Death Valley...the south end...

Death Valley...the lower end

Well, I thought Mojave National Preserve was big. Death Valley is HUGE!!! We spent 6 days in the park and stayed in 3 different parts and, man, were they all really different. Death Valley is a park of extremes, from 272 feet below sea level to over 11,000 feet. We managed to top out at 9,064 feet on this trip. From sand dunes to salt flats to straight up desert...Death Valley has it all.

We started our stay in the Furnace Creek area, which is in the southern end of the park. There is a natural spring in the area, so it has long been inhabited by the Timbisha Shoshone Native Americans. There is still a community of about 50 tribal members that live in this area. The history of the Timbisha in the 20th century is, as is typical for colonization, extremely sad. The US government essentially ignored the fact that Death Valley had been their homeland for centuries and only in President Clintons time did they finally get back official claim to their native lands. Hopefully time will give them opportunity to share their history of this area with visitors. 

At Furnace Creek there are 3 different National Park campgrounds, the main NPS visitor center, 2 hotels and 1 private campground. We opted for the private campground, not because it had any hook up type services. Free WiFii and a hot shower for cheaper than the National park campground was too good to say no to. It turns out there was a reason, the WiFi was pretty crap and the showers turned cold after 2 minutes. If you plan on camping in Death Valley, come prepared! There are water fill and dump stations, but there are essentially no campsites that have any type of services, unless you reserve a year in advance. Also, if you want fresh vegetables or any substantial groceries, make sure you buy them in Vegas, Parumph or Bishop (CA). I paid $15 for a head of lettuce, 2 avocados, a punnet of cherry tomatoes and a punnet of raspberries, and this felt like a win to find this many fresh items.

Back to the sites....Badwater is probably the best known and most visited site at Death Valley. It is the lowest part of Death Valley, at 282 ft below sea level, and indeed the lowest part of North America. The salt flats are deceptive, in that they are excruciatingly hot in summer time (surface temps of greater than 180 degrees F) and when it rains, what looks like a crust of salt gives way to mud. Super hospitable, right?! The further you walk out onto the playa, the more defined a hexagonal pattern reveals itself in the salt breaking through the mud. Many gave up walking out in the heat (and it wasn’t a particularly hot day) way before the really cool patterns were visible. Do yourself a favour...go on a day that’s not scorching hot and be prepared to walk out at least a mile or so onto the playa so that you can really see what nature reveals. When you look really, really close, the salt welling up looks like tiny hairs or whiskers. 

The other cool site in the south end is the Devils Golf Course, so named because someone thought that only the devil would play golf on such a harsh landscape. The salt here crystallizes, hardens and become razor sharp to humans. One good fall would gash you right open. You can walk out and investigate, but make sure you have solid shoes on your feet and keep your balance skills at the ready. 

Artists Palette is a one way 9 mile drive that take you up to the edge of the mountains, which are a multitude of colours thanks to the oxidation of different metals in the rocks. We didn’t visit at sunset or after a good rain, which sounds like the best time to visit, but it was still very pretty. 

Ah, Blogger hates me. I had just a bit more to add to this, but the photos will not load. So, I’ll save that for the next entry.