We meant to get up early to see the dunes at sunrise, but we accidentally set the alarm late. So we get up with the sun rather than before the sun. But it gives us a chance to see our camping spot in a different light as we watch the sunrise over the mountains through the windshield.
Our plan for today is to do the Golden Canyon and Lower Gulch walk, then Badwater Basin, Devil’s Golfcourse and Artist’s Pallette. For sunset we plan to go to Zabriskie Point
It’s about a 3 hour drive into Death Valley from he RV park where we stayed. We’re still feeling a bit out of sync, so we decided to have a long sleep and a slow start, heading off at 9am.
Most of the drive is pretty simple, boring highways, getting used to driving on the right (wrong!) side. It’s the last stretch where I start sensing somethings changing. More interesting scenery and signs that warn to turn off air conditioning to avoid overheating.
We climb up and up (not what I expected when heading ‘down’ into Death Valley!). But then the road plateaus and a sign suggests a brake check. We start to descend having passed up the offer. Maybe I was tired, but at first I wasn’t stuck by what I saw: a huge flat expanse with lofty mountains either side (a valley, right?), it didn’t look that cool at first.
We drive to the visitor centre first. As we continue the scenery begins to hint at how cool this place is: the sand dunes in the middle of the valley, huge mountains of all sizes – and colours – all around.
At the visitor centre the thermometer was reading 105° (40°C). That’s pretty hot, for a standard spring afternoon.
Now we drive to our campsite for the next two nights at Mesquite Springs. Our final stop is Ubehebe Crater for sunset.
It’s super windy at the crater! And the colours of the rocks and the sun create warmth and shadows in amazing ways. It’s too windy for us to be comfortable walking the whole way around, so we go up to a vantage point with a couple of beers and watch the sun set.
(The crater we formed a couple of thousand years ago when some magma made its way to an groundwater and caused a superheated steam explosion. The crater is 200m deep and 600m wide!)
After the drama of getting to the airport, everything else runs pretty smoothly.
The flight was good, but a little bit late. Once we land in LA and get phone working the camper van rental place is open.
Initially we were going to get our van in the afternoon, so we head over to drop our bags and look about, but when we arrive it’s ready for us. So let’s get this trip on the road
First stop is super close, only a 5 minute drive to Pann’s Restaurant for our first American diner experience: fried chicken and waffles for me, grilled cheese and ham for Anna. Really hits the spot!
Then we start proper: an easy hour-long drive to an RV park outside LA (a place called Astor).
After checking in it’s out first Walmart experience to stock up before Death Valley tomorrow. More on big Walmart things another time
Mexican beans and a beer for dinner
Below: Anna at the RV park, dinner, and view from bed in the morning
Sunday: Death Valley
We just had the most stressful trip here.
We were in an uber from Anna’s place and come to a bunch of slow traffic on South Dowling. At first we think it’s just some traffic in the right turn lane. But after a little while the live traffic app says there is a minor accident that happened 2 minutes before we got there. For 5-10 mins we are stopped in gridlock, so I get out and see chaos up ahead.
We bail from the uber and get our stuff out. A guy in the car behind yells “are you going to the airport?” We say yeh and so he joins us in running along the road between the cars.
As we’re running, other people with their bags and luggage start getting out of the cars and running too.
Eventually we get past the accident and see that the road is totally blocked with fire engines and a truck with a snatch strap pulling cars out of the way. It was more than a minor accident!
I put down a sketchy pick up point for another uber and some hero accepts within 10 seconds. He stops in a turning lane (sorry other cars!). He races the three of us in the best ‘we need to get to the airport’ kinda way. While we chat to our new friend who’s a beef farmer from Armidale.
We only just got through check in and bag drop in time. Good bit of excitement to start the holiday! Hopefully the whole trip isn’t all that exciting
Relaxing day at the beach yesterday, and a final shot at sunrise of Anna’s view these last coupla years
