A Journey to Death Valley, California...where the Desert is Alive and Well

In October of 2016 we took a trip from Las Vegas to Death Valley. The 122 mile drive took us along Hwy 160 to Pahrump, Nevada. It's known as "over the hump to Pahrump" because the road crosses over the south end of the Red Rock National Conservation Area. The scenery was beautiful and we got an idea of what the wild desert is like. Once we passed Pahrump we took Hwy 372 and crossed into California on Highway 178 until we came to the tiny settlement of Shoshone. We turned north on Highway 127 towards Death Valley Junction and then drove up Highway 190 to Furnace Creek .

Furnace Creek Ranch was originally built as crew headquarters for the Pacific Coast Borax Company but is now a complete resort complex inside Death Valley National Park. After we had lunch, we drove to Bad Basin.

Our first stop was at Devils Golf Course. What a strange place. The ground is actually hard yet fragile deposits of sand and salt. A person can walk on them but it is very difficult. It looks like the bottom of the ocean was frozen in time. There are places to step that are about mid-calf deep and the formations of sand and salt are very sharp. The possibility of getting cut and scraped quickly are very real.

You can see where these formations go on for miles.

Natural Bridge

I did not hike this trail but Adam did. I decided to relax a bit and enjoyed the scenery.

Bad Water Basin

This is where it got really interesting for me!

Our next stop was at Bad Water Basin. This is the lowest place in the valley. It sits at the base of the mountains inside the national park. You get an idea of how deep 282' below sea level in because right behind you there's a mountain with a sign saying sea level.

Walking The Salt Flats

This is a destination stop! We did not know where we were going when we started down this road. We just drove. Then we discovered the Visitor's Center and the action going on. What an experience!

People were out in the 105 degree sun walking about half a mile out. Most people had their shoes off and taking their time strolling along. Okay...we were game. Off came the shoes and oh what a feeling! The ground was all salt of various textures. At first it was rough and a bit difficult to walk on. Once you continued the salt softened and felt more like sand. How could this be? We were in the desert and no water. Wrong...there is water right under the salt flats. People were stopping and digging with their toes and creating little puddles of water. We did the same and found the water was ice cold. Hard to believe but it was cold.

As we strolled along and took pictures, the sun began to drop ever so slightly so we could enjoy more of the experience without being directly in the heat. Adam and I have had years of working with magnesium and understood the holistic effects of walking on the salt flats. Magnesium Chloride is what the ocean gives us naturally. These salt flats are the same. The energy and well being we felt while walking was incredible. It lasted all night and into the next day.

A good feeling for the mind, body and spirit

Tootsies in the salt

People enjoying their own experience

Water coming up through the salt

As the day drew closer to sunset, we started our journey deeper into the valley. As we were driving along deciding on where we would spend the night, Mother Nature gave us a show that we won't soon forget.

This is what sunset looks like in the desert. We stood there in wonder for the longest time before we continued our journey to find a place to sleep for the night.

Stovepipe Wells Village

We found a campground in the village of Stovepipe Wells. We are not experienced campers but had our sleeping bags and a place to stretch out so we could catch a few zzzz's. It was about 10:00 p.m. when we reached our destination. We paid our $10.00 and found a campsite. There were many other campers around in tents and RV's. The moon was high in the sky and bright as there were no clouds by now. The only thing you could hear were hushed voices and an occasional coyote in the distance. They were fairly close but not right in the campground.

Trying to sleep was a challenge because of the full moon. Imagine trying to sleep with a huge spot light shining in your eyes. Not going to happen. Adam decided to stretch out on the picnic table and I stretched out in the back of the SUV. We had all the lights turned off and windows and doors open. It was still quite warm for October but we managed to settle in. I had my feet facing the open back end of the SUV and could see Adam about ten feet away. We did our best to settle in for the night. This is where it gets interesting...well...actually funny. After many hours of flipping and flopping and having to get up and walk to the bathroom, I finally managed to drop off to sleep. Well, at least I thought I was asleep. It seemed I was having an out of body experience. I was just dropping into somewhat of a good sleep when out of no where it felt like someone or something grabbed by left foot. I was screaming for Adam to help me and I could actually see him (out of body experience). I was screaming for him to help me and getting angry because he wasn't responding (because I wasn't actually screaming out loud). When I finally shook myself awake my heart was pounding like it was going to come out of my chest. There was no one or nothing around me foot. I jumped out of the back end of the SUV trying to catch my breath. It appeared he was asleep so I gathered my senses and quietly walked up to the bathroom (again). I knew there was no way I was going to get back to sleep for a bit. When I crawled back into the SUV, I put my head towards the end. I guess I thought I would feel safer. By now it was about 2:30 a.m. I dozed for a bit and finally heard Adam moving around, He said he had been awake most of the night and didn't hear or see anything around my foot. The moon was still full and everything was still. In hushed tones we decided we were not going to get any more sleep so we gently and quietly packed up and left. It was 5:00 a.m.

Ubehebe Crater

Ubehebe Crater (pronounced YOO-bee-HEE-bee) is located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains. The crater is half a mile (one kilometer) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep. The age of the crater is estimated from 2,000 to 7,000 years old.[1] (Information taken from Wikipedia). It was nice being out in the desert and watch the sun come up over the crater. Interesting natural phenomena.

Mr Wiley Coyote our for a morning stroll.

As I close this journey I hope you'll join me again for more adventures on the sidewalks of life.

Feel free to comment and follow me.

@sidewalktraveler

Images: Most are mine. Three are from Google