The sides of the cauldron are steep, thickly covered by ancient
volcanic gravel. Around the rim of the massive crater, winds can
gust to as much as fifty miles an hour. The panorama from the
volcano’s rim is of the seared, scorched Death Valley.
Downwards, the slope plummets over five hundred feet to the
bottom. There is a trail, but running through the gravel is more
fun. Walking it, you have to go sideways to keep your feet.
Running, the key is to move in short diagonal bursts, to use the
gravel to brake yourself. Don’t start falling, you won’t stop
until you hit the bottom, and the gravel is sharp. This is
Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley, California. Open to the general
public, there are now long lines of people trudging up and down
the switchback trail. But when I first remember being there,
some fifteen years ago, only a few people did more than look
over the rim. Very few went all the way to the white-silt
bottom. My family did climb down into the crater. Ubehebe is a
small, extinct volcano, but even so, i