Death Valley – Day 1

Death Valley – Day 1

As we approached our visit to Death Valley National Park, our pre-conceived vision was of the20 Mule Team Wagons and Badwater Basin – the lowest point in North America at 282 feet BELOW sea level.  Boy, were we underestimating this park!

Here is what we expected to see…  (These two make a 360 degree panorama)

P1000165 (Medium) P1000166 (Medium)

P1000163 (Medium)

Here’s what we actually saw…

1 Entering Death Valley (Medium)

From Dante’s View 5500 feet (and almost 30 degrees) above the low point of the Western Hemisphere:

2 Dantes View (1) (Medium) 2 Dantes View (14) (Medium)2 Dantes View (11)_stitch (Medium) 2 Dantes View (15) (Medium) 2 Dantes View (18) (Medium)2 Dantes View (20) (Medium)

And the “Desert Bloom” is still happening…

2 Dantes View (6) (Medium) 2 Dantes View (5) (Medium)

2 Dantes View (8) (Medium) 2 Dantes View (19) (Medium)

We drove through the Artist’s Drive:

4 Artists Drive (1) (Medium) 4 Artists Drive (2) (Medium)

And we took a hike up Golden Canyon (2 3/4 miles UP-hill going in!)

3 Golden Canyon (5) (Medium) 3 Golden Canyon (11) (Medium)3 Golden Canyon (7) (Medium) 3 Golden Canyon (8) (Medium)3 Golden Canyon (12) (Medium)

We came home the long way around and the scenery just kept on coming…

5 Hwy 190 E (1) (Medium)

Imagine living in a town with this as its backdrop…

6 Death Valley Junction 1 (Medium)

We even saw wild horses running free…

7 Wild Horses (Medium)

And a Nevada Cathouse…

8 Alien Cathouse (Medium)

 

As we are beginning to understand, Death Valley National Park is HUGE!  In fact, it is the largest National Park in the lower 48 at 3.4 Million Acres — and 3.1 of that is designated wilderness.  The valley itself is 124 miles long and the scenery ranges from Bad Water Basin at MINUS 282 feet elevation to the snow-capped Telescope Peak at over 11,000 feet.  There are volcanic formations, sedimentary formations, mountains, canyons, sand dunes, and flat valley floor.  So very much to see! Stay tuned….

 

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