Castle Dome Road

David spent a while in the AM catching up on news articles.  We may not have ATT service when we travel further into the refuge.

We left our site on the road to the horse tanks (#42) and headed back to the King Valley Road.  We met a Fish and Wildlife truck on the way out, but they pulled off the single-lane road for us to pass.

We continued east  on the King Valley Road until we reached a right hand turn to Castle Dome Road (#60).  The main road is mostly wide and well-graded.; a few rough points, but clearly useable by two-wheel drive vehicles. The four-wheel drive road is rough but probably passable for any high clearance vehicle.  We saw about 1/2 dozen campers along the road including some tenters.  I imagine it’s cold for them at night.  Last night the low was 39 and the high only 55.  The latter is nice for hiking in the sun, but the former with the wind would be cold for sleeping with no furnace.

After parking, we took a walk up and around a nearby hill returning by a four-wheel drive  trace and a wash.  I say trace, as you can see where people have taken their vehicles (illegal since 1939) off the road.  It is not clear how long ago this happened, but it must have been a while ago as cactus and creosote have grown up in the space between the tires.  The desert takes a long time to recover.

We will camp here for the night.  No ATT service even with our booster.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)