All trip long, JD has been commenting “wouldn’t the stars be so great in Death Valley”? After looking at the map and the many, many miles required to get there, I dismissed the idea somewhat. Just out of curiosity, however, we decided to ask some of the park rangers we were meeting along the way if DV was worth it, and was it safe in the summer. The answers were “absolutely” and “yes, if you come prepared”, respectively. We figured it was just crazy enough and the closest we’d ever be; why not?!
The day started with a 4-hour drive from Bakersfield, CA to DeVa (as they call it). We passed many tiny towns that still required you to slow to 25 (everywhere else, we didn’t see a speed limit posted), and a large naval weapons base. Upon arrival, we wanted our picture next to the park sign – hello HEAT! It hits you like a slap in the face and is so oppressive…more on that thought later…
At over 3 million acres, DV is the largest National Park in the lower 48. Thus, driving distances within the park are pretty far. I think it was almost 30 miles until we reached the ranger station where we had to show my universal park pass and get our map. From there, we saw the Mesquite Sand Dunes, which are surprisingly, a rarity in DV. They are about 100 feet tall and look like they are straight out of the Sahara Desert. Very coo, except for the warnings about the sidewinder rattlesnakes that call these dunes home. JD wanted to venture out to the tallest dune, but it turns out that the heat plays tricks on you; that would have been a two mile trek each way through sand in 115-degree heat. We thought better of it, and drove on.
Next up, Devil’s Golf Course. Driving along the main highway, it didn’t look like much of a pull-off, but after bumping along the dirt road for 2-miles, we were rewarded with really cool dried out blobs of mud with salt crystals all over the top. The terrain is so tough that “only the Devil himself would play golf out here”, hence the name. It’s actually dangerous to walk through, because the salt crystals are SHARP and you can cut yourself or trip and break an ankle. We then drove on to Harmony Borax works; not too much to see there, but we learned a bit about how they used to mine Borax from DV. 20-mule team (most famous Borax brand out there) also called DV home and got their name from the 20 mule teams that pulled up to 60 TONS of cargo out of the valley all year, except summer.
The road then took us to Badwater, the lowest point in North America and home to the famous salt flats. There actually is a standing pool of water by the side of the road there, but bc of its high saline content, prospectors’ horses wouldn’t drink it, hence the name badwater. It had actually rained in DV over the past weekend, so the salt was soft enough to write your name in. The salt flats are formed by an underwater aquifer fed by the HUGE surrounding mountains (you thought DV was flat? Ha! Telescope peak, right across from the lowest point is 11,000 feet). The flats are 5 miles across and you can walk as far out as you like. I made it only a little bit before feeling overwhelmed by the heat. JD offered to carry me back to the car, but we made it! (low point of the day – heat-1: audrey-0.)
We then drove over to Artist’s Palette and Zabriske point for a beautiful sunset. You wouldn’t believe the colors in DV. (And you probably thought it was white/yellow?) The colors are almost like the grand canyon. Reds, yellows, purples and greens. It’s amazing: all a result of the mineral deposits. I’ll let JD’s pictures of the sunset do the talking on the point.
We were now faced with a challenge. Where to stay? Even though it’s low season, there was not a room to be had in the park. Our options were camping (night time low of 86) or driving 2+ hours to the west side of the park to stay in a run-down motel for $100 a night. Frugality won out, as well as JD’s desire to see the stars at night, so we pulled over to camp at Emmigrant Pass. Yes, the stars were AMAZING. Knowing that most critters in the park (namely rats, scorpions, black widows, rattlesnakes and coyotes) are nocturnal had us not too keen on sleeping in our tent on the ground, so instead we cleared out the back of our Ford Escape, collapsed the back seats and made a makeshift bed out of our sleeping bags (you wouldn’t dare want to curl up inside of it) and inflatable pool floats. Not to dwell on it, but it was one of the worst night’s sleep we’ve ever had. Oh well, waking up to sunrise in the park made up for it and nothing a little coffee couldn’t fix once we hit the road.
Back to the heat. How to describe it? Imagine a sauna cranked all the way up (we hit 122 today) and a hot wind in your face making it hard to breathe. It’s so hot that you don’t even sweat when you’re outside bc it’s evaporating so fast. The minute you sit down in the car, however, you start to sweat buckets. We brought nearly 3 gallons of water for the two of us and nearly drank it all; the amazing part is, we did not have to go to the bathroom but once. When they say “bring lots of water” they aren’t kidding! All in all, DV was so above and beyond expectations. Despite all the discomfort, we’re so glad we went and hope to return again sometime, as there is so much to see in the park. What a pleasant surprise!.
PS – google “Scotty’s Castle” – it’s quite a hilarious story about a hoax of a prospector who claimed to have built this nice house in the middle of the desert from his gold findings. Ha!
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