Finding Vibrance in Death Valley

Travel

Jan 3

*Ivory rolling rocks at Golden Canyon (and, one of several Star Wars filming locations in the park)*

We pulled into Death Valley National Park in true Death Valley fashion: amid a dust storm and a high wind warning. Sand was blowing wildly, with conditions escalating as we headed to our campsite at Furnace Creek Campground. The iconic digital thermometer outside the visitor’s center flipped over to 100 degrees Fahrenheit as we drove by. How very Death Valley of it!

We set up base camp and ducked inside, dusty and windblown but energized from the different experience and new environment. We’d spent the previous night camping at Lake Mead and made a quick stop at Hoover Dam on the way to Death Valley, bypassing Las Vegas this round to get to our next state, California.

The following days at Death Valley National Park are ideal, with a front bringing mild temperatures ranging from the upper 40s to the mid-80s, depending on location and elevation. Wind quiets during the day, returning late afternoon. We are lucky to be here just before temperatures heat up again (so lucky that we decide to extend our stay). The park has visitors, but is very quiet compared to what it must be in the high season, when the palm tree-lined inns are full. At this time, the campgrounds have only a few takers, and the trails are quiet. This shoulder-season visit has proved to be the perfect timing.

Death Valley National Park holds over 3 million acres and is the largest national park within the lower 48. Further, 93% of the park is designated as wilderness and intentionally undeveloped. From the main roads, this wilderness is accessible only on foot to preserve the desert's environmental integrity. Tire tracks can leave marks here that persist for years.

*Jagged salt pinnacles at Devil’s Golf Course crackle & pop audibly in the heat*

The lowest point in the park is 282’ below sea level, with salt flats and a barren feel. The highest peak is over 11,000’ with pinion pine, juniper, mesquite, and wild roses. Graceful dunes make up the landscape in between. To say the landscape here is varied is an understatement.

*The graceful Mesquite Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park*

While it looks like a galaxy far, far away, Death Valley is a reminder of the phenomenon that is our planet. Trails here have names like Devil’s Golf Course, Desolation Canyon, Red Cathedral, Dante's View. Then there are Golden Canyon, Artist’s Palette, Mosaic Canyon…and there is energy even in the void in each of them. Craters, canyons, gulches, beautiful painted rocks for miles and miles, with life adapting in between.

I would return to Death Valley National Park any day to revel in the unexpected delight of beauty in the bizarre.