When our Dutch/American friends Herman and Antonia “Tony” Kophoff heard that we were coming to Furnace Creek here in Death Valley, they told us about this group called “The 49ers”. Well we had no idea as to what we were getting into…what a great party and all for a wonderful cause. On top of all that the 49ers are bringing to the Death Valley, we still have the Valley and all it has to explore. After checking into the campground and getting set up, we headed off to our first exploration. Zabriskie Point. This spot provides a beautiful view over the Furnace Creek Badlands, a vast area of uplifted, eroded yellow hills. These contours are the remains of a lake bed over 5 to 10 million years ago. It is unbelievable what the yellow tones and the contrasting shadows, as the day closes, bring to the canvas. Then it was off to “Twenty Mule Team Canyon”. It too was a part of the lake bottom and contained the same yellow hills with heavy texturing were the rain has streaked and pot marked the surfacing. The hills were also found to contain “Borax” so there are mines dotted throughout. This was another off road experience that took us on another circus ride through the hills, even as we traveled at 5 to 10 miles per hour.