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Text & photos by Mike Levitt A century and a half ago, men and women, on horse and mule back, on foot and in wagons, struggled slowly through the burning, uncharted sands of this nation's largest, deepest and driest desert valley. These 19th century explorers were westward bound to seek their fortunes in gold. But to reach California and its nugget-filled rivers, they first had to cross what was to become America's most hostile and deadly National Park, Death Valley. |
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The trials and adversity that these pioneers endured and the discoveries they made along the way, is celebrated each November during the Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment. Today, Death Valley National Park is still a dangerous and potentially deadly environment. It is visited by more than one million travelers annually. Today's visitors to the Park are there to sample its many unusual, and sometimes unique, features. Among those hoards of hardy visitors, 10,000 or more of them arrive in November, to participate in the annual Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment. |
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The first Encampment was held in 1949 during one of California's largest Centennial observances. With an estimated 65,000 brave, sandblasted souls in the stands, and actor Jimmy Stewart at the reins, the celebration memorialized the California-bound prospectors who, a century earlier, struggled through that then-uncharted desert wilderness en route to a fortune in silver and gold. Most of the mines and nugget beds petered out, all of the prospectors have died, but this one-of-a-kind celebration lives on, stronger than ever. This annual RV gathering turns a miniscule 18-acre chunk of desert into a temporary home for 10,000 or more RVers. These water-saving, wind-blown, Stetson-wearing vacationers have laid claim to a chunk of sand for a week of live music, companionship, food, more music, cowboy culture, and a salute to some of the Old West's hardiest pioneers. |
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A partial list of the week's activities includes an escorted 4x4 off-road trek, horseshoe tournaments, invitational art shows with up to 50 noted painters and sculptors, historian-led and ranger-led hikes, pioneer costume contest, artist quick-draw auction, golf tournament, nightly live entertainment, and hootenanny breakfast. Capping the more than 35 events is a spectacular parade featuring 125 horse riders and 30 wagons, some riding into the valley along routes first utilized 150 years earlier. With all that's going on, seminars, music, exhibits, tours, more music... it's easy to forget that there is a serious side to the Encampment. This fun event is a fundraiser. Due almost entirely to the monies raised by the annual Encampment, high school seniors living in Death Valley are enrolling in college. For many years, not one of the children of Park Service or hotel workers and Native Americans living in Death Valley had attended college. |
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RV parking
facilities make the most of |
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When Encampment organizers learned of this unfortunate situation, in the mid-1970s, they set up a scholarship program supported by Encampment revenue, along with memorial endowments and donations from quick-draw auctions. Now, each year, at least one graduating high school senior receives an Encampment-supported scholarship of $2400 yearly for four years of college. Since 1976, 32 scholarships have been awarded to high school juniors and seniors in the Death Valley Unified School District, comprising schools in neighboring Beatty and Pahrump, Nevada, and Death Valley High School in Shoshone. |
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Arrival of trail riders completing a |
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Ever since Death Valley became a National Monument, back in 1933, (it achieved its National Park status in 1994,) hundreds of travel brochures have attempted to describe the natural, and surreal, wonders of this hostile but beautiful environment. They don't come close! Hike a canyon and see how the awesome power of rushing floodwaters has eroded and destroyed rock walls and man-made roads. Enter a valley and gag at the acrid scent of sulfur springs bubbling like nightmarish pools of green lava.
Drive past a hillside at just the right time of day, early morning or late
afternoon, and gasp at the palate of colors that turn the hills into
magnificent rainbows. |
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Step out of your RV at dawn and, if you'd like, look to the east, for that's
where the sun is rising. But definitely look to the west. And watch in awe
as the darkened mountains slowly begin to glow with the colors of an
incredible sunrise. And virtually every Death Valley sunrise is incredible.
RV facilities in Death Valley include a few shady, full-hookup sites for the
very lucky, very few who reserve very far in advance. For the thousands of
others...virtually everyone, there is sand. Although striped and numbered to assure maximum capacity and unimpeded traffic flow, this is still the desert. With nary a hook-up. Restrooms with outside fresh water faucets can ease the burden on your tanks, as do the few dump stations. |
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Underground creeks bubble to the ground |
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Most of the camping areas permit generator use during the day to run equipment and recharge house batteries. One of the smaller, more remote campgrounds set high in the hillsides, prohibits any generator use. There you'll find many solar powered rigs, populated by folks who prefer the quiet and solitude of the desert to the luxury of generator supplied electricity. Whether you charge your batteries by running your RV's engine or use a generator (the former is far more effective, if more costly) keep in mind that gasoline is very expensive anywhere in Death Valley and for 20 miles beyond its borders. The closest reasonably priced fuel is in Pahrump, Nevada. some 60 miles from Furnace Creek. All of the RV parking areas are within a short bicycle ride or walk of Furnace Creek's entertainment venues. Two hundred RV sites are at Stove Pipe Wells, 22 miles from Furnace Creek, where about a third of the Encampment's events are staged. To participate in this year's upcoming Encampment; RVers pay a membership fee/annual dues of $20 to join or remain in the Death Valley '49ers, a camping fee of $10 per night to the U.S.P.S., ($5 for seniors 62 and older who hold a Golden Age Passport) and an entrance fee of $10, also to the Park Service, to remain in the Park for up to one week. Virtually all of the coordination required to organize and conduct the Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment is accomplished by a large and diverse group of volunteers known as the Death Valley ‘49ers. With nary a paid staffer, these volunteers meet throughout the year to plan programs, coordinate participants, obtain the necessary Park Service permits and assistance, raise funds to assist the Park Service in its continuing upkeep of Death Valley, and, of course, put on the Encampment. Information on the Death Valley ‘49ers, as well as on past and future Encampments, is available on their website, www.deathvalley49ers.org.
Death Valley can be reached from any one of three directions. U.S. 395
passes west of the valley and connects with CA 178 and 190 to the Park. U.S.
95 passes east and connects with NV 267, 374 and 373 to the park. I-15
passes southeast and connects with CA 127. |
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Additional information on Death Valley, or this nation's other national parks, can be obtained by calling 760-786-2331 or visit www.nps.gov/deva
Another source is Beatty Chamber of Commerce, PO. Box 956/Hwy 95, So.
Beatty, NV 89003. |
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Early wagon
exhibits are on display at the Furnace Creek Museum. |
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The " '49er Encampment " was reprinted with permission from RV Journal, Fall 2003 |
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