gba@bit.ecn.purdue.edu (George Adams) (08/16/89)
I too got literature from Deep Springs College, but it was 15 years
ago. Three years ago when I lived in California I drove by the
place on a long weekend of putzing around on dirt roads ('bout the
only kind there) in the Death Valley area.
Deep Springs College is in fact in California, although by the
topographic map on my desk here, it is only 10 miles from Nevada as
the crow flies. The "no radio reception during the day" fits with
both my recollection and what the map shows. Deep Springs Valley is
dramatic geography. About 10 miles long, 3 miles wide, flat and at
an elevation of 5270 (at the college) still a full 8996 feet below
the summit of White Mtn. Peak, rising on the northwest side of the
valley. The south and east sides of the valley are rimmed by
mountains rising steeply but only 2500 feet above the valley floor.
Cal Tech operates a several radio telescopes in Owens Valley, just
over the pass west out of Deep Springs, so the whole area is probably
fairly radio quiet.
Driving east and then south from Deep Springs you can take Bureau
of Land Management dirt roads into the north end of Death Valley
National Monument. A few miles after you reach pavement in the park
there is a ranger station with a standard phone boot beside it. A
standard booth, but not ordinary. You can see all of Death Valley
from there on a clear day and other than the ranger station a few
feet away, there is not a building in sight to the naked eye from
this phone booth. With binoculars you can just make out the
campground buildings down below sea level at Furnace Creek, 40 miles
away. The phone is toll station Grapevine 1 (the road runs along the
foot of the Grapevine Mountains). Made a credit card call from there.
The Pacific Bell operator asked for where I was calling from and didn't
ask twice, so some are used to toll stations. It was interesting to
see Grapevine 1 on the bill the next month.
George