Death Valley National Park is one of the most strikingly beautiful places I’ve visited. We spent two and a half days in the park, which is enough time to see the highlights. A full week would have been better to explore and hike longer. We may have to return one day.
Day One. Sixty degrees and sunny.
From Las Vegas we drove to Pahrump, Nevada, filling up the car with gas and buying some snacks before crossing into California. We had a four cylinder Nissan Versa rental car which struggled a bit on the long and sometimes steep mountain passes. At least we had no worries about getting a speeding ticket.
We arrived at the south entrance to Death Valley at about 11:00 AM, entering the park on Highway 178, Badwater Road. There are no entrance gates to the park. You must buy a pass online in advance, or stop by the visitor’s center in Furnace Creek to purchase one.
After stopping for the obligatory entrance sign photograph, we drove straight up through the valley towards Furnace Creek.
Quick stops were made at Ashford Mill and Mormon Point, mostly because there were signs at those places. Neither is that interesting (though one of my favorite photos was taken at Mormon Point). Forty-five minutes later we arrived at one of the park’s signature locations. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level and the site of expansive salt flats.
Most folks at Badwater Basin walk out onto the salt flats for maybe 50 yards or so. Near the parking lot the basin is fairly busy and the salt formations are trampled down. A well defined trail starts out very wide but gets narrower the farther out you go, until it disappears. We saw some guy pushing his mom, in a wheelchair, out onto the flats. The wheelchair slid over and through the bumpy salt formations more than it rolled. I’m not certain who was more miserable.
We probably walked out about half a mile, past the end of the trail. Less than five other people were anywhere near us at that point. Being on your own to enjoy the scenery made the walk worthwhile.
Back in the parking lot a tour bus had arrived. As we were leaving, Badwater Basin got very busy. Thankfully there are only a few places in Death Valley where tour buses can park, and this was the only bus we saw during our trip.
We jumped in the car to leave quickly, and noticed that clumps of salt were everywhere. A lot of salt stuck to our hiking boots. I hate getting sand in the car, but I think salt is worse.
Artist’s Drive, our next destination, is a one-way, nine mile long, paved road through some of the coolest looking rock. Green, pink, white, yellow, red and so on. Several parking areas allow you to get out and hike through the kaleidoscope of color. Artist’s Palette is one of the two most beautiful places in Death Valley, in my opinion, along with Zabriskie Point.
Just up the road is the Devil’s Golf Course, which is a really rough area of salt formations in the middle of the valley. This is the place to experience the vastness of Death Valley from the basin to the Panamint Mountains (snow topped in winter). But pay careful attention to where you step as this place is an ankle breaker.
The beauty of Devil’s Golf Course is that a gravel road leads to the area. Being off the paved road it gets far fewer visitors than other nearby locations.
Our next stop was at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to look around for a few minutes, and then we checked into our hotel, the Ranch at Death Valley.
Furnace Creek has several campgrounds, a gas station, general store, three restaurants, an ice cream shop, golf course, pool, a hotel (the Ranch), and a resort (the Inn). The area is nicely done and well maintained, but it is a good 30% overpriced for what you get. We knew that going in, but it still aggravated the hell out of me.
Zabriskie Point is ten minutes from the Ranch. The overlook there is probably the park’s most famous, and definitely the most fascinating. It was our destination for the 4:30 PM sunset, which was spectacular. We got pretty lucky to get a great sunset our first night.
Moon rise was about 8:00 PM, so we had about a one to two hour window after sunset to see the night sky. Instead we went to dinner and called it a day. It had been a long day. The stars would have to wait.
Days two and three … to be continued.
Garrett and Stephanie
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I’m beginning to see why you went to what I thought was a godforsaken choice! 😯. Really enjoyed the photos!
Ditto! Gorgeous panoramas!