DEATH VALLEY

A Sensory Overload

We arrived at Death Valley National Park in early March and made camp in Furnace Creek.    Furnace Creek is 190’ below sea level and has its fair share of campgrounds.  As this was a last-minute trip and we didn’t have reservations, we opted for Sunset Camp which is a ‘first come first served’ dirt lot with over 200 sites that rarely fills.

At over 3,000 square miles (about twice the area of Rhode Island) Death Valley National Park is the largest National Park in the Contiguous United States – Denali being the largest.  It is also a land of extremes, with the hottest, driest, and lowest places on earth!  The highest temperature of 134F (57C) was recorded on July 10, 1913, and Bad Water Basin is the lowest place in North America at 282’ BELOW Sea Level.  Finally, Death Valley National Park has the lowest recorded level of rainwater of any of the National Parks.  The valley is the original homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone Peoples who have called this valley home for centuries.

During the mid-1800s, the promise of wealth from gold, silver, zinc, tungsten, and talc brought prospectors here in their thousands.  Everyone wanted to strike it rich with gold, but the most profitable mineral to be found here was actually Borax; which back in the late 1800’s early 1900s was worth more than gold.

Death Valley was given its forbidding name by a group of pioneers lost here in the winter of 1849-1850. Even though, as far as we know, only one of the group died here, they all assumed that this valley would be their grave. They were rescued by two of their young men, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers, who had learned to be scouts. As the party climbed out of the valley over the Panamint Mountains, one of the men is said to have turned, looked back, and yelled “goodbye, Death Valley” and the name stuck.

Day one of our trip was spent exploring the South End of the park where the most popular destinations can be found; the majority of which are Badwater Road.

Our first stop was The Devil’s Golf Course, so named as it is the last place on earth you would wish to swing a club.  This is the bottom of a dry lake bed where rock salt, eroded by wind and rain, has been shaped into jagged spires.  It was a wonder to behold, and we amused ourselves exploring the large structures and taking photographs.  Take care here as the rocks are extremely sharp and there is a real danger of falling and injuring yourself or even breaking a bone.

Next on our planned route was Bad Water Basin.  Stories suggest that Badwater Basin earned its name when a mule belonging to an early surveyor refused to drink from the spring-fed pool near the present-day boardwalk. You can walk along the boardwalk to see the ‘badwater’ and take the obligatory photograph with the sign before you hit the salt flats to take a walk in the lowest place in North America.  As you head back to the parking lot, don’t forget to look toward the rock face ahead of you to spot the ‘Sea Level’ sign, 282’ up.

At this point, we backtracked along Badwater Road to stop at the 15’ metamorphic rock that was sculptured by the wind – amazing.

Our final stop along Badwater Road was Artist Drive and the Artist Palette. The road is one way and suitable for all vehicles less than 25’. You wind around the cut to view the colors and geological formations within the area.

We hiked up a short but steep ridge to view the Artist Palette which was simply beautiful.  We marveled at the array of colors in the layers of rock, reds, blues, greens, and yellows splash across the spectacular geology. Sunset is a popular time to visit this vista point to see the colors change with the setting sun.

We capped off this most popular section of the park at Zabriskie Point – and what an incredible end to our tour.  The vibrant yellow of Golden Canyon against the black and red colors of the rocks were a stunning contrast.  Another incredible photo opportunity for sure.

We left Badwater Road and headed North West to visit the Harmony Borax Works.  William T Coleman, a businessman from San Francisco built the plant in 1882 to refine Borax found on the salt flats.  The purpose of the plant was to partially refine the Borax to reduce the weight – even so if took a 20 Mule Team Wagon Train to transport the partially refined ‘white gold’ across the desert.  The 1/3 of a mile interpretive trail takes you through what is left of the Harmony Borax Works.  There are even some remnants of the crude housing that once stood in the salt flats.  The size of the wagon was astonishing, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine the twenty mules ahead of it.

Day Two

We left Death Valley NP and drove 45 miles to Nevada and the gateway to Death Valley town of Beatty.  This is the closest town for inexpensive fuel and some cell signal to work for a few minutes.  Our main reason for visiting Nevada was the gold mining ghost town of Rhyolite.  In 1904 two prospectors Frank Harris and Ed Cross found high-grade gold ore in the area which resulted in a gold rush.  By 1907 the population of Rhyolite had soared to over 7,000 people.  Sadly, this was the year of the economic collapse and by 1910 the town had all but died.  In just over 5 years the area went from desert to boomtown to ghost town.

The lack of timber in the area led to concrete and adobe being used for most of the buildings, although three buildings were made from empty bottles; one of which is still standing.  The speed with which this town prospered and died is indicative of many gold rush towns in the west.  Rhyolite now stands as a testament to the people of the Nevada gold rush.  Man, where we in our element here.  The ruined buildings, the history, and abandoned mines had us running from one stop to the next exploring and taking photos.  The old bank building was beautiful, but our favorite was the general store with its windows on the world.  We especially enjoyed the old train station/hotel/brothel!  This is definitely worth leaving the park for.

On your way out of Rhyolite, don’t forget to stop at the Goldwell Open Air Museum to see the modern art and The Last Supper Sculpture which was both awesome and as spooky as all get out.

The next logical stop would have been Scotty’s Castle, but due to flooding back in 2015 that section of the park is closed to visitors while the building undergoes repairs. Instead, we headed directly to Ubehebe (Youbee Heebee) Crater.  Wow!  We were blown away by this relatively young crater.  The information board says that it’s only thousands of years old and not millions.  The magnificent colors inside this crater were incredible and we found ourselves speechless just walking along the edge.  There is a trail that will take you the entire circumference of the crater and you can even hike to the bottom; as we had the dogs, we could not.

Day Three

The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes was our first stop.  Spanning 14 miles across the wildest parts of Death Valley, these dunes are the best known and easiest to access in the park.  The highest dune is about one mile from the parking lot, and you must cross many smaller dunes to reach it.  Hiking in sand dunes is exhausting and we suggest taking extra water if you plan to head out to the tallest dune which is 1.5 miles from the parking lot.

The best times to visit the dunes for photographs are early morning or sunset.  The sun setting on the dunes later in the day was spectacular to see.  These are by no means the largest dunes in the park but without a four-wheel drive, it’s difficult to reach the others.

After a brief stop in Stovepipe Wells, we slowly wound our way up Emigrant Pass (9% grades) to visit the world-famous Wildrose Charcoal Kilns.  Along the route, we stopped at the Wildrose California Conservation Corp Camp – one of three permanent CCC camps in the park.  This camp held administrative offices, maintenance buildings, tool sheds, barracks, and a mess hall.  It is still used today for storage.

The Wildrose Charcoal Kilns are found at an elevation of 6,865’, making this our highest elevation during the trip.  The final three-mile stretch of the narrow road leading to the kilns it dirt and can easily be taken by a regular car but be warned that there are some deep ruts in places, so please drive accordingly.  Parking is premium, as this is also the trailhead for many great hikes.

Built-in 1877, these kilns produced charcoal for the Modock Mine smelter, about 20 miles to the west.  Modock Consolidated Mining Company was owned by George Hearst, father of William Randolph Hearst. Workers filled the stone kilns with piñon pine logs (relatively abundant in the area) and fired them.  The burning, which reduced the wood to charcoal, took six to eight days and cooling took another five days.  Each kiln would hold forty cords of wood.   These kilns closed in 1880 after only three years, yet they still smell of creosote and soot inside.  Their brief life and remote location, make these the best-preserved example of charcoal kilns in the West.

There are ten kilns which you can walk in and around. In our opinion, the best views are from behind the kilns, where you can get a shot of the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

As this was our last day in Death Valley, we decided to make our final stop the furthest away!  We headed up the magnificent Towne Pass toward Panamint Springs 60 miles west of Father Crowley’s Vista.  Here we found Rainbow Canyon one of the largest military aircraft training areas in the US; which has been used continuously since the 1930s.  The Canyon is used for low-level navigation training and has earned the nickname ‘Star Wars Canyon’ due to the technical flight maneuvers done here.  It must be an incredible sight to see this training.  Much of what is now the western part of the National Park was added under the condition that this training would continue.

You can park your vehicle in the large parking lot and walk to the point or do what we did and drive out there.  Again, the road is passable in any vehicle if you take it easy but beware toward the end as it gets steep and there are ruts where people have spun their tires.  We chose not to risk the final 200 yards and walked the rest of the road to the overlook.

They’re simply not enough adjectives to describe Death Valley and the view from this vista point.  It was awe-inspiring, humbling, breathtaking, and overwhelming.  The view spreads over the Panamint Flats and as far as Telescope Peak.  The markings in the rocks and the vibrant colors of Rainbow Canyon belied belief.  We were glad we went the extra mile to see this.  If you’re visiting Death Valley, do not miss this vista.

Death Valley did not disappoint!  Yes, it’s extremely busy and yes each ‘must see’ destination is packed with people – even during the week. But man, oh man what a magical place!  From the colors of the rock formations to the magnificent Sand Dunes. From the highest to lowest points of our trip we had a blast.

Our Best and Worst of Death Valley

Best

This is tough as there were so many incredible sights and places, but for us, it’s the Charcoal Kilns – (the drive up there alone was worth it) and Father Crowley’s Vista 

Worst

It’s busy – always and everywhere.  The weather can be brutal. It’s absolutely NOT dog friendly.

Information that we think will help when planning your trip

• High Season is Mid Oct to Mid-April – this is a world-famous destination and books up way in advance.  
• We do not recommend visiting Death Valley in the summer – the temperature is scorching and there are not enough cool hours in the day to enjoy the area.
• Even in the winter, drink plenty of water and ensure your pets do the same.   
• This is not a pet-friendly area – absolutely everywhere we visited did not allow dogs outside of the parking lot.  
• Entrance fee to the park is $30 – if you plan to visit more than two national parks in a year, invest in the America the Beautiful Pass for $80 and save yourself some money.   
• The wind can be awful in Death Valley, so pack accordingly – we experience extremely strong winds and daytime temperatures between 45-80 degrees.  
• 95% of the areas we visited had bathrooms and some had drinking fountains.  
• There is no cell service in the park and safety can become an issue if you’re hiking or driving on backcountry roads. We strongly suggest investing in a GPS emergency locator/communicator

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