Death Valley - A Pretty Cool Place on Earth

So Steve and I were really excited that 1) we played hooky from work and went camping/hiking this weekend 2) that we went to Death Valley, even though it took us 6 1/2 hours in traffic to get there and 3) the new camera came in the mail just in time so that we could take over 200 photographs to share!!

It was hard to whittle it down to this many, and I know 20 pictures is a lot, but the expanse of this place was so incredible. The geology, the geography, and the constitution of the land would change so drastically from one minute to the next - and I really mean that. We would be driving around (and you have to through most of it because it's 3.4 millions acres of land!!) and not a 1/4 mile later, the landscape would be COMPLETELY different. and I mean different. We really wished that we had Steve's dad along so he could explain all the different rock formations and what things might be made of - we know he's a chemistry teacher, but figured it would have been more knowledge than we had.

If we were to go again, we would definitely rent a 4WD card with high clearance - a lot of the roads are only open to them - and i think that would be a much better way to explore the park. There are some hiking trails, but it's not like anything specific. You kinda just have to park on the side of the road, hike across the basin, and try to find an interesting way up a canyon or rock formation. We, however, didn't do this, and stuck to the few trails that were marked. (which was more than enough for one weekend).

Here are some pictures with some helpful captions to show you the way. I've done this chronologically so you can see what we did in the order we did it! Enjoy!

This is on the way there - you can see how much rain/snow we've gotten in San Diego County this year!

On the road to Death Valley - pretty bleak.

Bit chilly our first night there -

Sunrise on the mountains - taken from our camp site.

Looks like Death Valley also got rain - the little yellow flowers were all over this one section of the park.

Badwater Basin - 283 feet BELOW sea level.
At the Basin out on the salt flats (salt pan) whatever, it was cool.
On the salt flats looking towards Telescope Peak (11,000 some feet high)
Our new camera can take such close shots i think you can see the wrinkles on my forehead.
Steve on the salt flats - if you look closely you can see me too!
Okay - so the top arrow is pointing to the sign that says "Sea Level" and the bottom arrow is pointing to the parking lot for the entrance to the salt basin. Pretty cool.
Someone wanted to take our picture. After turning him down twice, we finally said ok. Steve was paranoid he just wanted to swipe the new camera. ;) I think he was just weirded out that we didn't care if we got a picture of the two of us since most of our pics are usually landscape. Luckily, it turned out nice.
In Golden Canyon. I think at the right time of day, this place probably glows. Do you see the moon?
The Sand Dunes at sunset.
Nothing like camping with the RV field behind you. Needless to say, next time we'll do some backcountry camping.
Remains of the encampment at Eureka Mine. This dude lived here from 1905 - 1945. Would you?
Hiking up Wildrose Peak - at 7600 feet - and in the snow!
From "Dante's View" - supposedly one of the best spots in the park. You can see down to the salt flats and across the Valley and even across to the mountain range we climbed (as seen above with the snow).
I'm not as good a sunset picture taker as my brother, but this is the sun sneaking away over Telescope Peak.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! We had a great time taking them. More often than not, our trips end up being about taking pictures rather than anything else -and you know, I'm okay with that. I mean, we may have to hike 4 miles to get a good shot, but that's just icing on the cake.