Death Valley

Hello! This weekend we went for our smallest big adventure yet!

I had decided that this weekend was probably one of the last viable weekends to go and visit Death Valley properly, before it got too hot to do any more than drive around in an air conditioned car. It is the hottest recorded place on Earth, having reached 56c in 1912 and regularly reaching 45c+ in the summer. So, this weekend we packed up our stuff and were out the door at 6:45am Saturday morning. It took just over three and a half hours to get there as the roads were pretty empty at that time. By about half way, we'd left behind the freeway and were driving through long desert roads, watching the mountains get bigger and bigger. We even saw some Joshua Trees on the way!

Our first stop was at the campsite. It was pretty rustic, but it had flushing toilets and drinking water, so it suited our needs. It was first come first served which was a bit scary as we'd travelled so far, but there was plenty of room and we set up the tent quickly (we're pros at it now).

Our first bit of sightseeing was the mosaic canyon, a path through marble rocks where several had collapsed over the years, so it was a fun hike to scramble over the rocks to get to the end. We nearly stopped too early as we thought we'd reached the end of the trail, until we saw another group go up a different direction and followed them. 

Not actually the end

On the route we saw an enormous lizard! It may have been a monitor lizard (which we learnt about at the zoo) because it must have been almost a foot long! 

When we had reached the end of the trail (for real this time) it was just a sheer cliff face reaching up and up. 

We stopped for a snack and then turned back to camp. When we got back, some of our bags weren't where we left them and our matches had been spilled all over the floor. I picked up the box and saw that it had been munched! The crows we'd seen while putting up the tent must have come to investigate and thought they could hear treats inside. Fortunately, we hadn't left any food outside, just some cooking equipment, so they hadn't been able to eat anything. 

As we were ahead of schedule (of course I had a schedule) we went to the ranger station for a map and then to the gift shop nearby for some ice-creams as it was a pretty warm day by now. Once we'd finished these, we were off to the next stop, the Mesquite Sand Dunes!

In a desert that's mostly rocks, this area of sand dunes was quite bizarre. They were pretty tall and once you got over the first few, you could see more and more stretching out. The sun was starting to set by this point so we sat down and just admired them for a while. 

We got back to camp at sunset and had a quick dinner before tucking into bed with our kindles (Mitchell has a light up one that comes in handy when camping and I'm very jealous.) It got a little cold that night, but nothing we're not used to now; I didn't even have to put my bobble hat on! Death Valley is also a recognised dark sky reserve and the stars were so bright that night.

That morning we woke up early, but we weren't sure exactly what time it was as the clocks had gone forward, but our phones had no signal, so had they changed? Regardless of the time, we packed up the tent and were on our way soon after sunrise. 

Our first stop on Sunday was Badwater Basin to see the salt flats. It was weird to see all this white stuff on the ground, but it be salt rather than snow. Up close it even looked like old slush with brown patches poking through. We went for a walk and once we got further out, the floor changed from a rough surface to regular polygons. There was even a pool of water that must have been so salty. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the continental US and they've put a sign up on the mountain above showing you where sea level is. We were very far down!

Inspecting the polygons on the floor

About halfway up this mountain is sea level

Before it flattens out it's very craggy

The next stop was Artists Palette. This was actually just a 15 mile scenic drive through some mountains, but they were all sorts of colours, lots of reds and browns, but also some blue and green! Mitchell had fun driving through all the dips, and I had fun looking at all the geology. There was a brief stopping point where we took some photos, but it was nice just to drive through. 

Our main stop for the day was at Golden Canyon trail where we were going to hike up to Red Cathedral and then to Zabriskie Point. We suncreamed up and packed three litres of water each as it was sunny now and getting hot. We started off by walking through the canyon and after a while we could see some people up really high on top of a rock formation. We didn't think this was where the trail went, as we couldn't see any way up to it, and we didn't feel like bouldering without equipment. But, as we got closer, the trail began to turn upwards and soon we were climbing up and over rocks. Before we knew it, we were at the top! The view from up there was really good and you could see the canyon we'd just walked through to get there. We stopped for a snack with a view, and then went back down to rejoin the main trail. 

The ledge on the red rock is where we were going

Here's the view from the top

The next bit was my favourite, as although it was very steep and very hot and very hard going, the views were some of the best I've seen, out of all the national and state parks we've been to so far. There were miles and miles of pale yellow rocky hills underneath the bright blue sky. We could see a few other hikers across the park, as they stood out against the sand coloured ground. 

The little castle like thing is where we're headed

It took us another hour or two to get to the end point, by which point we were very hot and sweaty. Zabriskie point is a lookout platform which is only about 100m up a paved trail, so it's very busy with tourists who just want to drive up to get the views. It certainly attracted several people turning up to take pictures in pretty hiking clothes, which made us laugh as they spent longer taking the pictures than they did getting there. 

The peak on the left is where the above photo of Mitchell is from and the red is red cathedral 

We got some pictures too, but only after we'd hidden underneath the wall in the only bit of shade to eat our lunch. It was more downhill on the way back and it took us a lot less time to reach the trailhead. Then it was time to say goodbye to Death Valley and drive home.

It took us about four to five hours to get home as we were now a little further away and there was a bit of traffic. In fact, we could have taken a twenty minute detour and crossed the border into Nevada we were that close. We were home in time for dinner and unpacking before the working week began again in the morning. 

Lots of love,

Emily and Mitchell

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