Death Valley

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We left Twenty Nine Palms bright and early for today's adventure. Driving through the desert can be very boring. Long, monotonous highways with barely a curve for endless miles. It's good to have water to drink, preferably cold, and snacks.

On the way we drove through the Mojave National Preserve, but couldn't tell it apart from any other piece of wilderness. Lots of dry scrub and the occasional Joshua tree. After about two and a half hours we reached our first stop, the Dumont Little Dunes. I saw them on Google Maps and we decided to have a look. It wasn't really worth the stop other than to get out of the car and stretch. There are just some small dunes set aside for off-road vehicles to play around with.

We went on our way towards Death Valley. We drove through Shoshone, another one-horse town, and then into the park. By then it was really hot outside, and as we continued towards Badwater Basin it got hotter and hotter. We drove along the dried lake bed for about 30 kilometers, the road winding along the shore of the extinct lake, until we reached the Badwater Basin rest stop. There were quite a few cars here already, and lots of people went for the long walk to the salt flats. It was 44 degrees Celsius, according to the car's reading, so we only made it about half way before giving up. Not much to see there except for a giant, perfectly flat white surface. And a sign which says it's 85.5 meters below sea level.

Along the well-trodden path there was the occasional shallow hole, where water seeped in. So the lake isn't totally dead - there is some water about half a meter below the surface.

We happily got back to the car and the air conditioning, and went on to our next stop - the Devil's Golf Course. This is an area of the lake where the surface is a thick layer of salt that broke up into an uneven, jagged terrain. I found it interesting but Tamar was getting a headache so she stayed in the car.

About 20 minutes later we entered the road to the Artist's Palette. The road leaves the main Badwater Basin road and twists up into the foothills beside it. Here the rocks take on unusual colors and shapes; greenish lines on a reddish cliff face, pinks and mauves, purples and grays. Then we reached the Artist's Palette itself. Here the colors are extraordinary! There's a whole array of yellows and oranges, pinks, greens, purples and browns and other colors as well, caused by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago that exposed a variety of minerals. These oxidized to different levels creating the variety of colors.

The drive from there was kind of exciting. The narrow road twists between the hills, squeezing itself between walls of rock, winding down a tiny river bed. Actually fun to drive, like a crazy slalom race until it got back to the Badwater Basin road.

We went on to the next stop, Zabriskie Point, "One of the most famous viewpoints in the park, which overlooks the golden colored badlands of the Furnace Creek formation." That quote from the National Parks website pretty much says it all. A great view, very impressive, but not much else.

By now the afternoon was getting on and we had to start looking for gas. We headed towards the West exit from the park. We passed the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes with no gas stations in sight. We finally saw one in Panamint Springs, just before the road starts climbing the mountains that border Death Valley to the west, but the price was ridiculous! $5 a gallon? Nuts!

I decided to chance it and find a gas station outside the park. We climbed the mountains, going from below sea level to about 1,300 meters above, and stopped at Father Crowley Overlook for a view of Rainbow Canyon. Then on and out of the park. We finally made it to Olancha and filled up at a much more reasonable price. And a good thing too, the tank was almost empty!

We also got some cell reception since we were outside the park, and found a Motel 6 in Bakersfield, another couple hours' drive, but I figured any driving we do today will mean less tomorrow.

We made it to Bakersfield at around 6 PM, 524 miles drive since this morning according to Google Maps. I don't want to do that again!

We went to eat at a KFC place, a disappointment, then did a little shopping and went to bed.

We're done with the desert! Tomorrow we're off to Sequoia National Park. Trees for a change!

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