Death Valley - So Weird. So Hot. So Very Very Hot.

We woke up to a nice breeze on the shores of Lake Isabella. The sun was bright and the boats were just starting to dart around the lake, disturbing the crystal clear reflection of the dry, grassy hills surrounding us. Geoff ate pizza. It was great.

Geoff enjoying pizza for breakfast at Lake Isabella, CA

I watched him chomp down on the Costco pizza we got the night before ever so adoringly as I remembered it was our anniversary. It made me smile. What a weird place for us to be celebrating our years together. And yet it was perfectly fitting. Completely out of the ordinary and definitely outside the box. An adventure. I love our adventures. I love that we enjoy doing the same sorts of things and better yet - enjoy doing them together. We're pretty lucky. We might not live flashy, or come close to making six figures a year but we have each other and that's pretty damn amazing if you ask me.

After a breakfast of pizza we got organized and headed to our destination for the day: Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley is the lowest, driest, hottest place in North America. Perfect! And as we made our way there one of the main things we noticed was the rocks. So many different colors and textures. From blackest black to bright brick red, snowy white to mustard yellow and everything in between. It was bizarre. I used that word a lot that day. Bizarre, weird, strange, odd. I felt like a broken record.

Looking down on Panamint Springs and Panamint Valley. Nope this isn't even Death Valley yet!!

We arrived in Panamint Springs located inside the National Park but there was actually one more mountain range to cross before descending into Death Valley itself. There are two mountain ranges between the Sierra Nevada and Death Valley. There was a campground here where we chose to call home for the night. It was only $10 a night and included free showers! It was also about 3000 feet higher in elevation than Death Valley so it would be slightly cooler when it came time for bed. We took a well deserved shower (Fresno was the last shower... so it was over due) and headed up over the hills for the valley floor.

The long and finally not winding road! Flat, Straight and Barren! Death Valley, CA

Our first stop was Stovepipe Wells where we found a mass of paramedics assisting some bikers who had not heeded the warnings about the dry heat and ended up with severe heat exhaustion and possible heat stroke. It's truly no joke out here. The wind is HOT. It's not cooling like a nice breeze. It's actually hot. I noticed my breath actually felt cool. Breathing out through my mouth was cooler than the air around me!! This is a really messed up place. We grabbed a few cold drinks from the shop and headed on down the road past a sign that said in bold letters: SEA LEVEL  Oh. Alrighty then.

Sea Level at Sunset in Death Valley National Park, CA

We had planned to visit the famous Racetrack (where you find the mysterious sailing stones), Ubehebe Crater and Scotties Castle but a system of rainstorms over the 4th of July weekend had washed away many of the roads in the park and those areas were closed to visitors. We'll just have to come back I guess!

We passed the sand dunes and made a stop at the Harmony Borax Works. Geoff braved the 118 degree heat for a walk around the mines. I stayed in comfort of the air conditioned van. Borax was mined here and carted out by teams of 20 mules. They ceased mining here after it just wasn't worth it. There are still the remains of several gold and silver mines in the park as well. None of which were very profitable and are no longer in production.

Geoff checking out the Borax refining center at Harmony Borax Works. This cart would have been pulled by a team of 20 mules. the first two containing Borax and the third containing water. 

We then headed further down to Furnace Creek to the visitors center. The Museum here is pretty informative and the staff friendly. This is where you would come to pay your park entrance fee as there are no huts/gates at the entrances. We got our stamp in our National Parks Passport and headed to the car. We watched an Aussie crack an egg on the pavement and sure enough... it cooked. Mostly. The egg white evaporated faster than it could cook and the yolk cooked almost instantly.

From here we headed to the Devil's Golf Course. Seriously, every place here is appropriately named. Trust me. Devil's Golf Course takes you out to the middle of the salt pan where you'll find strange formations left from every last drop of water that could possibly evaporate from what used to be Lake Manly. The winds that never cease to blow here have sculpted the salt into what could very easily be small ice bergs floating through a barren wasteland of sand, dirt and tumbleweeds. Standing on the salt flats I could feel the water leaving my body. My feet were burning through my sandals and every piece of exposed skin was turning red and cooking. Not from sun burn... just cooking. The temperature now reading 126 degrees fahrenheit... What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Not even going to apologize for swearing there...

The crystalized salt deposits at Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley National Park, CA
And yes. We did taste it. ... Salty

Gotta wear hats in this heat! Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley, CA

Geoff walking amongst the salt deposits at Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley, CA

Panorama of Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley, CA
Click to open for full view.

Our baby baking in the sun at Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley, CA

He hopped back in the deliciously cool van and headed to the lowest point in North America. Badwater. Here, at 282 feet below sea level we found water. It's named Badwater for good reason. Don't drink it. It's salty and full of crazy bacteria. It interesting to think that not 85 miles to the north west of this point lies the highest point in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft high! There is a path to wander out onto the blindingly white salt flats. We didn't make it far before we decided it wasn't worth our health and headed back to the van for some Haagen Dazs bars. Thank god for our freezer. Haha! The temperature topped out here at 128.9 degrees fahrenheit. That's 53.8 degree celsius just so you know... FIFTY THREE!!! What are we doing here??

Water at Badwater, Death Valley, CA lowest point in North America

We made it! Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA 282 feet BELOW Sea Level. Only 128 degrees out. it's fine..

The salt flats at Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA Can you FEEL how hot it is by looking at this picture?

If you dig down you'll find water here at Badwater. Don't drink it! Super salt and high in bacteria.

What?? Just enjoying some ice cream at the lowest point in North America in 128 degree heat. So what?
Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, CA

After making everyone jealous with our ice cream we drove to the Artists Palettes. A scenic byway through a few canyons that offers some amazing sites of the various colors in the rock. Bright reds to brilliant green-blues, yellows to deep greys, tans, whites, black, pinks, every possible color was there I swear. It was pretty amazing. We made a stop at Golden Canyon and Geoff and I decided there we'd come back during the colder months to walk the canyon that's been used in several western films.

Pictures do NOT do this place justice. The color variance is insane! Artists Palette, Death Valley, CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

Geoff checking out Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

Golden Canyon was the site of a few scenes from quite a few western films shot in the area. I can see why.
Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

To top off the day we made our way to Dante's View. The road up is not for the faint of heart. The last quarter mile is a 15% grade and the rest is extremely steep as well. We were hoping to stay here and catch the sunset, however, we were swarmed by bees. Yes bees. Honeybees to be exact. And no I don't know what the hell they were doing there but there were hundreds of them. Swarming cars and drinking the water that dripped to the pavement from the A/C units. They got inside every car, including ours. They followed, hovered and landed on every person around. With keen interest in the sweatier parts of the body. I think they were just thirsty. They weren't aggressive or angry but it was terrifying. It was really unfortunate because the view was spectacular. Unbeatable! An unobstructed view of the entire valley.

Fun Fact: Dante's View was used in Star Wars: A New Hope as they look down on the Tatooine spaceport of Mos Eisley which Obi-Wan Kenobi describes as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy". The actual filming of Mos Eisley and the rest of the scenes on Tatooine were shot in Tunisia.

Taking in Dante's View while dodging bees. This view should seem familiar to Star Wars fans!!
Dante's View, Death Valley National Park, CA

Check that out. it's impossible to get a sense of scale but you can see a white path to the middle-right at the bottom of this pic. That's the walk out to the salt flats at Badwater. Crazy huh?
Dante's View, Death Valley National Park, CA

That would be me over there checking out the view and swatting away bees.
Dante's View, Death Valley, CA

The sun starting to set giving some depth to the mountains and hills around us at Dante's View, Death Valley, CA

We unfortunately didn't linger here for long and Geoff actually had to circle the parking lot a few times before I was able to chase enough bees off me to hop into the van to escape. As we made our way down the mountain I helped several more bees find their way out the windows. Once that was over we were able to concentrate on the beautiful sun set before us. The light cast some incredible shadows and really gave a lot of depth and scale to the surrounding hills, canyons and mountains. We stopped back at Stovepipe Wells for cheap gas (for inside a National Park) and dinner. We grabbed a few more Cactus Coolers (an orange, pineapple soda) and headed back to camp for the night.

We saw several Brand New Bugatis' out for testing in the extreme heat and playing on the fun curves in the roads as well as other  New model cars not yet on the market.

By the time we reached Panamint Springs the temperature outside was at a cool 100 degrees at about 10:00pm at night. I could not cool down. It was a miserable nights sleep for both of us. In the morning we showered again and had breakfast at the Panamint Springs Resort. $10 each for a surprisingly tasty breakfast buffet including coffee, tea, cereal, bacon, sausage, eggs, really good pancakes, croissants and biscuits, yogurt and yummy breakfast potatoes.

Fun fact. None of these cacti grow naturally here in Death Valley. There isnt' enough water!!! 

We both really enjoyed Death Valley and will definitely comeback when being outside isn't a danger to our health. Hopefully the roads to the sailing stones/ racetrack are open and we're able to navigate the dirt roads leading out to them.

We said our farewells to Death Valley set our sites on a different sort of extreme. Six Flags: Magic Mountain.

Ice Cream and Kisses in Death Valley National Park. We'll be back. Definitely.

Till next time - Fair winds my friends.

Marsha (and Geoff)