Road Trip 2016: Death Valley National Park

October 6, 2016

It's about a nine hour drive from Las Vegas to home for me.  It takes about the same amount of time to get from Death Valley to home.  So, it might seem a little weird that I would go through Death Valley on my way home knowing full well that I'm no closer to getting home from Death Valley than when I left Las Vegas.  It's a drive I've done before, though, and one I really enjoy.  If I could pick one park that I consider MY park, the one park I would choose to visit if I could only visit one, it would be Death Valley.

Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

It felt strange to leave Las Vegas having not set foot inside a casino.  I enjoy casinos.  I have a fairly low, hard limit ($200) for losses in a night of gambling which I've never actually reached.  I don't think I've been to casinos more than three times in a single year.  It's fun, though.  Drinking.  Gambling.  People watching.  I'm usually ready to shed myself of this town when I leave, though.  This time, I could have spent another night.

Rhyolite, NV

We stopped in Rhyolite, NV before entering Death Valley.  It's a cool little ghost town with a nearby large sculpture exhibit.  The idea of visiting a Wild West ghost town is cool.  This one doesn't quite live up to what I imagine a ghost town should be,  Still, it's a fun stop.

Death Valley National Park, CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

So, what is it about Death Valley that I like so much?  Part of it is the devastating solitude.  All one has to do is stop just about anywhere in the park and walk a couple of hundred yards away from one's car.  It's easy to imagine that no one has ever stood exactly in that spot.  Then the quiet hits you.  It's like no where else.  All you may hear is wind, and if the wind isn't blowing it can be dead silent.  In certain spots you might look around and see not a single, solitary living thing for miles in all directions.  It's an amazing feeling to be that isolated and yet out in the great wide open.

Death Valley National Park. CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

Meep! Meep! -- Artist's Loop, Death Valley National Park, CA

Artist's Loop, Death Valley National Park, CA

Artist's Palette. Death Valley National Park, CA

It's also interesting to imagine what it must have been like for people trying to traverse this place in wagon trains.  To have crossed the Mojave just to run into this?  I can't imagine.  Even worse, to somehow get through Death Valley and over the Panamint Range and then through Panamint Valley and over the next mountain range only to run smack into the tallest section of the 10,000 foot tall, 200 mile long, 60 miles wide sheer granite wall that is the Sierra Nevadas?  Poor folks.

Death Valley National Park, CA

Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley National Park, CA

I saw three coyotes coming down the mountains and into Panamint Valley.  They all seemed to be begging for food.  I'm guessing people feed them on the roadside.  Jerks.

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

Coyote -- Death Valley National Park, CA

It wasn't quite 4:00 when we hit Panamint Valley, so I decided to drive on a little farther to Red Rock Canyon.  It has a camp ground I've been wanting to stay at.  That turned out to be a pretty good decision.  The night was warm and there was little wind.  It was very quiet, with only a handful of other sites being occupied.  We had a nice dinner while listening to the baseball playoffs on the radio then slept soundly after the game.

Panamint Dunes. Death Valley National Park, CA

Rainbow Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

Red Rock Canyon State Park, CA

Red Rock Canyon State Park, CA

Red Rock Canyon State Park, CA

Soundtrack:

• The Beatles -- Let It Be
• Loretta Lynn -- Van Lear Rose
• Woody Allen -- The Night Club Years [1]
• Lou Reed -- Rock 'n' Roll Animal
• Left of the Dial [2]
• The Dead Weather -- Horehound / Sea of Cowards