Since we had the time change to our advantage, we headed out early and drove to Death Valley National Park ($20/vehicle, valid for 7 days – or you could you the annual pass). We stopped at a grocery store along the way to pick up some food for lunch since research mentioned the lack of locations for food, as well as, gasoline. The roads in were quite desolate – with more cattle in the roadway than cars. There were very long stretches of roadway with absolutely nothing. Temperatures reached 100 degrees at some parts of the park, but there was still snow on the mountain tops.
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| Zabriskie Point |
There are many different areas to visit at Death Valley NP. We visited quite a few, but there are some places we did not have time to see. The first stop was a drive (2.7 miles) through the “Twenty Mule Team Canyon”. The rocks were neat, but we probably should have skipped to visit a different area of the park. Near that stop was a pull-out that provided an overview of “Zabriskie Point”. The view was very nice and definitely with a stop. We made a stop at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center & Museum to get my passport book stamped and headed towards “Badwater Basin”. Badwater was neat, but not totally what I had expected. I had hoped to see vast areas of salt flats. Perhaps, if we had walked farther into the area we would have come across what I was looking for. Badwater is 282 feet below sea level – the lowest place in North America and one of the lowest places in the world.
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| Devil's Golf Course |
Driving back towards the visitor center, we stopped at “Devil’s Golf Course”. It was an interesting location - lots of jagged and sharp formations of rock salt. It was a short drive in off the main road – worth the visit. We had planned to drive the 9-mile loop road “Artist Drive” but research said it was better to stop there in the afternoon, so we thought we would stop there on the way back to Las Vegas if time permitted (did not make it). There was also a highly recommended hike “Golden Canyon” that we did not have time for. Another point of interest that we didn’t get to check out was Dante’s View – which is on a mountain top and provides an expansive view of the park.
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| Scotty's Castle |
We had reservations for “Scotty’s Castle” tour. I seriously doubted it was worth the drive, but once we finally arrived I was impressed. The castle was probably about an hour away from the visitor center. There was road construction and that made the drive longer than normal. There is not as much stuff to do near Scotty’s Castle. We did visit “Ubehebe Crater”, which was just okay. There are trails both around and down into the crater. Another cool stop in that area is “The Racetrack”. We did not have time to visit the site – apparently it takes about 2 hours to get to the area from Scotty’s Castle. “The Racetrack” is a science phenomenon –large rocks appear to move all by themselves leaving a trail behind them.
Back to the castle. The castle tour is $15/adult. There are also Underground Tours. Tickets can be reserved online, by phone or in person. I booked online a few days before our visit. We were able to change our tour to the earlier time since there were spaced left in that tour. There is not a lot to do at the castle beyond the tour – you can visit the garage, the solar building… The tour lasted about 50 minutes and was very interesting. You learn all about the history and hear some neat stories. The owner of the castle (not Scotty!) was rather interesting. The castle had all sorts of technology for its time – electricity, solar power. Scotty’s story was interesting also. My favorite part of the castle, besides the awesome architecture, was the sounds of the organ. I made a short video to share with you, but apparently it is to big to upload.
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| Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes |
The next stop we checked out was the “Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes” near the “Stove Pipe Wells” portion of the NP. It was really windy in that area, but we stopped and walked around a bit. After leaving the sand dunes we continued our journey back to Las Vegas. We did make one more stop in Death Valley – “Harmony Borax Works”. There was a Twenty Mule Wagon on display and the ruins of the borax sorting machinery. Another stop we made was at Salt Creek. There is a short boardwalk trail that runs along the creek. The creek is the only home to pupfish. The fish go dormant when the stream dries up.
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