I have to admit, before entering Death Valley I thought there wouldn’t be much to it, except for the obvious sand dunes and dry climate. I was completely wrong! Even though it is such an arid climate, the park offers so much diversity!
It was my wrongdoing going to the hottest place in the United States in the middle of June. There is a short video at the end of the article on how spunky I was coming into the park, and how it all changed after hiking! Warning! This girl in this video looks like shit!
Not advisable if you want to go hiking. And yes, there is plentiful hiking. More so than I thought there would be. You could easily stay here for a few days and even a week to do all the hiking. Most recommended hike, Mosaic Canyon.
You can also get a topo map of the area if you would like.
I only adventured into it a little bit. It was way too hot out for me to do a four mile hike.
But, this place looked amazing! You wandered into this canyon with high walls and the colors on this canyon were crazy!
It is now on my bucket list to go back at some point and enjoy this park when it’s not 120 degrees. At one point the dial stated 125 degrees. It was brutal.
The park has a lot of places where you can pull off and do short hikes as well as longer hikes. My favorite short hike was definitely Dantes View!
You can drive right up to see this view and there is also short hiking trails up and down this viewpoint to get different angles.
I seriously felt like I was on the edge of this earth when I walked up to it. It was amazing!
You are looking at the lowest point in the US. You can also drive there and walk at the lowest point. It is called the badwater basin, a must do if you want to stand at the lowest point.
Badwater Basin-lowest point in America
The drive there is also recommended. You go past artists drive. It’s a loop, a one-way loop so the best is to drive passed it, go to the basin, then on your way back do artists drive and then it will place you back on the main road, driving the right direction. Best way with time and millage.
Driving through this park you can see a lot.
Even though you feel like you are going to be in one climate in death valley, when your in it, you can see the climate change.
You see the colors of the rock formations change colors; you see turquoise, yellow, orange, red, white, and maybe more. Then you will see it get less rocky and more sandy.
Then you will see crystallized sand.
Then canyons. You don’t get bored here!
If your the type of person who needs to be in a hotel at the end of the night, there are really pretty resorts here.
They do a really good job making it aesthetically pleasing to the eye, lined with palm trees and waterfalls. It looks very appealing to be there at the end of the day for sure. I got to admit my mouth was watering a little bit!
Driving I got caught up in a little bit of a sand storm. It wasn’t bad at all. Could have been a lot worse!
When I was leaving the park, I don’t even know what this animal was. A small coyote? A big fox?
Well, he started following me and trotting behind my car. When I moved, he moved. When I stopped, he stopped. I don’t know if it’s because he was habituated by food/water by other people or what. It was cute though. I made a friend!
Anyway, my advice, don’t come here in the summer. You can literally see the heat coming down on you!
It was a great trip though, very pretty! Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!
Sincerely,
Shelly/Livingonthedirt
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