All language subtitles for Into.Death.Valley.with.Nick.Knowles.S01E02.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

NICK KNOWLES:
'Welcome to Death Valley,

'the hottest place on Earth.

'I'm here to pit myself
against the elements.'

I've got a banging headache.
Yeah, people die out here.

'There'll be some highs...'

There you go.
Yeah-hey-hey-hey!

'..And some shockers.'

You can handle
the gopher snake right there.

He's a very sweet boy.
'But despite the dangers...'

HE PANTS

That's just ridiculous.
I'm, like, totally drained by that.

I was only out there a few hours.

'..|'ll discover
there's so much more here

'than scorching wilderness.'

Oh, it's a bobcat track.

You can't go eating bobcats!

'Stories of
incredible human endeavour...'

Well, I was not expecting this!

'..Magical vistas...'

Oh, my gosh!

'..And jaw-dropping landscapes...'

Whoa, slow down!

That good?

'..This is like
no other place on Earth.'

Close up, it's just an ugly mess,

but en masse,
that ugly somehow becomes beautiful.

'What have I let myself in for?'

'I've been in the hottest place
on Earth for a week.

'And the desolate beauty
of America's biggest national park,

'outside of Alaska,
is breath-taking.'

'And my camp at Furnace Creek
is starting to feel like home.'

Look at the sun on those mountains
first thing in the morning.

Isn't that beautiful?
That's what you get in the valley.

In the background, the crew
are getting ready for the day.

We've got breakfast being made
for us by our support crew.

And just over here...

is my four-by-four,
which is electric,

which is much nicer
for the environment.

Of course, I have to make sure
I've got plenty of charge

when I set out for the day.

And if you follow me
over into this corner,

here's my little tent.

But there's no time to hang around.

Right,
time to put myself to the test.

RADIO: 'This is KNPR.
All week long,

'we have had excessive heat warnings
for the entire region,

'and nowhere has that been the case
more than around Death Valley.

'Death Valley temperatures today...'

RADIO FADES OUT

'The last leg of my journey
will take me to

'the furthest reaches
of this baking hot valley.

'From the far south,

'where it borders
the wider Mojave Desert,

'to a Gold Rush ghost town
in the north,

'with my last stop
at Death Valley junction.'

Despite the ridiculously tough
conditions here,

over 400 animal species
make their home here in the desert.

You've got jack rabbits,
coyotes, bird life,

and, of course, snakes.

'And if there's one creature
that feels like

'it belongs in Death Valley,
it's the rattlesnake.'

RATTLING

HISSING

I'm off to meet somebody
who not only works with them,

rescues them, but also loves them.

'Danielle Wall makes her living

'removing unwelcome rattlesnakes
from people's property.

'She believes they deserve
our respect more than our fear.

'I've come early,

'because although they live
in the hottest place on Earth,

'surprisingly, these snakes
don't like the midday heat.'

Hi, how you doing?
Thanks for having me.

You are a snake specialist.
I am. Rattlesnake specialist.

Wow. Mm-hm. I'm excited to meet
the snakes. Good, good.

Slightly nervous, obviously,
like most people would be.

Are all rattlesnakes
poisonous and dangerous?

Most people will say poisonous,

but poison is
when you consume something,

and venomous, like these snakes,

are when something is injected
into you.

But, yes,
all California rattlesnakes

are medically-significant,
potentially deadly.

Is there anything I can handle?

Yeah, you can handle
the gopher snake right there.

He's a very sweet boy.
Is he?

HE CHUCKLES

Is he really?

He'll give you some kisses
and everything.

Right, let's go, then.

And I'll ask you some questions
as we go.

Here you are.

So, he will hold onto you.

This snake is
capable of climbing trees.

He will go up for birds,
for his prey, his lunch.

He's smooth.
Very, yes.

I like that you point that out.

The non-venomous species
will look and feel smooth.

The rattlesnakes are the opposite,
coarse and rough.

But this isn't a rattlesnake, then?

No, he mimics a rattlesnake
near flawlessly,

and that will fool
the average person.

So, it's called the gopher snake.
He doesn't eat gophers?

He will, yes.

So, how much does he constrict?
Do I need to worry about this?

No, no, nothing that snake could do
will harm you in any way. OK.

Might draw a trickle of blood
if he decides to bite you.

But that's it.

You didn't mention that
in the beginning.

Just a trickle! OK.
Looking down, you've actually got

a couple of other snakes. Yes.
Now, are they proper rattlesnakes?

Yes, these are
speckled rattlesnakes.

They have their full venom glands.

So these things are ready to go,
yeah.

On average, snake bites cause
five deaths a year in America

and 90% of those are from
venomous rattlesnakes like these,

which professional handlers
like Dani

are opposed to de-venoming.

I want the big one.

These are very serious animals.

So even though
I'm very, very well experienced,

I have handled probably
about 1,000 of these at this point,

still a very serious animal.

Yeah, he looks a lot more serious.
Yeah, they have venom glands.

And that's why
they have those big, pouffy cheeks

that the gopher snakes do not.

If this was to bite me now,
how serious would that be?

We would be getting you to
the hospital as quickly as possible,

but the chance of
you passing away from a bite

is about one in every thousand.

But it is still, you know...
I don't want those odds.

So what is your advice
if you're out in the wild

and you come across one of these?
just watch your step.

The snakes aren't out to get you.

They're not leaping out of a bush
to bite you.

But they will coil up
and defend themselves.

So your best preventative action
is watch where you step

and make sure that step
isn't on top of a rattlesnake.

Ancl if you do see one,
just give it its space, walk around.

If you can't walk around,
well, your hike's over for the clay.

So, what's the rattle all about?

The rattle is
simply its last resort of saying,

"Please stay away from me,
I don't wanna die."

And he would go like that.
RATTLING

Ancl it's just simply
the rattle hitting itself

that creates that noise.

RATTLING

'Dani has been rescuing
and releasing injured rattlesnakes

'for five years now,

'and her unusual concern for this
Death Valley native is inspiring.'

So, why do you love them so much?

I have this internal guilt
that my first interaction

with a rattlesnake in the desert
was I almost ran it over.

And after that,
my mission became to save them.

Wow.
Simple as that.

Well, he's still a good boy!

We all like our belly rubs.

He's very well-behaved. Good job.

It was very nice meeting you.
He's cute. I like him a lot.

Can I pop him back in here?
There we go.

Perfect.
That was kind of amazing.

And seeing
your joy and love for them.

I've always kind of liked snakes,

but to actually get that close
to rattlesnakes

was kind of amazing for me so...
I'm so glad.

Thank you so much.
You're not even sweating.

No, I think they're amazing
creatures, amazing. They are.

'Next, I venture to the lowest,
hottest point in America,

'in the footsteps
of the early pioneers...'

That's not a river,
by the way, that's baked salt.

'..And discover for myself
why they call it Death Valley.'

I've got a banging headache.
Yeah, people die out here.

'The vast Mojave Desert
spans four states

'over 48,000 square miles,

'almost the size of England.

'Death Valley lies in the middle,
and in the middle of Death Valley

'is a barren salt flat
called Bad water Basin.

'It's the lowest place
in North America,

'and it's one of the hottest,
driest places on Earth.'

The amazing thing
about this environment is

you are a long way from anywhere,

and out on the valley floor here,
where the salt is,

it bounces the heat back up.
It's already hot.

But with the salt
bouncing the heat back up again,

it's really, really,
desperately hot.

Close up, it's just an ugly mess,

but en masse,
that ugly somehow becomes beautiful.

'In 1849, a 100-strong wagon train,
carrying settlers

'bound for California and gold,

'set out with
high hopes for a glittering future.

'Lost, the party split up.

'One group took what they thought
was a shortcut across the valley.

'Standing on the ridge,
you can see why.

'From a distance, it looks narrow
and covered in water.'

As you look down there,
that's not a river, by the way,

that's baked salt.

Standing up here on the ridge,

you can see
how those settlers in 1849

were suckered into the idea that
Death Valley might be easy to cross.

It looks very smooth.
It's not until you get down there,

you realise
it's rutted and crusty with salt

and really difficult
for wagon trains to get across.

'They had made a near-fatal mistake.

'With only a few weeks' rations...
and water in scarce supply,

'they trudged on, day after day,
through baking heat.

'After more than
three months of suffering,

'they finally escaped
the scorching valley,

'emerging dehydrated
and skeletally-thin.'

They say that one of them
looked back as they escaped it,

only just making it out alive,
and said, "Goodbye, Death Valley."

And that's how it got its name.

'Known as the Lost 49ers,

'their ordeal has gone down
in US history -

'a tale of survival
in the face of incredible odds.

'Those poor souls crossed
Bad water Basin with no maps,

'no mobile phones,
no air-conditioned cars.

'The man I'm meeting next
has all of those things

'but never takes
this place for granted...

'because it is still dangerous.'

RADIO: 'Thank you very much
for joining.

'With temperatures
at or above 125 degrees,

'telling you to stay cool out there
is kind of absurd,

'but do the best you can,

'and make sure
you drink lots of water.'

'Despite the challenges
of this arid wilderness,

'nature not only survives here,
it thrives,

'and 1,000 different plants grow
in the valley.

'But they are under attack...'

'..from invaders,
non-native species,

'that threaten to destroy
this unique ecosystem.'

There's a chap I'm gonna meet now
whose job it is

is to go out into the valley
at all times of the year,

no matter how hot it gets,

and cut down and get rid of
those invasive species,

otherwise they'd take over.

'Plant specialist Ian Torrance
is the man leading the battle

'against the invaders
through the blazing heat.'

Ian.
Yes. Hi, Nick.

How are you? Nice to see you.
Good, how are you?

Good, looking forward
to helping you today.

Yes, I need your help.
OK, so, what are we up to?

Well, we're gonna walk out here,

and there's some salt cedar,
or tamarisk,

and we're gonna go out and cut it
and treat it with herbicide.

I imagine
if I ever got to walk on the moon,

it would be a bit like this.

It's tough on the ankles,
this, isn't it?

Yeah, just be careful.
Really uneven surface.

Yes, it is.

Why don't you just drive
the four-by-four over to the plant?

I wish we could,
but this is a Wilderness Area,

and one of the rules
of Wilderness Areas

is no motorised vehicles,
no motorised equipment.

The Death Valley National Park
is highly protective

of this delicate environment.
Many of the animals and plants

adapted to
the extreme conditions here

are found nowhere else on Earth.

Ian! What about this one?
Is this invasive?

No, this is honey mesquite,
this is a native plant.

We like this plant.
OK. On we go, then.

'Finally,
after a half-a-mile trek...'

Phwoar, it's hot, innit?

'..We find what we're looking for.

'One of Death Valley's
most prolific invaders.'

What is it?

This is tamarisk,
or common name is salt cedar.

So, if it's not native to here,
where's it from?

Eurasia.
How did it get here?

The government introduced the plant
in the Southwest

as erosion control, wind block.

It grows really fast
in a very inhospitable place,

and it did all the things
they thought it would do,

but it's gone out of control.

'Since its introduction,
the tamarisk has spread

'over a million acres
of the American Southwest.

'Without being controlled,

'even a single tree can drink
more than 20 gallons of water a day,

'killing everything around it.'

So, we have to cut them down
and things like that

to take care of them.

Let me see if I can find
a starting place. Here we go.

This is... heavy work in this heat.

NICK STRAINS
That's it.

Wow! Fantastic.

All right, so now we've cut it,

we've gotta spray it
with herbicide.

Yeah?
Yeah.

'Armed with his saw and his poison,

'Ian destroys hundreds and hundreds
of these plants every year.

'But as the temperature rises,

'it becomes obvious how unused I am
to these sweltering conditions.'

I can't help noticing
I'm out of breath and sweating

and you're not.

Well, that's because
you're doing all the cutting.

This job's easier.

Yeah, but you look more comfortable
in the environment than I am.

Yeah, well, I live here.

I'm acclimatised, and I'm a runner,
I do ultramarathons.

What, for fun?
For fun.

Really?
Yeah.

Why? Why would you put yourself
through it?

It's a big question.

You're doing it to get to the finish
line, you're challenging yourself.

'And Ian has another marathon
on his hands right here -

'a seemingly endless task that could
only be done one tree at a time...'

You got it.

There we go.
Right on.

'..And after a couple of hours
in the punishing heat...

'I'm done...'

Oof. Go get a drink of water.
Yep, it's all over here.

'..And I soon realise
I've pushed myself to hard.'

BREATHES HEAV“)!

Oh, that's just ridiculous.

BREATHES HEAV“)!

Thank you very much. You need to put
that in and stir it up.

So, this is a...
electrolyte sort of replacement.

I sweated so much
during that session.

You know, I can feel it now,
I've got a banging headache...

...and my legs
are absolutely drained.

Hats off to you.

The work you do in these conditions,
I don't know how you do it.

I've only spent a few hours
out there. Yeah.

Head's banging, feeling my age,
I'm feeling my weight,

I'm knackered.
I... I sweated, too.

Well, if an ultra marathon runner
is sweating...

it makes me feel
a little bit better,

but it's not an environment
to take lightly, is it?

No, it's dangerous.

People die out here.

Not today.
No.

'It's a stark reminder for me,

'this scorching environment
can be really dangerous.'

RADIO: 'This is KNPR at KNPR.0rg.

'As you're headed to Death Valley,

'stay cool
and drink a lot of water.'

'I've got out of the sun, cooled
down, and had plenty to drink.

'I'm feeling ready for my next stop,

'where I'll discover not all
non-native plants are the enemy.'

Now, obviously,
because it's a national park,

they don't want invasive species
growing in the park.

But there is one plant
which has made its home here.

It's been an important industry
for the area,

and I'm gonna go and help pick
some now.

'I'm headed just south
of Death Valley to China Ranch,

'a farm that grows
one of the few fruits

'that flourish in the desert...'

'..dates.'

'Field manager, Kayla Thomas,

'has agreed to let me help
bring in today's harvest.'

The thorns on the end of these
leaf branches, they're like needles.

Yes. They are actually strong enough
to impale you.

I have seen people get stabbed with
them, I have stepped on them myself.

They're pretty gnarly.

That's part of our cleaning process,
so we machete off the thorns,

and that is, like, so satisfying.

CH UCKLES
What? To wield your machete?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
You're an interesting person.

Why, thank you.
THEY LAUGH

I'm looking forward to this.
Let's go.

'At the end of the 19th century,

'the US Government looked
for crops that would flourish

'in California's warm climate and
provide jobs for the new settlers.

'Date farms from the Middle East
proved to be a winner.

'Such was their success,
that these days,

'90% of America's dates
are grown in California.'

So, can you pull it up a bit

and show us what they look like?
Yeah, of course.

OK. Oh, and there you go.
One's fallen off straight away.

Just grab that one that fell off.

Now, does that mean
the dark ones like this, presumably,

that means they're ripe?
Yes.

And the red ones,
like these ones here,

that's before they ripen up, right?

Yeah, so they haven't produced
their sugar yet.

Um, they start producing sugar

when they start becoming
either black or brown dates.

And what's the netting for?

So, the netting is to protect
the dates from birds

and for the lower trees,
it's the coyotes.

The coyotes will actually take
the bags off and eat the dates.

OK, and can I have a bite of this?
Of course you can.

There's a pit in the middle.
Yeah, I remember that.

This is delicious.
I made that.

THEY LAUGH
You're so proud of your dates.

Honestly, it's great.
Thank you.

They're really tasty,
and they're, like...

Like a deep,
almost molasses flavour?

That's the word I was looking for,
molasses. That's what it is.

Sweet, but not too sweet.

If we're gonna pick some,
how do I do it?

So, I'm gonna put this bucket
underneath this bundle here... Yeah.

...and then you're gonna come up
and give it a shake.

So I wanna grab that
and just shake the whole thing? Yep.

Is that it?
Yeah, that looks pretty good.

Hey, that's a pretty good harvest.
Yeah.

So, how did you end up being
a field manager for a date farm?

I'm actually
from Baltimore, Marilyn,

so complete other side
of the country.

But I came out here
about eight years ago,

got a job here and decided it
was weird, wacky and wonderful.

Ancl I love the whole place here.

It's an amazing place.

Could we go out on a bit higher,
so we could see over it?

Of course.
Thank you.

'We're harvesting today,
which is done by crane,

'but pollinating the dates
needs to be done by hand,

'and the only way to reach
every flower is to climb the palms,

'and they can be over 75ft tall.'

We're gonna rush you a little bit
and try to put you through them.

Wow. It's an amazing view, though,
isn't it? The landscape is stunning.

Yeah, I think I'm working

in one of the most beautiful places
out here, actually.

I can see why
you would wanna stay here and...

Yeah, it's the most green
we have down here, so for me,

this is as close as I can get
to home

while still being in the desert.
Yeah.

It's an extraordinary place.
You have a cool job.

I have a very awesome job.
I love my job.

THEY LAUGH

'As well as being delicious, dates
are more versatile than I realised.'

Thank you.

I've never had a date shake at all,
so I'm looking forward to it.

Well, drink up. Enjoy.

Oh, it's great.

It's like, treacly, chocolatey,
toffee. That's great.

'Date sales in the US have nearly
doubled in the last ten years,

'so this California immigrant
has definitely earned its keep.'

Turns out you can use dates
in baking, biscuits, muffins, bread.

I'm gonna try it all
when I get home.

Remember,
a date's not just for Christmas.

'Next on my journey...'

OK.

'..| take on a challenge
feet first...'

How cool was that?

'..And uncover the ghosts
that haunt Death Valley.'

They were all gone by 1912.

That's ridiculous, you were talking
about 10,000 people.

Only for eight years?
That's right.

'The word desert conjures up
images of vast stretches of sand,

'but surprisingly,
here in Death Valley,

'less than 1 % of the desert
is sand dunes.

'But one place there's
a lot of it is the Mesquite dunes,

'where I've left the car,
to travel by foot.'

Dunes are incredibly difficult
to walk on.

They really sap your strength,

and the sand bounces the sun
back at you,

so it almost doubles
the temperature.

But the environment
is so beautiful, look at it.

It's almost like nature
painting shapes and shadows.

I love that up here.

'The dunes I'm standing on
have been a source of inspiration.

'In the 1970s,
a sport was popularised here

'that took the world by storm

'and is now enjoyed on
every continent, except Antarctica.

'The chap behind the craze
is Lon Beale,

'also known as Doctor Dune.'

Lon, how are you?
I'm doing good, glad to meet you.

Great to meet you. You're the guy
who actually got it all started?

What gave you the idea

for starting sand boarding in
the states and possibly the world?

Well, we would come
out here to these very dunes

that we're standing on
in the late '60s,

and, of course,
standing on the dunes,

it's only natural that
you wanna try slide down it.

So pieces of cardboard,
plastic were tried.

They didn't work very well,
but it was still fun,

so it stuck in my brain.

I wanted to produce something that
would actually slide on the dunes

and manoeuvre on the dunes
with decent speed, and here we are.

'Inspired by surfing,

'snowboarding and skateboarding
both took off at the same time.

'The desert kids wanted in
on the action too.

'So Dr Dune supercharged
sand boarding

'by designing a board
that was similar in shape.

'Today, he's brought along
a world-class instructor

'to try to get me
sliding on sand.'

Matt Walton,
he's gonna be the gentleman

that's gonna take you
through the paces.

Hey, Matt. How are you?
Hi, Nick. Pleasure.

So, have I got any chance
of doing this?

You've got a great chance.

Sandboarding is
really easy to pick up,

and we've got a great spot
for you to try it. Brilliant.

So, Nick, let's give this a shot.

First things first, no shoes.

That works for me.
Me too.

So, I brought this board for you.
Yeah. Here you go.

You've got a board,
now let me get you piece of wax,

because without this,
we're not going anywhere.

'Waxing helps reduce
friction between board and sand,

'and I'm ready to give this
my best shot.'

Matt made that look really easy.
So it should be a piece of cake.

Of course, he's a professional...
I'm having my first go.

Knees down, body up.

I'm not doing much sliding, am I?

After a few more attempts through
a long sweltering afternoon...

HE GROANS

...it looks like
I'm getting the hang of it.

Well clone.

Thank you very much.
How do I go further?

If you wanna go further and faster,
we're gonna need a bigger hill.

Here we are.

Oh, that's good. OK.

Yeah, keep that back knee locked.
Perfect.

NICK LAUGHS

Yes! How cool was that?

I'm getting more confident.

I reckon I can take on
something bigger now.

'We climb a bigger dune...

'..and I'm feeling optimistic.'

MATT LAUGHS

That was not
how I expected it to go.

It all brushes off, though.

Do you know what that is?
It's called hubris.

Pride before a fall. I said
at the top, I'm really brilliant.

Not sure I was ready for that.

It's not a first clay of sand boarding
if you don't take at least one fall.

Do you know what?
This is great fun, though.

I mean, I shall walk away from here
with aches and pains, but...

Thank you, Matt.

Do you think I could ever call
myself a sand shark?

Maybe next time.

'These days, visitors just like me
are drawn to Death Valley

'for adventure and fun.

'But at
the start of the 20th century,

'thousands of people came here,
looking to make their fortunes.'

Skidoo, Leadfield, Ballarat -

all names of towns that burgeoned
during the gold rush

that have since disappeared.

'I'm heading north east,
all the way into the section

'of Death Valley that lies in Nevada

'to the biggest and best preserved
gold rush town - Rhyolite.

'The first clue
that I'm on the right track

'doesn't come from
a ruined building...'

Hello.

I'm just driving
through one of the towns here,

and these mules
came out to say hello.

They're actually wild burros,
as they're known round here,

which were left over
by the prospectors.

Would you mind leaving the car?
We've gotta go!

Thanks. See you. See you.

It's not something
you see every day, is it?

'And nor is this...

'Welcome to Rhyolite...

'..population - zero.

'Well, one, if you include
its caretaker, Karl Olson.'

Hey, Karl.
Hey.

Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.

This is my first ever ghost town.
Really? Yeah, yeah!

So, why is it here?
It's in the middle of nowhere.

It's in the middle of nowhere,
but it's a special place.

So, they discovered the gold here
in 1904

and took the gold up to Goldfield,
had it analysed,

it analysed really well.

'The discovery sparked a gold rush,
and almost overnight,

'Rhyolite became
a bustling mining town,

'complete with water, electricity,
and hundreds of buildings,

'some of which still stand today.'

Well, this was a train station.

So, there were two railroads
came into this town,

and they competed for the freight.

Ancl they built this,

and it was one of the last buildings
finished in Rhyolite, 1908.

'In its heyday,
Rhyolite was so big...

...there's only one way
Karl and I can see all of it today.

So,
this is a very imposing building.

Yeah, it was the bank building.

The stock market was in there,
there were offices in there.

'At its peak in 1906,

'$70,000 worth of gold
was mined here each week.

'In today's money,
that's $2.3 million,

'so this must have been
a busy bank.

'But the rich seams of gold
in the hills around Rhyolite

'soon began to peter out.'

So, what's next?

Well, I think
we should go down here,

and I'll show you
one of the most important stores

in the mining areas. How's that?

Not really much of a store left now,
is it?

No, there's not much left,
but that was quite the iconic store.

But one of the interesting stories
about these folks...

They came from California,

and they brought all the goods
for this store,

and they had it loaded in wagons.

They bogged down in the dunes,

they had to take it
all out of the wagons,

get the wagons across
and then carry it all back

and load it again to get up to here.
Wow.

And how many people
were they looking after in the area?

How big was this town
at its biggest?

At the biggest point,
there were 10,000 people lived here.

10,000?!
10,000.

So this area was just booming.
Yeah.

Lead on, MacDuff.
I will, sir.

'As Karl shows me the sites...

'the ruins
of the red light district...

'..the once bustling
th ree-storey school...

'..and the tiny jail...

'..| get a real sense of the people
who once lived and died here.'

What was
the most celebrated criminal

and most known criminal
that they locked up in here?

Oh, the most known criminal,
if you look out there in the desert,

there's a grave out there.

Ancl there was a prostitute,
and her pimp shot her.

Ancl when he murdered her, despite
how rough the town was and all,

they really didn't look favourably
on anybody that killed anybody,

especially women.
Yeah.

Ancl then they locked him up here.

The town was gonna lynch him,

so they had to move him from here
to another prison for the trial.

'Isabella was her name.

'And visitors still, to this day,
decorate her shrine

'with shoes and jewellery.'

I'm loving this, by the way.
Oh, you enjoying it? I just...

You look at the place,
and you go... it's not very big,

and then, like, 10,000,
did you say? Yeah.

When you read
the old reports of this place...

it was 24 hours.

The huge mill was up in that cut
there, and it worked night and clay.

Ancl they said the whole town
was deafening with the blasting.

24 hours a day.
Yes.

What's this building down here?
Oh, let's go down there. OK.

Tell you when we get there.

And Karl has saved
the strangest building till last.

Wow, this is fairly unusual.

Yeah, this is the bottle house.

It's one of the most photographed,
iconic buildings in the state.

I can see why
it's called the bottle house. Right.

Why? Well, when they came here,
all the mining towns ended up using

whatever was laying around the most
to build homes.

Bottles were really a favourite
because what it did is,

you put that in there,

you had the insulating factor
of the glass bottle,

so the houses kept cool in
the summer and warm in the winter.

'This early form of recycling and
insulation was way ahead of its time

'and is now being revived
as a green building technique.'

You know,
this is an extraordinary place.

So, when did this town start?
1904.

And when did it end?
They were all gone by 1912.

That's ridiculous.

You were talking about 10,000 people
but only for eight years?

That's right. And it was gone.

'Once the richest gold ore
had been mined,

'the town declined,
and residents moved on.

'Never again would Death Valley
have such a large population.

'I think if the lost '49ers
who came looking for gold,

'ironically, as they trudged
across Bad water Basin,

'it was there all the time...

'right under their feet.'

It's my last day tomorrow.

And I can honestly say
I'm gonna really miss Death Valley.

Yeah. One more day.

Still adventure to be had.

'I'm about to uncover
a masterpiece in the desert...'

Wow, I was not expecting this.

'..And channel my inner cowboy.'

Yeah.
All right.

Yeeha.

'It's my last day

'in America's hottest
and driest place, Death Valley.

RADIO: 'This is KNPR and KNPR.org.

'Overnight lows
in the Death Valley area

'are going to be
very close to 100 degrees.'

I'm on my way now to a place
called Death Valley junction.

And I'm off to the opera.

Yes, that's what I said.
There's an opera house there.

'Death Valley junction,
like Rhyolite, is a ghost town.

'But to find out why on Earth
an opera house is here...

'I'm meeting
the president of its board.'

You must be Fred.
You must be Nick. I am indeed.

Great to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

Welcome.
What is an opera house doing

effectively
in the middle of nowhere?

There isn't even a town, really.

Well, at one time, this was home
to the Pacific Coast Borax Company,

and this was a social hall...

OK. ..where
they had funerals and weddings.

Ancl it was later transformed

into the amazing opera house
that it has become today.

By who?
Marta Becket.

'Marta was a New York ballerina
and Broadway dancer.

'In her 40s, she toured the country
with a one-woman show,

'when one fateful day,
she stumbled upon the social hall.'

Ancl she had been travelling
through the Midwest for nine years,

but she discovered this town
when she had a flat tyre in 1967.

And she had
this wonderful revelation

that this was the place
where she would like to come

and stay and create.

'The day after her flat tyre,
Marta leased the hall,

'renamed it Amargosa,

'and set about transforming
this crumbling building.'

Well, I can't wait to see it,
can we go and have a look?

Let's look at the opera house.

Well, I was not expecting this.

Are you telling me that
this place was bare

before Marta got her hands on it?

This was like a blank canvas
when Marta first discovered it.

'Marta spent six years
single-handedly painting

'the ceilings and walls
of this auditorium.'

She only came down the scaffold
to turn over a record album

to hear the other side.

Do you know what it was
that she was listening to? Puccini.

'And while some of the characters
she painted are imaginary,

'many come from real life,
including her cats.'

There's Tuxedo.
Right.

Ancl then in the other corner
over here is Rhubarb.

'And the local prostitutes.'

And back when she first opened
the opera house

and was trying to build an audience,

she was blessed to have
the women from the bordello

come and enjoy her performances.

'And it was on this stage
that Marta was most at home.'

Can we have a look on the stage?
Yeah, yeah.

Are we allowed to walk up?
Can we go up together? Yes.

Why do you think she painted
this audience in front of her?

Well, the truth of the matter is,
when she first opened the theatre,

this was a very sparsely populated
area of the desert.

And what she wanted to do
was have some company,

and so she painted
an imaginary audience,

so she would always have
an audience to perform to.

'Marta would dance and sing
three nights a week,

'sometimes the classics,

'sometimes producing her own scripts
and choreographies.

'And finally,
her persistence paid off.'

There was an article
in National Geographic

published in 1970,
it basically said,

"Wow, that's a marvellous thing.

"An artist from New York
who decides come out

"and paint a social hall with
amazing Renaissance-inspired murals,

"and live out here."
Ancl after that...

The world came to see it?
Yes.

'Marta Becket finally found
a real-life audience

'and put Death Valley junction
back on the map.

'Marta died in 2017, aged 92.

'But her masterpiece lives on.

'At weekends, you can sometimes
still catch performances here,

'bringing life to this
otherwise abandoned ghost town.'

It's just... It's nuts, isn't it?

To find an opera house
in the middle of the desert.

It's an amazing place, though,
don't you think?

And Marta,
what a character she must have been.

'My final stop takes me

'back to the heart of the valley -
Furnace Creek.'

My journey's coming to an end,
and in my time in Death Valley,

I've seen lots of ways
that you can travel around,

but I haven't had a go at this yet.

And if you come out west,
you have to ride a horse, don't you?

'At dawn or dusk,

'and preferably not
at the hottest time of year,

'you can hitch a ride

'on Death Valley's
traditional transport system.

'Choosing me the ideal steed...'
HORSE NICKERS

'..is guide Gabby Velez.'

Hello. Nice to meet you, Nick.
Nice to meet you.

So, which horse am I riding?

You're gonna be riding Rocket
over here.

OK, let's go have a look at him.
All right.

So, we're gonna walk super wide
around his butt,

so we don't get kicked,
that would not be fun.

We reach under,
kind of put that through.

What's the benefit of going out
on a horse to see Death Valley,

as opposed to walking?
Why is it better than walking?

I think it's better than walking,

because
you can really take it all in.

The horse is doing all the work.

Ancl you can look at everything else,
it doesn't really matter.

50. we can get going?

Yeah, we're gonna hop up
on this block right here.

It'll make it a little easier
to get on him. Oh, OK.

I'm about to get on a horse
in the Wild West. He-he!

Perfect.
HE EXHALES

Ooh, get my foot in properly.

We're gonna come over here.

So, listen, Rocket, you don't
have to live up to your name, OK?

And I may or may not have
a cube of sugar in my pocket

at the end if we work well together.

All right. Feeling good?

Ready to be a cowboy and take off?
Yeah.

'And just like that,
we're ready to mosey on out.'

All right.
Simple things, sit up nice and tall.

Pull straight back to stop,
kick to go.

Left is left, and right is right.

There you are, left we go.
Go on, good lad.

That's it, go on. Thank you.

What a great place to ride.
Oh, yeah.

'As the sun sets
over the Panamint Mountains,

'which offered one of the routes
out of Death Valley

'for those Lost 49ers,
I'm thinking of them.'

The first pioneers that crossed here

were in a sad and sorry state
when they got the other side.

And they couldn't wait to see
the back of it.

I'm sad myself,
saying goodbye to Death Valley,

but for completely opposite reasons,
I've absolutely loved it.

'After two weeks here,

'I've experienced the crushing heat
for myself...'

Thank you very much.

'..Iearnt how to stay safe...'

If you can't walk around,
well, your hike's over for the clay.

'..And seen how life can flourish.'

Wow.

'..Even in
this most extreme of landscapes.'

I've really loved it.

And now I get to ride off
into the sunset.

Come on, then.

Giddy-UP!