Day 3 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

Death Valley conjures visions of heat and desolation, sand and rocks.  With names like Furnace Creek, Funeral Peak, Dante’s View, Devils Hole, Badwater Basin, Last Chance Mountain, Dry Bone Canyon, Deadman Pass, Lost Lake and more…this place is surely a desert oven. But in all things, there is something good and precious to be found, if we take the time and if we are paying attention.

We started our day on Artist Drive.  This is one of the most beautiful places in the park.  We hiked up to a ridge for a better vantage point. 

At Artists Palette, the colors are something to behold. 

We took almost 50 pictures along this path.  Here are some of our favorites.

We stopped to hike to Natural Bridge.  We met Jay and Jill from Iowa.  We took pictures for them and then they for us.  We ended up hiking to the end of the trail with them, chatting as we walked.  Jill and Jay are retired school teachers.  They both still work, though.  Jay drives a school bus because he loves it and Jill substitutes in 2 local elementary schools.  They were great people and easy to talk to.  They are on spring break and they love to travel.  They are trying to visit as many of the national parks as they can.  Maybe we will see them again one day!

We walked out into Death Valley at Badwater Basin.  The salt crystals can be 1-5 feet deep across this dry lakebed.  We could see the heat shimmering above the surface of the salt.  We were 282 feet below sea level.  As the Panamint Mountains grow, Death Valley will sink even deeper.  The hottest temperature on earth, 134 degrees Fahrenheit, was recorded here.

If you look on this picture, you can see a small sign on the mountainside marking sea level. 

We took West Side Road to Warm Spring Canyon to Butte Valley through Mengel Pass to Goler Canyon for our off-road adventure.  This was the roughest, most challenging off-road adventure we have ever undertaken!  We started off-road at 11:30 am.  We drove over these mountains!!

It started off tame.

Lunch spot.

We passed a quarry.

Lots of old mines.

Lots of burros.

This is our view passing through the valley.

Striped Butte.

This was an old geologist’s camping cabin.  You can stay here overnight if you choose.  We could peek inside the front window and there was furniture and dishes for anyone.  We didn’t go inside to check it out.

After the cabin, the road got a little rougher.  On other trails we might have turned around.  We had been traveling though for hours and had about ½ tank of gas.  We had talked to a guy earlier in the day who mentioned Mengel Pass twice…now we know why!  We were committed to finishing this trail.  Tim and his Jeep did an amazing job of getting us over some pretty interesting rocks! He always follows his brother Jeff’s two simple rules. Go slow and don’t be afraid to get out and look!

At this point in the trail…it just abruptly dead ended!!  This is not what we expected…this is not what the map said.  Where did we miss our turn???

I walked back a short distance to where I thought the road should be…no road!  We were not panicking yet.  I already knew that I had enough water and snacks packed if we had to stay out overnight.  We did NOT want to be driving this trail in the dark!  We were 25 miles from any road or civilization.

We drove about ¼ mile back the way we had come.  All at once I saw what I thought might be our road.  We walked down the steep bank and we were found! 

The scenery became very pretty as we passed through Goler Canyon. 

We emerged from the canyon into the valley.  We now knew that we would make it to pavement before dark.  We got to the road at 6pm! 

We found a gas station and a pizza place in Panamint Springs.  It was nice to sit down, have a glass of wine, and relax!

We still had 56 miles around and through the mountains to go before got back home!

We are so grateful to be able to share this adventure together.  For now, this existence is good for us.  We are immersed each day in nature.  Our souls are suffused by beauty.  Our minds are filled with wonder and curious about things we don’t know and understand.  Our bodies are soothed by the warmth and sunshine.  We keep ourselves open for new experiences and we usually find them!

Showers and bed sure felt nice!