Monday 1 June

After my climb I started a reasonably long drive towards Red Rocks Canyon State Park were I was camping that evening on the way to Death Valley. Not a whole lot to report about most of the drive itself as there was nothing much interesting on the way. the only interesting things were at the end and I discusss these next.

Red Rocks Canyon State Park

The state park itself was pretty cool with some really cool looking rock thanks to all the different colours in it. Once again found a nice hard campsite before heading off to have a quick look round the park. Not much of it was accessiable by normal car so jsut went for a short walk beneath the cliffs I had spotted on the way in. I then went and took a couple of photos of what is, I think, a salt lake I'd also seen on the drive before heading to get some dinner (nearest town was some 20 miles away). I got back and had a short read before heaidng to bed.

8. While pitching my tent I broke one of the pegs - I now know why peg hammers exist - never really had much need for them in the UK but in hard desert ground...

Tuesday 2 June

I was up incredibly early the next morning thanks to the diffiuclties involved in sleeping on a rock hard desert floor so I had taken some more photos (included above) and was on my way to Death Valley really early.

Father Crowley Point

I got there about mid-morning and in my early drive around investigations found an overlook. Death Valley didn't look as exciting as I thought it would - soemthing that I'd confirm upon closer inspection.

Charcol Kilns

I didn't much fancy doing anything in the valley itself due to the immense heat there (it reached 102 degrees while I was there) so headed up to the mountains on the side of the valley for a walk. At the start of the walk were some chracol kilns were charcol had briefly been made in the late 19th century. These were rather weird shaped building and there being a load of them in a row just made them look even wierder.

Wildrose Peak

I then started my walk up to Wildrose Peak a 8.4 mile round trip involving over 2000 feet of elevation change. I was more than a little uncertain whether I'd be able to complete it all before darkness and really did think I'd have to turn round before summiting but my sturboness kicked in and I did summit and get back in daylight. I did meet two people half-way back down who I think hadn't realised quite how long the walk was because after I talked to them they thought they'd turn round before summiting which seemed rather sensible. There were some good views of Death Valley on the walk and all-in-all it was very enjoyable, not least because it was at a reasonable temperature.

That Evening

I then started my drive towards Beatty in Nevada where I was staying that evening. I was staying in a motel and was looking forward to a proper bed. When I arrived in Beatty I realised that my plan to get food there was slightly flawed - it was tiny and

9. The only food options where bars or in a casino.

All I really wanted was fast food as it was already late and I was tired so didn't fancy changing and getting a sit down meal. As the nearest other towns were about 30 miles away and looked on the map to be even further away I just ended up getting the only hot food a gas station had left (which was nowhere near enough to fill me up) and then a chocolate bars and some cookies which was just about enough to keep me going.

Wednesday 3 June

The next day I went back up to Death Valley and picked up some breakfast in the park as I was a little hungry! Thankfully the day was quite cloudy and so it didn't feel quite so hot in the valley - temperatures didn't get over 100 although they did get rather close (I think they reached 98)

Mosiac Canyon

My first stop was at Mosiac Canyon a canyon which was meant to have walls which had a range of colours and textures. I was sadly underwhelmed and tunrned around before going too far into the canyon as I had a lot else I wanted to do.

Salt Creek

I then went and visted something that I certainly wasn't expecting to see in Death Valley - a creek. It even had water in it although apparently it dried up in the really hot months. It was all a little surreal walking around on a broad walk beside a stream while in the middle of Death Valley. Quite an eye opener.

Harmony Borax Works

An old borax works was my next visit. It was amazing to think that people used to work here - although even they moved to another site in the middle of the summer as the borax extraction process doesn't work properly above 120 degrees! It was also amazing to think that the resulting Borax was hauled for about a week by mulls to the nearest rail head. Things were defintely done differently back then although it was noticable that they used Chinese labourers for the grunt work.

Devil's Golf Course

Strangly enough this wasn't actually a golf course but rather a quite large area of wierd formations formed by the wind from the soil and salt in the bottom of the valley. Not massively exciting but given that you actually drove into the middle of it it was worth seeing as it required so little effort.

Badlands

Badlands is the location of the lowest point (on land) in the Western Hemisphere. However given that it was only two feet lower than the bit next to the car park and was a several miles walk I didn't bother. The most aazing thing here was definitely the sea level sign which was quite some significant distance above you! There was also another small bit of water along with quite a lot of people although by going even for a short walk you could easily escape them.

Natural Bridge

A short trip to see a natural bridge. I didn't go any further due to the time that was ticking on. The bridge itself was not as spectecular as bridges I'd seen on previous trips but in some ways just an amazing as the rock look a lot less solid and to me it seemed like the whole thing was ready to fall down.

Arists's Drive

This was a scenic drive that visted an area known for its wide range of different coloured rock and which visted Artist's Palette which was meant to be the best bit although I'm not sure I agree as I think some of the other bits displayed the colurs better.

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie point was meant to be one of the better overlooks in the park and I can't say I disagree. In my opinion you could see the different colours in the Artist's Drive area much better than on the actual drive.

Dante's Point

My final stop in Death Valley was Dante's Point which was an overlook with a short walk to Dante's Point itself. It was probably the best place to get an overview of the valley itself, including the Badlands where you could see very small people doing what I'd done earlier.

The Evening

That evening I drove to Las Vegas and spent a really exciting evening getting a take-away pizza and doing some washing. I'd imagine it's not exactly your average night in Vegas but it needed doing!