Dates: 12/11/2020 to 12/14/2020
Some fellow van travelers we met on the web were visiting Death Valley, so we opted to meet them there. Despite numerous visits, it really doesn’t get old.
We did a bit of walking around Zabriskie Point early on.
Overlooking the park is Dante’s View.
300ft below sea level, and thousands of feet below us, the Badwater Basin is a vast plain of dry washes and salt flats.
The desert Kit Fox may look like a pup, but they are fully grown and well adapted to the arid conditions.
A 20-mule wagon which was used to haul raw borax out of the valley floor. For several years workers scraped the borax-bearing salts from the surface of the plain. Note the large water tank, which was nearly completely consumed during the journey to the nearest railway station.
The next day we hiked up Fall Canyon.
The namesake fall, impassible without skills we don’t posses.
We then broke off and headed north. Having never been to north Death Valley, we wanted to visit the Eureka Dunes. Quite a few miles of washboard dirt roads awaited us. Though the backdrop made it worth the effort.
The next day we arrived at the dunes. With the tallest being around 700ft high, it can be hard to get a sense of scale.
If you look closely, you might see me down at the base of this smaller dune.
This colorful ridge blocks the end of Eureka valley, creating the wind conditions which generate the dunes.
We didn’t hike all the way to the tallest dune. Its hard-going in the windblown sand. You can see the highest point behind us.
Here is the rather bumpy road to the dunes. Way in the distance you can see the mountains we will be driving over to exit the northern entrance to the park.