Death Valley

Michelle and I (and Rika the Vizsla) spent four wonderful nights in Death Valley National Park this past week. What a well kept secret! It's an amazing place, like visiting another planet. Even with all the bloom publicity, it was not crowded (the park is huge). There is so much to explore, it would take many visits to see it all. We stayed at Furnace Creek, site 39. Great site, right on the edge of the campground, lots a room for the dog, full hookups, nice view, quiet, clean bathrooms. There is a restaurant, saloon and store at the nearby Furnace Creek Resort just a mile down the road.

If you do go, don't miss the drive along "Artist Palette" Road which is less than 10 miles from the campground. You can park at any number of turnouts and hike as well, other worldly. There were still some blooms at the higher elevations, but there is plenty to be in awe of there besides flowers. Did get warm and windy during the afternoon, but you can just drive up to the higher elevations or turn on the AC (we were happy we had it) and take an afternoon siesta. And at night, oh the stars!

 

Sounds like a great trip & amazing place! I'd love to see your pictures, but they are not showing up for me. :/

Casandra

 

Ugh. Not sure what I am doing wrong with posting pics. I resize them them according to the instructions. They show fine on my PC but I get a blue ? on my apple devices. Maybe I'll reach out to Evan.

 

I figured out my picture problem, the URL for the image needs to start with http, NOT https. Should be viewable now. Thanks for letting me know!

 

Great photos! Thanks so much for trying again & sharing them! Love your dog. What is he/she?

Do you know what the turquoise color is in the 2nd photo....what causes it to look like that? It's really cool!

Casandra

 

Nice images - probably there at the right time of the year. I remember my first trips out west - always seemed to be on the right side of the mountain at the wrong time of the day. Probably a east versus west coast thing.

Bob

 

Cassandra,

Thank you! Happy to finally figure out why my pictures would show a blue question mark. Rika is a Vizsla (Hungarian Pointer). She loves to camp and hike. The green is caused by copper in the stone. The colors in Death Valley change depending on the angle of the sun and are amazing at sunset.

Thanks!

 

It is a glorious place. Jim and I have been there several times and it always inspires. The valley colors constantly shift with the light and you are right, the starscape is staggering. It gets toasty in May, so we usually visit in late February or early March. That is peak time and crowed at the sites, but the valley is huge and as soon as you leave Furnace Creek, you can find solitude in a single turn of the road. Love it there and delighted to see you too have fallen under its spell.

Hope you tried the date shakes - a marvelous guilty pleasure.

And - as always...

Camp On.

Sue