Week 480-481 - Death Valley Photo Collection - 11-01-2015

Welcome to the Death Valley!

Our trip to Death Valley started in Pahrump, Nevada. It proceeded to Shoshone, Death Valley Junction, Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Badwater and exited on the Emmigrant Canyon Pass.

The trip from Pahrump to Furnace Creek is pretty desolate.

But once you arrive at Furnace Creek, it is pretty and desolate. The only modern facility in the national park is the Furnace Creek Inn. You can get a room starting at $400/night (11-2015) with FREE parking, yippee!

Truly the colors in the park are quite amazing. The contrasts are great and traffic is low.

We loved the simplicity and beauty of this photo so much that we use it for our Web Design Home Page

Commercial deliveries have changed on the years. Ellen stands next to a borax train that used to be pulled by 20 mules. Today, things are different: 'We love logistics!".

This is Badwater. We reached it on a 50 mile scooter ride from Stovepipe Wells. You could also have driven in on the southern road from Shoshone. As dry as the valley was in March of 2008, there was still water here. The Sea Level marker was high up on the mountain at Badwater. Badwater is the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level.

This area is know as Devil's Golf Course.

The golf course roughs are well, very rough. Not sure where the greens are?

The Artist Drive is very nice. Lots of colors and there are numerous hikes you can take along the way.

The hike through Golden Valley is very worthwhile. Not too long, mostly easy with a few moderate climbs.

You can get many dramatic photos.

Contrasts range from the dark to light.

This section is not moderate, but quite fun.

Pete takes the challenge but getting to the top, there is no place to go.

Ellen finds the same thing on her path.

Fabulous formations ...

and great perches!

This point on Hwy 178 is the lowest road in the USA. The road on the right is Emmigrant Canyon Road, our exit from the park.

The sign at the beginning of the road said "not advised for trailers or buses". But we have been on tough roads before so "no problem". As the road got smaller and narrower, we backed off and parked to consider our plan. We stopped the car coming the other way and asked if the rest of the road would be okay for us. They asked "are you over 25 feet?". Well, yeah, we are 44. They replied, "you'll probably be okay!"

The section right after our stop was tight. We had to take the whole road for about one mile. No one could have passed us on the corners. The rest of the road was great as you can see.

Mostly paved, a little rough as spots. We rate this road #7 out of 16 bad roads, see Bad Roads Photo Collection.

We made it. We found it intriguing that the sign at the other end was worded differently.

Thanks for coming along, see you next week.

And Happy Halloween.

Love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from Mar 2008