever left them.  

 

10/31/2018