For our last day in the park, we got to do something extraordinary (more about that below). We read in the Death Valley newspaper that the Keane Wonder Mine was open after a nine year closure. We had never even heard about this unique part of local history so on our first day, we headed there, excitedly.

Unfortunately, we were greeted with scary warning signs. This Mine was one of the most popular sites in the park prior to its closure in 2008.  The National Park Service established a temporary closure on the area due to safety concerns. In order to make the area safer for visitors, the park closed off entrances to mine openings and stabilized the tramway towers, upper terminal, and lower terminal. Concerns about the content of mill tailings have been studied via multiple rounds of soil sampling. 
It turns out, we were just a few days too early for this historic event- the Grand Reopening. We were extremely excited to be a part of it all.
Keane Wonder Mine is one of the best examples of historical gold mining in Death Valley National Park. The photogenic aerial tramway still has ore buckets hanging from cables. In the early 1900s, miners used the tramway to lower 70 tons of gold ore per day down the steep Funeral Mountains.
Wanting to not miss any of the celebration, we arrived early and were the first people in line.
The well planned event was so well planned:

• 10 a.m. – Ribbon cutting
• 10:30 a.m. – Site tour with Jeremy Stoltzfus, mining historian
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – NPS rangers will be on site to answer questions

Here's Steve and Jeremy, the fount of mining information.
And the ribbon cutting, which I missed the first time and they willingly did again!




We ended the day being serenaded by the horse drawn wagon full of fiddlers. So dang cool.
What a treat to discover the Enceliopsis covillei as a departing gift.The Panamint Daisy, a perennial plant, is endemic to California, within Death Valley National Park. It is only known from the rocky slopes of the western Panamint Range sky island, west of Death Valley in the northern Mojave Desert. Beautiful and unexpected.

Our six days in Death Valley has been unbelievably memorable. We are now devotees of this desert paradise. We are currently planning our next return.