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  Welcome to Backcountry Explorers

Marble Bath


Marble Bath, Death Valley

Marble bath located in wash
1900 topo map of area
USGS topo from 1900 showing misplaced marble bath location
Topo of actual marble bath location.
Current USGS Topo showing actual Marble Bath location
Black and white with blue marbles showing.
Blue marble bath with horse head model.
As you go over Steel Pass Road in Death Valley National Park between the Eureka Sand Dunes and Upper Warm Springs there is an interesting oddity to be found if you know where to look. A cast iron bath tub buried in a wash and filled with blue marbles.

​And the story behind this tub goes something like this. There is a location shown on various topographical maps called Marble Bath. The actual location is at the mouth of a narrow canyon leading into the Last Chance Mountains. In the bed rock of the wash are shall depressions sometimes called tinajas. A tinaja
 is a bedrock depression that fills with water during the rains and pools there for a long time after the rains end. These are the only semi-reliable source of water for many miles in an otherwise very arid stretch of desert.
Unfortunately, depending on the age of map, the location is many times mis-labeled shown in a different spot. This false location is shown much closer to Steel Pass Road and has fooled many folks in their quest to locate the temporary pool. Before the area became part of Death Valley National Park, to validate the erroneous maps in a good natured humorous way, a desert explorer, research chemist, inventor, mountaineer, and all around good guy named Wendel Moyer decided to prank the unknowing.

​Moyer recruited a few friends and rounded up an old bath tub and many, many boxes of blue marbles. They installed the tub in the bogus location that was identified as “Marble Bath” on the erroneous maps. Moyer’s “Marble Bath” remains where he installed it the early 1990s, and has become a popular stop for people traveling Steel pass road. If Moyer were still living he would be very pleased with the way the Marble Bath is still enjoyed today. Sadly, Moyer died just after climbing 22,000 foot Ojas del Salado in Chile in 1995.
The bath tub full of blue marbles is hidden in plain sight to those on Steele Pass going southbound, as they're looking right at it if they know where to look. It's about 100+ yards off the road in the canyon wash. You can look right down on it from the closed road that branches off at the summit, the one that climbs into the Last Chance Range. Please leave these wonders of the desert for others explorers to discover. And hey, why not plan ahead and bring your blue marbles to add to the tub. When you have lost all your marbles then you are a true desert rat.
Blue marble bath with horse head
Resources:
Death Valley National Park (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)
Guide to California Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails


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  • Home
  • Our Adventures
    • Death Valley >
      • Artist Drive, Death Valley
      • Badwater, Death Valley
      • Ballarat Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Broken Pick mine, Death Valley
      • Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley
      • Charles Manson Hide Out Barker Ranch, Death Valley
      • Chloride Cliffs, Death Valley
      • Corona Mine, Death Valley
      • Crater Sulfur Mine, Death Valley
      • Devils Golf Course, Death Valley
      • Geologist Cabin, Death Valley
      • Harmony Borax works, Death Valley
      • Ibex Springs Talc Mine, Death Valley
      • Inyo Mine, Death Valley
      • Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley
      • Keystone Mine, Death Valley
      • Lost Burro Mine, Death Valley
      • Marble Bath, Death Valley
      • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley
      • Morning Glory Mine Camp, Death Valley
      • Racetrack, Death Valley
      • Rhyolite, Nevada
      • Russell Camp, Death Valley
      • Ryan, Death Valley
      • Scotty's Castle, Death Valley
      • Skidoo Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Stella's - Mengel Cabin, Death Valley
      • Teakettle Junction, Death Valley
      • Titus Canyon, Death Valley
      • Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley
      • Warm Springs, Death Valley
      • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
    • California Gold Country >
      • Alleghany, California
      • Big Springs, highway 49
      • Downieville, California
      • Forest City
      • Kenton Mine
      • Kentucky Mine and Museum
      • Love Falls Yuba River
      • Mountain House Henness Pass
      • Oregon Creek Covered Bridge
      • Poker Flat
      • Sierra Buttes Mine
      • Sierra City, Ca
      • Young America Mine
  • Story Blog
  • Our Company
  • Support