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Published: March 19th 2009
Early Morning in Death Valley
The paparazzi trying to capture their shots of Zabriskie PointThese days, my getaways have been relegated to day trips to nearby destinations close enough for a day trip. The economic realities of the day have all but put an end to the usual 2 week European trips that I have been used to since 2000. For the past few weeks, I've had a burning need to get away but when my pocketbook was consulted, any possible ideas were quickly dashed. So at the very last minute I decided that a day trip to a nearby national park was in order. Along with Kevin, we both chose to go for an extreme day trip to Death Valley, nearly 6 hours away. The idea was conjured up about 8pm on a Friday night and by midnight we were on the road. We picked up Michelle who set aside all her plans for the next day to join us in this crazy adventure.
While switching drivers every few hours, we drove through the rest of the night until finally reaching Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park at about 6am. Zabriskie Point at sunrise is one of the highlights of a visit to the park. The low angle of the sunlight strikes
Zabriskie Point and the surrounding badlands, causing the point to be lit up like a golden nugget. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was still pitch dark outside and we still had about an hour before sunrise. There was one other vehicle waiting there when we arrived so we thought we would take a quick nap before heading to see the sunrise. However, the excitement of being here as well as a constant stream of other vehicles into the parking lot prevented us from getting any shuteye. Instead, we just got out of the vehicle and did the short walk up the hill to the lookout point to await the sunrise. It seemed as if everybody here was a serious hardcore photographer looking to capture the perfect shot. They all had their fancy cameras attached to a tripod and were all staking out their positions. We killed time by entertaining ourselves by making fun of the nature paparazzi. The sun finally came up and started to paint it's light on the landscape. First, the Panamint Mountains in the background and in just a few minutes the suns rays would finally hit Zabriskie Point. It was all worthwhile to
Our ride
My trusty Pathfinder witness the changing of the colors and shadows until it climaxed in a golden glow. We had a lot of terrain to cover so after enjoying the sunrise, we hit the road again.
From Zabriskie Point, we continued further down into the valley where our next stop was Devil’s Golf Course. This area is a huge salt pan with unusual salt crystal formations. The name Devil’s Golf Course came from the 1930’s when a Death Valley guide book described the area as a place where “only the devil would be able to play golf”. We explored the area and checked out the salt formations which seemed to stretch out for miles into the horizon. Some of the salt had formed into razor sharp formations so we had to be careful not to fall and where to place our steps. Driving further into the valley, we passed road signs indicating that we were currently at sea level. At one point along the road, we were driving along side a cliff. When we looked up we saw a sign about 200 feet above the road that indicated where sea level was. The further we drove, the deeper we found ourselves in
Badwater Basin
Lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level. the Earth until we finally reached Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. Death Valley is such a land of contrasts! Here we were in a valley with one of the lowest points anywhere on Earth surrounded by mountain ranges with peaks that rise over 10,000 feet! We crossed the road next to the Badwater Basin Parking Lot and climbed a few of the gravel hills and explored some of the narrow gullies. We took a bunch of cheesy photos of ourselves in various rock climbing poses. While doing an action shot where I jumped into the air, I landed on some rock that slipped underneath me causing me to fall on my back. I didn’t realize it right away but my entire left arm was scraped up and I had a huge gash in my right hand that was bleeding profusely. From here, we drove over to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to find some breakfast as well as some bandages and medication for my wounds.
After our stop at the visitor center, we had about an hour drive to Ubehebe Crater in a lesser visited area of the park.
View of the valley
The Panamint Mountains reflected in Badwater Basin Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater that was formed about 6,000 years ago when magma flowed close to the surface, heating up the groundwater and causing a steam explosion. The resulting crater that was left behind was about half a mile wide and 777 feet at it’s deepest point. We pulled into the parking lot and when we got out of the car, the wind was blowing very strongly. Just a short walk from where we pulled up in the parking lot, the huge hole in the ground was clearly in view. After standing at the rim for a few minutes, we decided that a hike down to the bottom was in order. It seemed like a great idea at the time not thinking about the hike back up! It was a quick 15 minute hike down to the bottom of the crater and the first thing I noticed was the complete silence. I immediately thought of how this would be a great place to camp out for a night. While exploring, we came across these really cool sun-baked mud tiles with curled up edges that formed a mosaic like formation along the ground. I entertained myself by picking
Ubehebe Crater
Volcanic crater which erupted about 6,000 years ago. a few of them up and watching them shatter when I threw them at Kevin and Michelle. We probably spent about a half hour down here exploring the crater and some nearby gullies. Now came the time to hike back up the crater rim. Looking back up the way we came, we realized that we were in store for one hell of a climb back up. As we set off, we let Kevin go off on his own faster pace. I stayed back with Michelle taking it one step at a time. The gravel and volcanic rock was very loose so we had to be careful with each step that we took. About every 20 steps or so, we paused to take a breather until about 30-40 minutes later we finally reached the rim. After resting and soaking up the view one last time, we continued on our journey towards Racetrack Playa.
If Ubehebe Crater was in an isolated area of the park, then Racetrack Playa might as well be on another planet. Racetrack Playa is famous for the sailing stones that leave tracks on the lake bed. The rocks fall from a nearby mountains onto the lake
bed. Conditions have to be just right for the rocks to start moving. There needs to be a thin layer of clay, a wet surface, and sustained winds up to 90mph. When the conditions are right, the rocks move across the surface leaving visible trails of its path along the way. The rocks have never been seen or filmed but their trails leave no doubt that they have been moved without human or animal intervention. However just to get to Racetrack Playa, you had to take a 27 mile unpaved road that is covered with sharp boulders and rocks. I had done a little research prior to coming here and most visitors had said that flat tires are very much a possibility due to the poor road conditions. Little did I know just how bad this road was going to be. As we turned down Racetrack Playa Road, the novelty of driving on a gravel road was actually quite fun. For the first few miles, we enjoyed the bumpiness of it all and even took turns climbing out of the window to ride on top of the car. As the road conditions worsened, the ride became much more intolerable. The
Inside Ubehebe Crater
Exploring some of the gullies inside the crater small gravely stones had given way to larger stones making the drive seem worse than a bad roller coaster. Every so often, the car would slide across the rocks causing me to lose control for a second. I was only driving about 10 to 15 miles an hour and it this rate it would take us hours to get there. We would get passed up every now and then by a huge truck or another SUV who were able to go twice as fast as us. Eventually after about 10 miles, I just couldn't take it anymore. I had reached my breaking point after about an hour of violent shaking. Feeling nauseous, I pulled over to the side of the road and needed to take a break. A decision needed to be made quickly. Should we continue on or should we turn around? We weren't even halfway to the Racetrack and I was worried that the road conditions were going to worsen or if my car would even make it. I kept having thoughts of being stranded out here in the middle of nowhere. Eventually after about a 15 minute break, I had calmed down and decided to keep going.
Driving to Racetrack Playa
27 miles on the road from hell.... Thankfully, Kevin took over the driving duties from here. He had discovered that the shaking lessened if he drove at 30mph instead of the 10-15mph that I was doing. Sitting in the passenger seat, I was able to not stress out as much and even enjoy some of the scenery. At some points along the drive, we passed through beautiful cactus gardens with cacti growing as far as the eye can see. We finally reached Teakettle Junction which was at the 20 mile mark and we could see Racetrack Playa off in the distance.
Relieved that we had finally made it, we pulled over into an area where a few cars had parked. The first thing you notice here is the complete sound of silence. The closest town was probably over a hundred miles away and the nearest paved road about an hours drive. We were literally in the middle of nowhere! We walked onto the playa and began our search for the elusive sailing stones. There was a rocky outcrop near the middle of the playa called The Grandstand that we walked towards. As we got near, we noticed lot's of rock climbers so we decided to
Driving to Racetrack Playa
Kevin decided to ride on top of the car!!! leave them alone and continue walking aimlessly on the playa. We managed to find a few stones but nothing with the trails that showed their movement. Scanning the horizon in search of any boulders, we walked towards a few things that looked like boulders. However, the closer we got, it turned out to be just a large clump of grass. Giving up and feeling defeated, we didn’t want to get back in the car so we just sat out there in the middle of the playa. We got back in the car and I couldn’t help but think that we just wasted a few hours driving all the way out here and we didn’t see what we had set out to see. Oh well, the drive itself was definitely an unforgettable experience. We stopped at Teakettle Junction for a few photo ops before continuing on the long and arduous drive back to the main road.
Our final stop in the park was at the Mesquite Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. The dunes were off the main road so we didn’t have to go out of our way to reach them. When we got there, we were all very low
Teakettle Junction
20 miles down, 7 more to go... on energy. I had to reach down deep and find one last spurt of energy in order to climb up and down all the sand dunes. Kevin and Michelle were very reluctant to hike the dunes but when they realized that I was determined to do it, they followed suit. My goal was to reach the highest dune which of course was the one that was furthest out. After climbing up and down dune after dune, I seemed that the highest dune was not any closer. With fatigue setting in, I decided to just stop where I was and was content just being out here in the middle of the dune field. We hung out for a little while atop one of the dunes while enjoying the sunset and taking artsy photos of the wind blown designs in the sand. Eventually, we made it back to the car for the long drive home!
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