Blogs from Death Valley National Park, California, United States, North America - page 2

If you read Wikipedia's entry for Death Valley you will find mainly a series of temperature statistics. It holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded (56.7°C). During that heat wave in 1913 there were five consecutive days where the temperature reached at least 54°C! It also holds records for the highest daily low (42°C) and the highest average daily temperature (47.5°C). The only time in recorded history that snow has been seen lying on the ground was in January 1922. The Valley nestles between the high mountains of the Amargosa and Panamint Ranges, and its floor lies 86m below sea level. The basin is the lowest point in the United States but is less than 90 miles from one of the country's highest mountains, Mt Whitney. This unusual combination of extreme height and depth ... read more

A l'approche de cet énième parc, la route s'enfonce dans une zone très désertique, les cactus cédant la place à la roche. Et pour cause nous arrivions à Death Valley, l'un des endroits les plus chauds de la planète. Quand nous sommes arrivés à destination en fin d'après-midi, il faisait plus de de 48°C ! Nous nous sommes tout de suite rendus au "Visitor Centre", centre d'accueil présent dans tous les parcs. Il fallait voir la tête du ranger quand nous lui avons annoncé que nous voulions camper à Death Valley ! Il nous a indiqué un camping davantage dans les hauteurs pour obtenir plus de fraîcheur. Après une heure de route en moyenne montagne, nous avons atteint un camping d'une trentaine d'emplacements, au confort très rudimentaire. Seuls 2 autres couples y étaient déjà installés. Impossible ... read more

Aujourd'hui départ pour la Death Valley, un des plus grand parcs nationaux aux USA. Tout s’annonçait bien jusqu'à ce qu'un petit message sur le tableau de bord de notre véhicule nous fasse une petite frayeur. Nous avons donc dû ressortir au plus vite du parc car pas de réseau téléphonique à l'intérieur de ces gigantesques montagnes. Rassurez-vous tout va bien il n'y avait rien de grave en faite. Cependant très peu de photos pour aujourd'hui. Nous nous rattraperons demain où nous allons visiter le Yosemite National Park. Joris.... read more

Big mountains, big trees and big deserts One of the things we really liked about California was the diversity of places worth visiting. We visited big cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco, we saw the fascinating home of Sarah Winchester and the dramatic coastline of Big Sur and we went to the ghost town Bodie. Now in this final blog entry from California we will write about the magnificent national parks Yosemite, Giant Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Death Valley. Yosemite National Park First we went to Yosemite National Park. To best appreciate Yosemite you need to spend more time there than we did. We basically went in, saw a few easily accessible sights and then went out again. "Big mistake! Big! Huge!" as Julia Roberts would have put it if she had been writing this instead of ... read more

Wednesday, 5 February, 2014 We had a new kind of alarm clock this morning, a shiny black one with feathers. A raven hopping around on the roof of the camper makes a surprising amount of noise. After moving to a different campsite (we were lucky to reserve 2 consecutive days, forget about one site,) we got on the road to head north in Death Valley to the famous Scotty’s Castle. There are two lies in that one title; it didn’t belong to Scotty and it isn’t a castle. Scotty was an entertainer/con-man who liked to tell people that the gold from his mine in Death Valley paid for his castle. But in reality it belonged to a rich friend who found Scotty amusing. The house is pretty fancy for the desert and has ambitions of castleness, ... read more