The shortest day of the year dawned into a cloudless sky. We began the day by visiting some faint petroglyphs below Skidoo road. This is where we first hit the snow that would shape our day.
These charcoal kilns were the primary goal of the day. After getting the truck stuck in about 1 foot of snow, I aired down and chained up the rear end. We were then able to continue up the road to the kilns. 10 of these kilns were built to provide charcoal to a nearby mill. In just a few years they completely consumed all the available wood in the area and shutdown.
The smell of wood smoke still lingers in the kilns after nearly 100 years.
Joanie filled an insulated silver bag with snow she wanted to take back to our camp on the valley floor in Furnace Creek. (Melinda, this is the bag you gave us over Thanksgiving!)
The day's tour ended with a touch and go drive up to Aguereberry Point. Snow in the S curves of the canyon we climbed to the point was deep enough to give me second thoughts on attempting the drive. Since there was no room to turn around, we had no choice but to keep going and not get stuck! We made it. Magnificent views from the point can be had of the valley floor and distant mountain ranges.
Joanie made a snowthing on our picnic table at Furnace Creek, complete with charcoal features, plastic utensil crown and LED lights. We heard passing children oohh and aahh at the thing, wondering where the snow came from!
This longest night offered great star gazing. I could feel the sweep of the seasonal wheel, Orion rising in the east, Cassiopea over head, Cygnus setting in the west, each of them following the ancient path of the Milky Way across the sky.
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