Death Valley National Park

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April 18 – April 19

Las Vegas

Leaving Kolob Canyons at Zion National Park around 3:30 p.m., we headed to Las Vegas.  The ride along Rt. 15 in northwest Arizona was a road scenery highlight of the trip.

At around 7:oo p.m. we checked in to the modest and hard-to-find Candlewood Suites, two blocks off the strip, and then headed out to explore the very busy Vegas strip. We found a rooftop brewpub, some New York style pizza for dinner, and stopped to admire the world famous Fountains of Bellagio show.

While in Vegas for 36 hours we took in a David Copperfield magic show at the MGM Grand, had a wonderful brunch at the swanky Eiffel Tower Restaurant overlooking the Bellagio fountains, and spent time relaxing at the very nice, uncrowded hotel pool.

Em was thrilled to do the awesome Big Apple Coaster at the New York New York hotel at night. I was content to hold her jacket and cell phone.

Most notably, the most important thing we did during our stopover in Las Vegas was laundry! The hotel had free laundry facilities. I think that excited us as much as the strip.

April 20

Death Valley National Park

Breakfast at our Vegas hotel, then on to Death Valley National Park about two hours away.  Our plan was to tent camp in the park but as we got closer we saw the temperatures rise…a lot. Only one campground was still open, as they were closing them down now on the cusp of their brutally hot summer season. At 95 degrees outside, we decided to not camp. I got online and reserved a room for two nights at the Ranch at Death Valley, which is inside the park.

We arrived at Death Valley National Park at 2:00 p.m.

There is no official entry gate here so we didn’t need to show our park pass to a ranger. Due to the layout of things, coming in from the east we first stopped at Dante’s View, a popular short trail and overlook. We got to the parking area at 2:30 p.m.  We walked along the rim trail for about 1/4 mile. There were amazing views of the valley and some salt flats.

From Dante’s View we drove on to another popular spot, Zabriskie Point overlook. The scenery here reminded us of The Badlands of South Dakota.

From Zabriskie Point we could see trails meandering below, and learned that these trails hook up with other trails we were considering, like the Golden Canyon Trial. It was a bit late in the day to explore these trails from here, and it was scorching hot.  So, we took in the scenery here and then went to the Visitors Center for hiking suggestions in the heat.  As usual, the ranger was very helpful and put together our hiking plan for the next day.

From here we drove to the Ranch at Death Valley and checked in.  The two hotels and Visitors Center in Death Valley are co-located within a mile.  This literally creates an oasis in the dessert.  Trees, pools, restaurants, tennis courts, etc.  smack in the middle of the desert. But it leaves a small, concentrated human footprint, which is great.

Entering the driveway to the Ranch and finding our way around the maze of the small resort…including the front desk building is all very confusing.  They definitely need better signage.  A small complaint, however.  This lesser expensive of the two non-camping lodging options at Death Valley is very nice. Well-kept grounds, a hot spring pool, an ice-cream shop, a general store, three dining options, and a dark sky made for a pleasant oasis.

After finding our rustic but comfortable room, an early dinner at the Wild Rose Tavern by the Ranch was had.  Service here was friendly, but the common pub food and dim atmosphere were unremarkable.  It’s possible we were just there too early, before it got lively.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

After dinner we drove to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes for sunset. Upon arrival in the parking lot we could see people way off in the distance into the dune field. But considering we weren’t likely to see anything different, we didn’t venture in further than probably a 1/4 mile.  The reputation this place has for beautiful sunsets is not overstated.  The colors cast along the rippling sand dunes and the surrounding mountains are enchanting (not a word I usually use, but it was the first to come to mind while writing this).

This really was a great experience, though we were disappointed we didn’t see any camels or Lawrence.

The day ended with a swim at the resort’s outdoor spring fed pool, then some star gazing into the very dark sky…a beautiful night.

Off to bed

April 21

Golden Canyon Trail to Red Cathedral

Breakfast of cereal and coffee in the hotel room. Then off to the Golden Canyon Trailhead for a 3-mile out and back hike to Red Cathedral.

We got to the trailhead at 8:30 a.m. There was one spot left at the trailhead lot, fortunately.

The first mile of the hike was a simple walk along a wide, packed rock path.

Most people turn around at the one-mile mark, but the jewel of the hike is the next 1/2 mile. This required a lot of rock scrambling upward, with multiple pathway options, none of which are marked. There were a few other people here all kind of spread out finding their own way. There was no clear objective other than better and better views of the vast rocky landscape and of the adjacent Red Cathedral formation, and feeling part of the towering landscape. The scramble and payoff were well worth the effort, and slight risk to life.

Getting down offered some challenge but we did make it back to the Golden Canyon trail safely. We got back to the car at 10:45 a.m.

Natural Bridge Canyon

From here we headed over to hike the very short Natural Bridge Canyon at around 11:30 a.m. This trail, like the Golden Canyon is basically a wide, packed rock path…but this time through a canyon. At less than 1/2 mile in there is the namesake, and pretty cool, natural bridge formation that straddles over the trail.

A cool thing about this hike is that when you look back after going through the bridge, the Badwater Basin salt flats are visible in the distance via the portal made from the bridge.

Just a little further up is a pair of very cool dry waterfalls. The first one looks more like a dried water chute. The water left a smoothed-out semi-circle all along the high cliffside…we had never seen anything like this before. Something about it is just really impressive. Maybe the power of water, and the evidence and impact of millions of years of water falling where it is now desert.

At the end of the short trail is the second dry waterfall, but not as high or dramatic as the first one…still worth the hike to see.

On both hikes we encountered very few people. Lots of water was consumed as well…who knew Death Valley was so appropriately named?

Badwater Basin

After this short jaunt of about one hour we got in the car and headed to Badwater Basin, home of the justly famous Death Valley salt flats.

As we approached Badwater Basin in the car around 12:30 p.m. it looked as though there were people walking and playing on a large skating rink in the distance. These salt flats, remnants of salt water Lake Manly that dried up about 10,000 years ago, are just so vast at 200 square miles…an unusually remarkable landscape of salt topsoil. We had fun walking out on the flats, which are 282 feet below sea level.

Across from the salt flats parking area there is a marker high above on the rocky cliffs denoting where sea level is. Death Valley is one of the lowest places on Earth.

Artists Palette

After tooling around on the salt flats we headed to the final objective of our Death Valley tour…Artists Palette.

This is a visually stunning area known for its vibrant, multi-colored rock formations. The one-way 5-mile Artists Palette Scenic Loop narrowly winds left, right, up, down, like a roller coaster through beautiful, natural pastel colored hills. We stopped at the various vista points to take in the scenery, which certainly invokes an artist’s palette. But, the ride was equally entertaining to the landscape.

The salt flats and Artists Palette are not to be missed here in Death Valley NP.

We got back to the resort around 5:00 p.m. Before going to dinner we opted for some pool time…perfect after a long hot day in the desert…Ahhh.

After our swim, on this night we opted to eat at the busy Last Kind Words Saloon at the Ranch, and we were not disappointed. This was a hearty, fulfilling, and lively final meal at Death Valley.

The next day we headed to Palm Springs for one night before camping at Joshua Tree National Park the following two nights.

Off to bed

Next: Palm Springs