Heading to our third national park in as many days, it was on to Death Valley. We thought this would be more of a drive through than the others parks. Little did we know there was so much to see.
We left Bakersfield, traveling the more scenic route instead of the highways
. The road started with towering stone walls creating a canyon effect. The road soon widened out passing through farm land and small villages, including Lake Isabelle. Once on the east side of the mountains, we aimed the car toward Death Valley.
Death Valley National Park extends far beyond the actual valley that gives the park its name. Many unusual and varied mountains surround the valley. Being on the lee side of the mountains causes the valley to be very sparsely populated with vegetation. Much of the valley is covered with salt flats. We drove through the mountains then down into the valley finding ourselves below sea level. In one area of the valley the terrain allows sand dunes to build.
Borax was mined in the valley and the 20 mule teams carried them out. Another area of crystallized salt is called the Devil's Golf Course because only the devil could play golf on it.
A visit to Death Valley would not be complete without standing in the lowest point in North America. This point lies in Badwater Basin and is measured at 282 feet below sea level. Our GPS recorded -268 ft.
From there we traveled the Artist Drive which took us past very colorful rock formations called Artist Palette. Unfortunately the pictures do not do it justice.
As we headed toward Las Vegas we made one last stop in Death Valley at Dante's View which lies about a mile above Death Valley's floor. This viewpoint gave an interesting perspective for where we had just been.
We finally made it to Las Vegas well after dark,
Tomorrow we will visit the Hoover Dam and take a drive to the Historic Route 66.
Down into Death Valley
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
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Comments

2025-02-07
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Laura
2012-10-27
Great pictures! Stay safe and enjoy your time out West!