Death Valley Trip
DEATH VALLEY TRIP
A trip to Death Valley after 14 years got us completely excited and having our close friends join us was the icing on the cake. The US government shutdown looming on the corner cast some doubts on our trip, primarily because all public restrooms and park services managed by NPS employees would remain closed. Anyway, cancelling the trip at the last minute was out of question and we hit the road on a bright Saturday morning for a six hours drive to Ridgecrest. Traffic was as usual for a Bay Area weekend commute; we were lucky to take an alternate route avoiding the slowdown on interstate five. Kids enjoyed the extended evening hours during this time of the year by using the hotel pool and playing games. Early to bed and early to rise was the motto in the trip as there was not much to do outside after the winter sun set around 4:30 pm.
DAY 1 DECEMBER 23: MESQUITE SAND DUNES
The two-hour drive from Ridgecrest to Death Valley national park included patches of gravel road after crossing the Panamint mountain range. We passed through the town of Trona. Once a bustling industrial town with mineral processing facility, it is nearly a ghost town now and reminded of the deserted Radiator Springs from the movie Cars. The landscape kept changing and the straight roads with no curve in sight seemed to lead to nowhere. Death Valley got its name when a group of pioneers got lost here in the winter of 1850 and few of the men died. The park has two visitor centers, one at Stovepipe Wells and the other at Furnace Creek though both were closed due to the shutdown. Mesquite sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells was our first stop after entering the park. We were lucky to have a cloudy day, the kids had a blast to cross few small dunes and enjoy the view from the tallest dune. The vegetation was primarily cacti and small shrubs. Lizards, scorpion, fox and are found in this area. We had a late lunch at Timbisha Tacos run by local Soshone Indian tribes. The fried tacos were little different from the ones we are used to and we ate to our hearts content. Our hotel was full of maintained palm trees and other drought tolerant plants and did full justice to its name; it was truly an oasis in the desert. We went for a short drive after dinner to enjoy the mountain ranges shining in moon light. Hubby photographed the views but we were not properly equipped for 38 degrees Fahrenheit, so had to cut short the outside stay. Our friends used an app for stargazing; the Orion in the cloudless sky was quite impressive.
DAY 2 DEC 24: ZABRISKIE POINT, DANTES VIEW, GOLDEN CANYON, ARTIST PALETTE
The day started with alarms ringing and we hustled in the cold early morning to Zabriskie point to view sun’s first rays. It is the most popular destination in the park for sunrise photography and offers great panoramic views. Though we reached about 20 minutes before sunrise, camera tripods had already filled up the viewing platform and more enthusiasts ventured down the mound to capture uninterrupted shots. Sediments from the Furnace Creek Lake created the erosion landscape with various color contrasts in the eroded rocks. A myriad of colors danced on the Red Cathedral and Manly Beacon during pre dawn light to bright sunlight. When the shadows started to fade, it was time to go. We headed off to Dante’s view after a quick breakfast in the parking lot. It was the highest point in the park overlooking the vast wilderness of the valley all around. The powerful telescope came in handy to examine the roads and people walking in the salt beds of Badwater basin. After few more clicks, we headed to the hotel for the kids to enjoy the pool, mini golf and other amenities. I bumped into a classmate at the reception; we met after 26 long years and that too accidentally at Death Valley, its really a small world! Our friends had to head home that afternoon and we planned our hike in the Golden Canyons. It was a moderate 3-mile trail from the parking lot through stunning landscapes leading to the base of Red Cathedral. There was almost no vegetation except 3-4 miniature bushes in the entire trail. Next, we headed to Artist Drive to capture the vibrant colors at sunset. The drive is a nine-mile one-way road passing through a mountainside with soil colored by rich metal. The main stop of the drive is Artist’s Palette where the afternoon sun sets the colored rocks on fire and is a feast for photographers. Christmas paroles and decorated golf cart competition livened up Christmas Eve at the resort. The friendly front desk folks stopped by each room to hand out Christmas cookies to the residents.
DAY 3 DEC 25: BADWATER BASIN, DEVIL’S GOLF COURSE, UBEHEBE CRATER
Badwater and Devils golf course was a must to see in our agenda today. We skipped the 2 miles hike to Natural Bridges as we did not have the time before heading out from the park by afternoon. No trip in Death Valley is complete without visiting Badwater Basin. It’s the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. The sea level sign posted at the middle of the adjacent mountain reconfirmed that we were standing so low compared to sea level. This is the most crowded vista point in the park and is hard to get parking. We were lucky to reach at 7:30 in the morning and ours was the 5th car in the parking lot. The salt bed stretched for miles in front of us and glistened with first rays of morning sun. The salt crystals at the end of the walking platform were more pristine compared to the one near the parking lot, must be worn out from so many feet walking near them. Devils Golf Course is a 20 min drive from Badwater with the last 3 miles on a gravel road. This immense area is full of fragile salt formations on salt bed, which is so notched that “only the devil could play golf on such links”. We filled up gas at Furnace Creek at $5 a gallon. We decided to stop by Ubehebe Crater on our way back and it turned out be a wise decision. It’s a 600 ft deep and a mile across large volcanic crater formed some 300 years back. There are trails to go down the crater or walk along the rim. The rim trail is more difficult due to loose gravel at many places. It was very chilly and windy and we had us contended with views from the parking lot. A drive through the barren lands and eating packed lunch by the roadside while enjoying the backdrop was an experience in itself. We reached Ridgecrest after sun down and rested at the hotel.
DAY 4 DEC 26: RED ROCK CANYON & TRAVEL HOME
Red Rock Canyon State Park situated in Mojave desert is a little known tourist attraction but has magnificent eye-popping landscape with towering red sandstone peaks and rust and cream colored rock formations. There is another Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area near Las Vegas but this park is in California. There is very little traffic here but I wish there was more documentation on the hikes. The place is full of Joshua trees though technically these plants are not trees but member of agave family. These can grow as high as 30 feet!