Death Valley National Park, July 2018: The Valley Floor

Death Valley was the only place on my road trip where I stayed for two nights. As the largest national park in the continental U.S., its size certainly merited the additional time.  After sunrise, I planned a route that would enable me to take in the sights in the central valley in the morning, head to the northern valley in the afternoon, then make it up to my campsite in the Panamint Range before nightfall.

I went straight for Badwater Basin, believing it best to hit the hottest and lowest point in North America before the temperatures climbed too high.  That also meant it was largely still in the shadow of the Amargosa Range to the east.

Since I have no plans to ever be in a submarine, this is most likely the lowest point where I'll ever be.  Cool!

The official lowest point is technically about a half a mile out in the salt flats.  Scale and distance tend to lose their meaning a bit when the terrain is so flat and relatively featureless for so far.

The fortitude of early pioneers and prospectors trying to cross this desolate landscape amazes me.

Hey, another place with "Devil" in the name!  Honestly, it didn't look that bad to me.

Then I got to the end of the road, and better understood how Devils Golf Course got its name.

This is the only shot I took on my entire trip with me in it.  In hindsight, I wish I had put myself in more scenes to give a better sense of the scale I mentioned earlier.

The shadows were tricky at the mouth of Golden Canyon.  But with the mercury already surpassing 110 degrees, I was uninterested in trekking further up the trail.

After checking out of my room and grabbing an unexpectedly amazing lunch at the Badwater Saloon in Stovepipe Wells, I drove 40 miles to Ubehebe Crater.  Hiking down to the bottom was tempting, but the heat quickly discouraged me from the attempt.

The crater rim had some pretty stiff winds, so I had to struggle to keep my tripod still while shooting this five-image panoramic.

From here it was off to the Wildrose Campground for the night.  As long as my Prius could handle the high temperatures for a little longer, the promise of cooler conditions 4,100 feet up in the mountains awaited!

Related Links:

• Death Valley National Park, July 2018: Arrival
• Death Valley National Park, July 2018: Zabriskie Point Sunrise
• Death Valley National Park, July 2018: Panamint Range