The Death Valley.
Aren't we all intrigued by the death?
D.E.A.T.H.
What is death?
A scary concept that may haunt our consciousness?
Or freedom from all fears and failures?
When I heard the name of one of these National Parks here in the US for the first time, I was thinking that it might derive from it being a dreadful "killing field" of creatures passing over this very spot.
When we google it, for sure the image you'll find is the famous skeleton of the mountain goat's head.
Miserably stared back at you with its hollow eyes.
That is something!
The more we browsed, the more captivated we were.
That is why we decided to come and visit Death Valley, our second National Park in this spring break trip.
Our journey this time started from Page Arizona. It took us around 6hours from Arizona to Death Valley, California. Long and hot 6 hours :)
The view along the way is lovely indeed.
Typical mysterious deserts with its beauty.
We left Page early in the morning and manage to arrive in Death Valley at noon.
And it was so hot indeed.
Death Valley is, in fact, one of the hottest points in this country.
We headed to Furnace Creek, the visitor center, to know more about this huge Park. Looking at the map given to us, Death Valley is indeed so vast, so empty, yet so simple, and so quiet.
It was very quiet we could hear our own voice echoing back.
Well, Death Valley is the hottest, the driest and the lowest National Park indeed.
One thing for sure, there is NO SIGNAL here.
NO signals, NO GPS, NO service.
We very much relied on the map and road signs as well as park newspaper which has abundant information and warnings.
There are several interesting spots in Death Valley.
Some of them are Badwater Basin, Dante's View, Devil's Golf Course, Zabriskie Point, Artist Palette, Scotty's Castle, the Racetrack and more. There are so many ghost towns as well.
Then with the time and energy we have, we were faced by our classic problem.
So much to see, so little time
For the first stop, we had Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in North America. It was located 282 feet, or 86 meter, below the sea.
When we first stepped our foot here, all we could see was white and brown field.
Of salt and mud.
 |
| at the Badwater Basin. |
The salt flat was very interesting.
We have never seen it before and pretty much interested to see closer.
It feels like in another world.
It somehow reminds me of Star Wars :).
Bo and Obi realy enjoyed the Badwater Basin.
Although it was very hot, but they were happily running around the sands flat, looking at the salt and mud formations which are very unique.
Then after that, we headed to Devil's Golf Course. Nice name, right :).
It is basically a vast field with dry mud and salt. Looks like a thorn golf course.. And maybe only the devil who can play golf here.
This place is certainly huge so it feels like it belongs to us. We have more cars and visitors in Badwater Basin, but not on the other parts of the park.
Next, we drove around the Artist Drive. This one way drive is beautiful indeed, with some dips and curves which accentuate the mountainous structure of this area.
Then we arrived at the Artist Palette.
We took a break here and took photos until sunset.
By the time we finished at the Artist Palette, it was already dark.
And we were drop dead tired as well.
We stayed at Stovepipe Well that night.
Before heading to Yosemite National Park, we stopped at Mezquita Flat Sand Dune.
So, what do you think about Death Valley? Fascinating isn't?
