National Park #2: Death Valley

There's probably a zillion posts about Death Valley, but you know what? Let's be basic.

*Impending Grand Canyon post looms in the distance*

... We'll get to that later.

As a person, I have always been impressed with superlatives. "Highest Mountain" "Tallest Tree" "Oldest Whatever" I've always possessed a hefty imagination and a lot of judgment, so when I heard these, I expected like, cosmic levels of "-est" if I was ever lucky enough to see these things in person. This sometimes was to a fault, like the time I was disappointed in Stonehenge because I thought it'd be bigger (I was also a high schooler and everyone knows you become a pretentious little shit between the ages of 14 and 17 and I was no different.) (also to be fair I don't recall if Stonehenge has a superlative, but I did expect it to be bigger, just like I expected blue whales to be like. Empire State Building sized. Still love whales though)

Anyways, superlatives continue to wow me, so when my 9 year old self read that Death Valley had not just one (hottest) but two (lowest) superlatives?? I knew I had to see it someday. And that someday finally happened in early 2019.

Ubehebe Crater

This was my first stop. After spending a restful night in my car because I was too lazy to set up my tent (also it was like. midnight when I arrived at the campground) I drove out to Ubehebe.

I had seen a volcanic crater in Hawaii, but this was the first time (to my knowledge and memory) that I'd seen a desert version. It was HUGE and had some very fun rocks. The sky was super clear my entire visit, so you could also see mountains in the distance which made for a lovely backdrop that was impossible to capture on my phone camera.

I traipsed along the rim of the crater, which wasn't a very difficult hike. I remember my grandfather telling me Death Valley was so quiet, you can hear an electricity in the silence. I didn't hear electricity, but I could hear the 3 year old hiking with his parents on the other side of a half-mile wide crater.

There is a little bump of a crater next to Ubehebe that's more dome-like. I can't recall its name, but it's very cute.

It was time for a bravery test. I'd seen people walk down to the bottom of the crater (about 777 feet elevation drop. jackpot!) and I decided I would also be one of those people. There was a trail that led down which wasn't terribly difficult, but steep at times and very long. More difficult than the rim. I was already dreading the climb up. But the bottom/center of the crater was quiet. The people I'd seen earlier had left, and I had the basin all to myself for the next twenty minutes.

The dirt was cracked and more like dry clay and there was scrub vegetation of all things, as well as, annoyingly, cairns and rock hearts people had made. I kicked the rocks out to make it seem more haphazard... sure you could call me an asshole for "destroying" someone's dumb rock heart, but you're not supposed to make those or cairns in national parks to begin with! Anyone who bothers to read the guides on the map would know this.

ANYways.

I stayed to paint a scene, laid down and meditated a bit despite the sun being directly above me, and enjoyed the relative silence before making my way back up.

At some point on the trail back, I saw what looked like a shortcut trail.

Keyword. Looked like.

I'd seen some others use it to climb back up to the rim earlier. Thinking it would save me time, I diverted and climbed the "shortcut." A huge mistake I quickly learned! Not only was this shortcut much steeper than the main trail, but it was filled with loose rocks. Every step I took, I'd slide back a couple inches. It was like climbing a never ending stairmaster on the hardest difficulty. It took me. Forever. I almost cried. I almost gave up. My legs were burning. I was so mad at myself. I knew I'd have been at the top by now if I'd just used the same path I took down. I was also embarrassed because I'm sure I looked ridiculous, as I could only manage 2 steps at a time and had to take 10 second breaks in between.

At last I came out to the top. Took a much needed breather. And water. And drove on to the next stop

Borax Mines

My memory is a little fuzzy here, but I suspect I visited here before heading over to Dante's View. There's an old train from the mining days here and a little walking outdoor exhibit about the mining back then. Lots of Chinese workers in the past, which I found interesting. I wandered around before driving past the Furnace Creek campground and resort. If you want to visit Death Valley but don't want to be without modern amenities, Furnace Creek is your best bet. I was staying at Stovepipe Wells, which still had a lodge and restaurant near the camping, but isn't near the same level as FC.

Also! There are literally sand dunes in Death Valley! Just! There! In the middle of the park! And they move around! How crazy is that??

Dante's View

I remember stopping by some golden rock formations for a quick moment, but I cannot remember the name... either way they were very cool.

Driving up to Dante's View was. Very annoying for two reasons. One, it was a winding, mountain road with a lot of sharp turns and curves. Two, the sun was diRECTly in my eyes the entire time and I literally could not see the road or the dividing lines. It was terrifying.

Dante's View itself is a high peak which overlooks much of the park, and you can see a lot of the park. This was also a filming location for the first Star Wars. Can you guess which scene? (hint: rhymes with los meisly)

There was also surprisingly very good cell phone reception up here. I caught the sunset, and the drive back was much less stressful.

I ate dinner at one of the restaurants in the park, and went out for some stargazing at the dunes (very soft and fun to climb) and the Borax mines. The moon was out, so wasn't able to see many stars, but everything was so well lit, it was almost spooky. Like living in grey-scale. I'm always paranoid of mountain lions in these parks, so I didn't stray too far from my car and left whenever I heard noises I didn't like. But still very cool, especially if you're braver than me lol.

Slept in my car that night too.

Badwater Basin

Day two! And on to the superlative part of Death Valley: the lowest and hottest point! Badwater Basin.

Gotta say, this part was a highlight. I'll let the photos do the talking here.

The crazy thing is, all that white stuff? Is salt! But it looks so convincingly like ice. It made me think of frozen ponds, especially with the snow-capped mountains in front, which look deceptively close. I walked way out until the translucent effect disappeared and the ground was pure, opaque white. Not a single cloud in the very blue sky, and surrounded entirely by mountains. Extremely cool. But very hot. The rest of the park was usually between 50 to 60 degrees. Here? Easily over 80. And the sun just beats on you. But if you go out far enough away from the crowd, you can hear the quiet.

Also, fun fact, Badwater Basin is named for the pond of water located near the front. But the water is salty, hence "bad water" that the mules couldn't drink when it was discovered. Surprisingly to me, there's actually a species of fish that lives in the water! Crazy!

Artist's Palette

This was probably the prettiest part of the drive. It's a one way, winding road that takes you through some spectacular canyon walls. The best one is a splash of especially vibrant colors displayed on the rocks, and is what the drive is named after. It was unreal! Literally looked painted! Reason for them are the mineral deposits left behind by the water that carved the canyons, but why this area had the most colors, I'm unsure. But it was really beautiful and worth the slower mph and hassle of a single direction road. I pulled over to paint, obviously.

Even though there are streaks of color throughout the drive, I find it interesting that this particular point has the most stunning and compact display of them. I wonder why that is?

Final Views

I pulled over after the Artist Drive to wander out onto the salt flats for a bit. Because we'd had a pretty wet winter, there was still streams of water, especially the further out you went which I found neat. You could really hear the quiet out here as well.

Some other notable sites were a couple dudes playing frisbee. I also saw a dust devil while getting gas in the park. Basically just a mini tornado.

On the drive back I pulled over at a vista to get a good view of the mountains. And of course some risky sunset while driving photos were had, but I still got back to LA in one piece, albeit very dusty.

Overall it was a very fun trip and I highly recommend visiting. The next time I visit, I want to go to the racing track, where there are rocks that move! I don't think it's possible to see it in real time, but you can see the trails they've left behind.

If you are planning on visiting, definitely be careful. A friend of mine has had vehicular issues in the park, and the weather isn't always bright and sunny (or it can be too bright and sunny). People have died in this park for being underprepared, and even if you visit in a cool month like February or March, temperatures can still get hot at Badwater (and you'll have to watch for sudden rainstorms since winter is the desert's wet season! That means flash floods. Several parts of the park were closed due to flooding when I visited). But if you're safe, use common sense, and double check with the park rangers, you'll be fine.