We landed in Las Vegas at 10:00am and picked up our rental car and hit the road. Our summer vacation had begun!
We had 8 days of hiking, sightseeing, eating and drinking ahead of us. We tend to do a lot of research before our trips so we know the sights we want to visit and the restaurants, wineries and breweries as well.
The first stop on our way to Death Valley National Park was an hour drive from the airport to the Pahrump Valley Winery www.pahrumpwinery.com for lunch and to pick up some bottles of wine to enjoy at the end of our days at our Airbnb’s. (We have done this on past trips but were always to exhausted by the time we got back to the room to enjoy the wine!) The space itself was beautiful and the wine list was huge. They have a great variety and the tastings of 6 wines were complimentary. What more could you ask for? We narrowed our selections down and left with the Desert Blush and the Nevada Zinfandel. For lunch we both enjoyed the Apple Pecan Salad with a glass of the Desert Blush for me and the Symphony for Mark.
We had several hours before we could check-in to our hotel so we had planned on stopping at some viewpoints along the way after we stocked up on water. We had packed our hydration vests, bladders and bottles and brought along some Nuun electrolyte tablets. We thought we were ahead of the hydration game but would find out later that it is really hard to stay ahead of that in Death Valley.
First up was Dante’s View. This viewpoint is located at 5,475 above Badwater Basin and provides you a stunning view of the Panamint Mountains.
We also pulled over at several designated viewpoint locations and were starting to get a real feel of what 100+ degrees felt like but we were still driving with the windows open to really immerse ourselves.
It was time to head to the hotel and it felt great to step into air conditioning. We were staying at The Ranch at Death Valley which is part of The Oasis at Death Valley. There are 2 hotels to choose from at The Oasis – The Inn or The Ranch. The Ranch was more within our budget but still offered an amazing experience and accommodations. www.oasisatdeathvalley.com
After getting settled into our room we headed to The Last Kind Words Saloon for dinner and off we went to Zabriskie Point to watch the sunset. I thought it would cool off a little as the sun went down but that was not the case. As I sat on the ledge looking over the mountains and down into the canyon I felt the heat radiating off the rocks thru my shorts. They were cool enough to sit on but just barely. In my opinion these were the most amazing views I saw in Death Valley and there were a lot of views to take in. Make the time to stop here at sunset, you won’t regret it.
Day 2 started off with filling up the car with gas, YIKES! Happy we only needed half a tank.
We wanted to get to the Badwater salt flats early before it got too warm, if that is a possibility in June in Death Valley. At this point you are 282 feet below sea level. It. Was. Hot! The Badwater 135 Ultra starts here and as I was walking I found myself thinking about the amazing athletes that toe the line for this event and the respect I already had for them got bumped up a few notches. I cannot imagine running in those temps. I had a hard time just hiking. More on that in a bit.
We headed to the Artist’s Drive which is a scenic 9 mile winding one way road with stunning views of multi-colored eroded desert hills. We stopped at the Artist’s Palette viewpoint and put on our hydration vests and headed down for a hike. Keep in mind that none of our so called hikes were very long due to the extreme heat but we were still able to see some amazing colors here and got some great pics.
I was starting to get a little warm but kept drinking and we had the air on in the car so I thought all was good. We stopped next at the Golden Canyon where I just read on the website that “summer hiking in the Golden Canyon is not recommended for longer than 15 minutes!” Well there you go, I guess we did not do enough research after all. It was probably at about 15 minutes that I started feeling queasy and light headed. I felt like my entire body was being weighed down. I gave in and told Mark I needed to turn around or he would need to carry me out, and that would not have been an easy feat.
We cranked the air and decided to head over to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center where we took this picture. This explains why I felt hot!
We played it smart and grabbed some lunch to go and went back to the hotel to eat and cool down and come up with a new game plan.
After laying low and taking a cold shower we headed back out into the heat to visit the Mesquite Flat Dunes. This was high up on Mark’s list of stops. The dunes seemed to stretch out forever and we went through our shared bottle of water (we did not think we would be out there very long) very quickly, almost as quickly as my shoes filled with sand! I dumped the sand out at one point not because I thought they would not fill again but because I could no longer straighten out my toes. I did not think I could walk back to the car with shoes that felt like they belonged to my baby sister. I turned back before Mark as I was started to feel bad again. I was disappointed in the way my body was handling the heat but took it all in stride.
Back at the hotel another shower was needed and then we were off to dinner at the sister hotel, The Inn. We ate in the bar area overlooking the mountains and were able to witness another stunning sunset. We had the Parisian Gnocchi with shaved radish, snow peas, wild mushrooms and truffle oil. It was too dark to get a picture of the meal but this was the most phenomenal meal I have had in a really long time, by far the best meal of the entire trip! They were so smooth and creamy and just melted in your mouth. I have never experienced gnocchi like this before.
The next morning it was time to leave Death Valley and venture on to our next national park but on the way we had one more stop, the Rhyolite Historic Townsite (ghost town). This was an old mining town that was abandoned after the mine closed. If you enjoy history or old architecture this is a great place to stop and take some pictures.
The Goldwell Open Air Museum sits on private property just south of the ghostown and has some unique pieces that hold your attention. A small building houses many articles on the artists and the pieces. This was a very interesting short stop.
Although I was sad to leave Death Valley and disappointed we did not get to see a wild burro I was excited to get to our next destination ……
… Sequoia National Park!
Check out Mark’s video of our Death Valley adventure by clicking below!