Death Valley NP Charcoal kilns

On Wildrose road on the west side of Death Valley, you come to a very lush oasis and a turn off for Mahogany Flats. The Mahogany Flats road is very steep and rough in parts, and I've never driven all the way out to the end -- though that's on my agenda. At the end of the road there are trails that take you up to peaks or vista points over Death Valley that are reportedly quite spectacular. At one point on the Mahogany Flats road, you come around a bend to what looks like set of very large bee hives. These are charcoal ovens where wood was turned to charcoal for use in processing ore. These are quite large -- the openings at the bottom are large enough to walk through. (Scan of an older film photo.)