Our visit to Death Valley has been an impromptu one. On our way towards LA, we suddenly planned to stop by Death Valley, a desert valley located within Mojave Desert famed for its rugged and coarse landscapes. Known as the land of extremes and marked as the lowest place in North America, situated 282 feet below the sea level, Death Valley has the hottest and driest climate in the country, the hottest temperature so far recorded to be of 134 F (57C) at Furnace Creek in 1913. Summer is not an ideal time for travelling down Death Valley when temperatures frequently outreach 100 F. While travelling there, few precautions are to be taken seriously; one is to carry few bottles of drinking water as you need to drink water galore to keep dehydration away and second is to look around carefully while walking and touching anything for Death Valley swarms with some of the deadliest animals of the world including rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, bees, wasps, coyotes and mountain lions.
To complete a tour round the Death Valley National Park, in my estimation, you need to have at least 2-3 days in hand for the high air temperature and the dryness would surely take a toll on your health, merely after few stopovers at 3-4 scenic points. As we had a long distance to travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, only 2 hours of time were slated for Death Valley trip. So we chose three points - Zabriskie Point, Badwater Basin and Artist's Drive and Palette. The breathtaking beauty of the surrounding landscapes is rejuvenating. I just wish we had few more hours extra to cover some of the must see points within Death Valley; the Racetrack, Dante's View, Ubehebe Crater, Scotty's Castle, Salt Creek, Aguereberry Point, Ghost Town, Eureka Dunes, Darwin Falls and Wildrose Charcoal Kilns to name a few.
Before I begin recounting my experience, let me give you a quick informative guideline as how to reach Death Valley from Las Vegas without wasting time fumbling. Forget GPS if you want to rely on it for directions because in all probability GPS won't function few miles ahead from Death Valley, as the places nearby are very thinly or not populated at all. Furthermore, many a time travellers have been misled to dead end stops or closed roads by GPS instructions, so you ought to be careful. The route direction as detailed in the website of Furnace Creek Resort came to be of great use. Following their directions verbatim, we reached Death Valley National Park effortlessly. So I will recommend anyone planning for a visit there to have a look at their website:
http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/directions-533.html
Not only from Las Vegas, the site has the route directions mapped from Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Reno and so much as San Jose.
It took us about 2 and half hours to cover 120 miles and reach Death Valley. As mentioned earlier, we had very limited time in hand, so we designed our trip in a way to make the utmost use of it. We first went to Zabriskie Point which composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake that dried up 5 million years ago offers breathtaking beauty of erosional landscape. The bewitching spectacle of the rugged badlands got me carried away hook, line and sinker igniting a snap clicking frenzy in me and I went on clicking pictures one after another until I was completely worn out. Some snapshots below:
Next we went to Badwater Basin. As the name suggests, it is a basin where bad water accumulates. There is no point to assume, however, that the water is poisonous. It's salty rather and home to one of the rarest animals of Death Valley - Badwater snails. The basin is the lowest point in North America 282 feet/855 meters below sea level. The sea level is demarcated clearly for your understanding.
Artist's Drive and Palette is a one-way 9 mile long strip that takes you to a treasure house of breathtaking beauty. The road bends sharply at many places with steep undulations making it hard to exceed speed beyond 15 mph, resulting in half an hour tortuous drive to complete the loop. The surrounding beauty is truly picturesque, I had a feel as if a painter has sketched the mountains on a blue canvas. Artist's Palette is a natural marvel with the streaks of blue, pink, white and black manifesting on the clayish rock having developed naturally and not synthetically made up.
If wishing to stay overnight at Death Valley, then you may book a room at Furnace Creek Resort where besides staying, you may enjoy swimming and playing golf in the lowest golf course of the world. The same has a restaurant nearby where we enjoyed our lunch, the food served being warm and satisfying. Despite my fright of snakes, I was wishing to have at least one sighting of the infamous rattlesnakes the bite stories of which I have seen being covered in many documentaries showcased on Animal Planet. Alas ! No such luck came by :(
Regardless of the hazards involved in driving down the treacherous roads rife with undulations with miles and miles of wilderness for company, the mesmerizing backdrop of Death Valley surely makes up for all the effort taken. Overall, a very fulfilling experience!!
In order to help yourself mapping out your itinerary, you may visit the site below for reference. Some useful information is shared there.
http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/furnacecreekarea.htm
To complete a tour round the Death Valley National Park, in my estimation, you need to have at least 2-3 days in hand for the high air temperature and the dryness would surely take a toll on your health, merely after few stopovers at 3-4 scenic points. As we had a long distance to travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, only 2 hours of time were slated for Death Valley trip. So we chose three points - Zabriskie Point, Badwater Basin and Artist's Drive and Palette. The breathtaking beauty of the surrounding landscapes is rejuvenating. I just wish we had few more hours extra to cover some of the must see points within Death Valley; the Racetrack, Dante's View, Ubehebe Crater, Scotty's Castle, Salt Creek, Aguereberry Point, Ghost Town, Eureka Dunes, Darwin Falls and Wildrose Charcoal Kilns to name a few.
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| Zabriskie Point |
Before I begin recounting my experience, let me give you a quick informative guideline as how to reach Death Valley from Las Vegas without wasting time fumbling. Forget GPS if you want to rely on it for directions because in all probability GPS won't function few miles ahead from Death Valley, as the places nearby are very thinly or not populated at all. Furthermore, many a time travellers have been misled to dead end stops or closed roads by GPS instructions, so you ought to be careful. The route direction as detailed in the website of Furnace Creek Resort came to be of great use. Following their directions verbatim, we reached Death Valley National Park effortlessly. So I will recommend anyone planning for a visit there to have a look at their website:
http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/directions-533.html
Not only from Las Vegas, the site has the route directions mapped from Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Reno and so much as San Jose.
It took us about 2 and half hours to cover 120 miles and reach Death Valley. As mentioned earlier, we had very limited time in hand, so we designed our trip in a way to make the utmost use of it. We first went to Zabriskie Point which composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake that dried up 5 million years ago offers breathtaking beauty of erosional landscape. The bewitching spectacle of the rugged badlands got me carried away hook, line and sinker igniting a snap clicking frenzy in me and I went on clicking pictures one after another until I was completely worn out. Some snapshots below:
 |
| Zabriskie Point |
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| Zabriskie Point |
Next we went to Badwater Basin. As the name suggests, it is a basin where bad water accumulates. There is no point to assume, however, that the water is poisonous. It's salty rather and home to one of the rarest animals of Death Valley - Badwater snails. The basin is the lowest point in North America 282 feet/855 meters below sea level. The sea level is demarcated clearly for your understanding.
 |
| The signboard says it all |
 |
| See how the sea level is demarcated. |
 |
| Badwater Basin |
Artist's Drive and Palette is a one-way 9 mile long strip that takes you to a treasure house of breathtaking beauty. The road bends sharply at many places with steep undulations making it hard to exceed speed beyond 15 mph, resulting in half an hour tortuous drive to complete the loop. The surrounding beauty is truly picturesque, I had a feel as if a painter has sketched the mountains on a blue canvas. Artist's Palette is a natural marvel with the streaks of blue, pink, white and black manifesting on the clayish rock having developed naturally and not synthetically made up.
 |
| Artist's Palette |
If wishing to stay overnight at Death Valley, then you may book a room at Furnace Creek Resort where besides staying, you may enjoy swimming and playing golf in the lowest golf course of the world. The same has a restaurant nearby where we enjoyed our lunch, the food served being warm and satisfying. Despite my fright of snakes, I was wishing to have at least one sighting of the infamous rattlesnakes the bite stories of which I have seen being covered in many documentaries showcased on Animal Planet. Alas ! No such luck came by :(
Regardless of the hazards involved in driving down the treacherous roads rife with undulations with miles and miles of wilderness for company, the mesmerizing backdrop of Death Valley surely makes up for all the effort taken. Overall, a very fulfilling experience!!
In order to help yourself mapping out your itinerary, you may visit the site below for reference. Some useful information is shared there.
http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/furnacecreekarea.htm
