Death Valley is a land of extremes. An 11,000 foot mountain looks over the lowest point in North America. And the hottest temperature ever recorded was in Death Valley — over 56C/134F. Long flat plains are divided by impossibly straight roads and bounded by mountain ranges on both sides. It is home to some incredibly diverse natural features and it was these that my family and I were here to explore. We had about 2 days in Death Valley. As always, you can always spend longer in any given plan, but 2 days felt enough to see plenty without feeling the need to rush.
Day 1
Our first day was really more of a half day, which I admit is not a strong start considering the previous sentence. We had a slow morning in Las Vegas that morning and since Death Valley is only 2.5 hours away from Vegas, there was little pressure on an early start.
Since breakfast was late, lunch was a non-event but that didn’t matter because we were keen to begin exploring Death Valley.
Dante’s View
As we were heading north from Las Vegas it made sense to knock over the things in the south of Death Valley. Dante’s View was one such stop. It was a substantial detour — 20 minutes from the turnoff from Highway 190 to the View and back — but boy, was it worth it.
Dante’s View is a viewpoint that sits atop the Black Mountains looking down on Death Valley. It looks across to Telescope Peak — the highest point in Death Valley at 11,000 ft — and down to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 279 ft below sea level.
Dante’s Peak itself is 5,500 feet in elevation, which is plenty high enough to display miles of salt flat. It also gives you a true sense of orientation for this part of Death Valley, and shows that it really is a valley, it’s not just a title.
Twenty Mule Team Canyon
I’ll be honest, I had Twenty Mule Team Canyon on my list, but I had no idea what it was. Was it a hike? Was it a lookout? Well, it’s neither. It’s a rocky, bumpy, incredibly scenic drive through badlands.
We pulled off Highway 190 as directed by Google Maps, looking for a sign on what to do next. One sign led to another and before we knew it we were bouncing along further and further down the track. After about a mile I came to the conclusion that this probably isn’t taking us to a walk or viewpoint, but we were on it.
The scenic drive is about 2.5 miles, information that would have come in really handy! All this time I was concerned a rock would jump out at us, or up into the undercarriage, or we’d stuff the suspension, and the rental insurance wouldn’t cover it because we were offroad (always read the terms!) Thankfully my skilled wife navigated with aplomb and we made it out safely. Sorry Dollar!
Zabriske Point
Zabriske Point is a very easy place to reach and has a fantastic view; these are the types of places that are great for taking kids. There’s a sizable parking lot off the 190 from which there is a short (if relatively steep) paved pathway up to a viewpoint that looks over some interesting badlands.
Made from silt and volcanic ash that formed the bottom of an ancient lake bed, these jagged hills are continually shifting based on seismic activity and sculpted by rainwash.
You are able to walk down some pathways to get a closer look but we opted to just stay up on the platform.
Driving through Death Valley
After Zabriske it was still a 35 minute drive to our accommodation in Stovepipe Wells and since the sun was beginning to set and we’d been in the car quite a lot already today, we called it.
The drive through Death Valley is wonderful. The surrounding plains are so flat and the flat plains are surrounded by imposing badlands and mountains on both sides. It’s such a juxtaposition. Because there aren’t many obstacles, the roads are so straight. Makes for some easy driving!
Stovepipe Wells
Stovepipe Wells Village is a little village to the north of Furnace Creek. There’s not much at Stovepipe Wells. It’s essentially there to provide essential services to travellers. There’s a fairly large motel there, which is where we stayed. Connected to this is a decent restaurant and a saloon, which unfortunately I never made it to. Across the road is a fuel station and a general store.
It’s all done up in a western style, built from timber, longhorns on the wall, and the restaurant proudly displays posters from the movies that have shot scenes in the surrounding areas.
After dinner, it was lights out and an early night because some of us (just me) were up until 4:30am playing roulette and blackjack in Vegas the night before.
Day 2
Our second day in Death Valley was more of the same but in different spots. Although I’d been to most of them on a previous trip to California, it was great to revisit and rehash some of those memories — even though much of it still seemed quite unfamiliar!
Badwater Basin
I mentioned yesterday that Dante’s Point overlooked the salt flat. Well today we drove into the salt flat and looked up to Dante’s Point on one side and Telescope Peak on the other.
Badwater Basin is named for the pool that sits just beside the visitor car park. It is a small spring-fed pool but due to the literally tons of salt surround it, it is undrinkable. Hence, it is bad water.
We crossed the boardwalk from the car park to the smooth salt-bed and meandered out. Of the 15 of us in our group, no one really had a plan so we just walked until we felt like we’d gone far enough. The ground underfoot is very smooth, but much of the surrounding salt flat is covered in jagged, crystalised salt which would cut your feet. If you veer off what appears to be a wide, marked trail (though I think it is simply naturally formed) you may experience this.
We walked about 30 minutes out, and even going at a pretty slow pace seemed to walk out what looked like a fair distance. Of course, if you’re in a hurry you can always walk a shorter distance or you could walk it faster than we did (we had 4 kids under 4 with us).
Devil’s Golf Course
There’s not much to see at Devil’s Golf Course, however, you will recall that I mentioned the jagged salt rocks 2 paragraphs ago that will cut you up. Here you can get nice and close to them not 10 minutes from Badwater Basin. The sign is small so keep an eye out for a gravel road going off Badwater Road to the west.
It is possible to walk out on the salt rocks but seriously, one slip and it will cut you up. I think I’ve made that clear. When I was in Death Valley 8 years I took a walk out there in flip flops. I cut my foot.
Artist’s Palette/Artist’s Drive
Another highlight of Death Valley is Artist’s Palette, situated off Artist’s Drive. Artist’s Drive is a one-way scenic drive that exits to the east of Badwater Road, goes on a semi-circle loop and rejoins a few kilometres up the road.
On the way, we got up nice and close to the Black Mountains and already we were getting a taste of what was to come with colourful rocks already appearing. The road wound around the foot of the mountains, and in some parts large sections of rock had to be completely removed to reduce the dips and bumps.
Arriving at Artist’s Palette was a real wow moment. From the parking lot is a great overview of the rock formations. But, like Zabriske, you can walk out amongst them. A few of us did this, including Brooklyn who is 3. He was such a trooper, but it did take two adults holding his hands to keep him on his feet, as the hills are somewhat steep and covered in loose rocks.
We caught him slipping several times (and still he successfully fell once). Still, it wasn’t far — maybe a few hundred metres and we were treated to an up-close view of the variety of colours produced from the minerals in the rock. It was just astounding.
Beers by the pool
I honestly can’t tell you where we had lunch — again. In fact, it might have been skipped. I bought an afternoon sandwich from the general store but I’m not sure about anyone else. Anyway, it was hot and it was break time so we all headed back to Stovepipe Wells to enjoy the pool.
By contrast, the pool was quite cold, which came as a shock. Still, thankfully the general store also had beers and a soft serve machine so I helped myself to an IPA or two while basking in the sun. It’s not like we were running out of things to do, but we’d been going pretty steadily for about a week now and on sightseeing trips such as these having some downtime can be a good idea.
Mesquite Sand Dunes x3
But not too much downtime. As the afternoon was slipping away I made the decision to head out on one more adventure. I couldn’t rally any troops to hit up the Mesquite Sand Dunes with me so this one was solo. Well, it started solo. But, as often happens, another guy, let’s call him Geoff (because he looked like a Geoff) was walking a similar route and we ended up chatting the whole way.
I say the whole way, but there truly is no “way” at the sand dunes. There is no map and there is no trail. Just a few square miles of shifting piles of sand being carried about as the wind pleases. It starts off flat enough, but then as you walk out the hills get bigger, and bigger. It becomes a game of picking a spot then choosing the shortest route to get there, and by shortest I mean, the route with the least elevation change possible.
You follow the spines and if you have to walk up or down a dune it actually feels like you’re wasting energy.
There was one dune in the distance that clearly seemed like the biggest so I vaguely began heading in that direction.
It took less than an hour to walk all the way out and much less to get back as we stopped fewer times. It’s one of those hikes that you could spend 10 minutes, or you could spend hours. It’s really up to you. For me, an hour and a half felt about right. Walking on soft sand in shoes is hard yards and much more taxing than a regular hike so even though it was 90 minutes, it felt like much longer.
After dinner at Stovepipe, the family headed back out to the dunes to watch the sunset. It’s a nice place to watch the sky turn from blue to black and even better if you bring a couple of beers.
And later that night I was back a third time as I was in the middle of desert with very few lights around, it was time to try astrophotography. Unfortunately I am absolute garbage at astro and none of the pictures turned out. Next time!
Where to stay in Death Valley
Inside the National Park, accommodation is very limited. Obviously by now you know I stayed at Stovepipe Wells, which was about $150-230/night for a standard, clean motel room. There are also 2 options at Furnace Creek: The Inn at Death Valley (about $500/night) and The Ranch at Death Valley ($250/night). There are also a handful of campgrounds if you have your own gear. Inside the park, that’s it and to be honest, when visiting Death Valley, I wouldn’t consider staying outside of the park unless I’m just spending a day and literally passing through.
Check out the NPS website for more info on Death Valley Lodgings.
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