Before leaving Pahrump, we took a drive west back into California and Death Valley National Park. The terrain is vast, varied and forbidding, but strangely beautiful too. This picture is from an overlook near the south east edge of the valley, still at the upper elevations, around 3000 feet. You can see the valley floor, which drops down to about 200 feet below sea level, in the distance behind Tom.
From here we drove down into and through the middle of the valley to the north end, a drive of close to 60 miles.
At the north end of the valley sits "Scotty's Castle" which is not really a castle and was never
lived in by Scotty. "Death Valley Scotty" was a rather colorful character. He claimed to have found a gold mine in Death Valley and convinced several rich businessmen to invest in it, all the while living large off their money and never actually doing any mining. Most investors just dropped out after not seeing any profits, but one, Albert Johnson from Chicago, made a trip out to Death Valley demanding Scotty show him the gold mine. 
Instead of exposing Scotty for the fraud he was, Johnson fell in love with the area and somehow he and Scotty became fast friends. Johnson and his wife built the mansion in the 1930's as a vacation home and Scotty began telling everyone he was building it with the profits from his gold mine, a claim Johnson never disputed publicly. So, the house became known as Scotty's Castle. We were able to tour the house which still contains all the original furnishings.
lived in by Scotty. "Death Valley Scotty" was a rather colorful character. He claimed to have found a gold mine in Death Valley and convinced several rich businessmen to invest in it, all the while living large off their money and never actually doing any mining. Most investors just dropped out after not seeing any profits, but one, Albert Johnson from Chicago, made a trip out to Death Valley demanding Scotty show him the gold mine. 
Instead of exposing Scotty for the fraud he was, Johnson fell in love with the area and somehow he and Scotty became fast friends. Johnson and his wife built the mansion in the 1930's as a vacation home and Scotty began telling everyone he was building it with the profits from his gold mine, a claim Johnson never disputed publicly. So, the house became known as Scotty's Castle. We were able to tour the house which still contains all the original furnishings. 
There is a picnic area on the grounds with a sign saying "Don't Feed the Coyotes". Which we thought was rather odd until we saw a coyote resting in the shade of a tree on the lawn.
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