Water in Death Valley

We had grandiose dreams of going to the Racetrack for our 3rd anniversary  where the rocks move on their own (or by the strong winds during rain events). We tried some dirt roads for a while and found out that it was going to be an entire day of driving if we continued with this plan. Having already been to the Racetrack, I did not feel the need to go back. So instead, we drove back down the road and made our way to the Darwin Falls trailhead. This was down a shorter dirt road and much nearer to Panamint Springs. We arrived just in time for lunch. After lunch, we left the trailhead and started hiking up the dry wash. This was like any other hike in Death Valley except this wash was more open and we saw a lot of old pipe around. After less than a mile, the wash began to change and we saw water for the first time. This is the only hike I can think of in Death Valley where we had water on the hike. I carried Zyla as usual and she was just getting real used to being in the baby backpack. I was getting used to carrying 20 pounds of human when hiking also. The trail eventually became more lush and even a little muddy in places. We made sure to not get our shoes wet because we were never sure they could dry out. (kidding of course) Eventually after rather easy walking, we made it to a small stream flowing down the cliff side. This was Darwin Falls. In Olympic National Park, this would not even get a passing glance. But we were not in the rainforest, we were in Death Valley where there is not much water at all. We hung out here for quite some time taking a ridiculous amount of pictures and letting Zyla run around. She was happy for any time she could get out of the backpack as typically her parents were too eager to see more than let her have unlimited time out of the backpack. I checked out if you could get above the falls. I determined that you could, it would just take a little more effort than this group wanted to make on this day. I climbed around on the cliffs and let Zyla have her time running around. Eventually we met our quota of 50 pictures of Zyla, so then we headed back down the way that we came. We went back down to Panamint Springs for an anniversary dinner shared with Dad and Laura. It was the worst service and the most overpriced meal I have ever eaten. To top it all off, the food was worse than any roadside diner. Supply and demand at its best. I guess you do what you can do when you are in a place as inhospitable to humans as Death Valley can be. Happy 3rd anniversary Jacqueline!