Hottest, Driest, Lowest – Death Valley National Park

Well, we have gotten behind on our blog.  We have been running from one National Park to another.  I wish I could go back in time and thank the people that fought for these beautiful, amazing places!  Look for Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands(snowstorm!) and Arches post soon…

It seemed crazy that we had to drive almost 400 miles from Sequoia to Death Valley National Park, since if we went straight east over the Sierra Nevada Mountains it would take us right into Death Valley.  Unfortunately, there is no road running over the mountains from Sequoia.  🙂  Luckily, we were mostly on the 4 lane highway.

We were able to camp in Death Valley at Watchman Campground, which made it very convenient.  We dry camped(which means we did not have hookups for electricity and water), so we had to use the water in our tank sparingly and could only use our generator for electricity during specific generator hours.  Here are some highlights from our time here:

We started our first night with a fire.  It was in the high 60s and was just beautiful!  We enjoyed watching Kat dance with glow sticks.  It was too funny!  You had to be there to appreciate it. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headed to Mosaic Canyon for a hike in the marble polished canyon.  Very cool slot canyon about 1/4 mile up trail.  Kids climbed up to the top of a hill together and were so proud of themselves.  Such great bonding!  Love it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we headed north, drove by Scotty’s Castle then on to Ubehebe Crater.  Kane wanted to hike 600 feet down into the crater, so down we went! He was so excited to be in a crater!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2-We drove up to Dante’s View(5,476 ft.) which is along the crest of the Black Mountains overlooking Death Valley.  On clear days, you can see the lowest(Badwater Basin) and highest (Mount Whitney in Sierra Nevadas)points in the continental US from this overlook.  We could only see the lowest point on this day.  Kane was excited to use the tripod Scott lent him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed to Devil’s Golf Course, which is a large salt pan on the floor of Death Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist’s Palette Drive-Multi colored volcanic and sedimentary hills.  Kids wanted to hike the trail together, so we sat and watched them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on the the lowest point in the continental USA(282 ft. below sea level).  We attended a Ranger program here about water in Death Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the day buying a pass to take a shower at the Ranch of Furnace Creek!  We were so excited to find out that we could use the pool also.  The pool is spring fed, so the warm water felt perfect.  The hot shower afterwards capped the night off!!  We don’t get these in the RV(only so much hot water and can’t take too long or it fills up the tank).