death valley retreat

A weekend in Death Valley marks the 12th US national park we’ve visited together.  Like many people, images of hot, flat and barren landscapes came to my mind when I thought about Death Valley,  but I could not have been more wrong!  Hot?  Yes! But barren, no at all!  Dramatic changes in topography and beautiful sweeping views fill this huge park  It remoteness makes it an ideal camping destination since it’s an hour from any sort of other accommodation and a prefect winter getaway if you are longing for sun.  It served as a great distraction for us, as we are excitedly awaiting our Asia vacation that is a few weeks away….seems like an eternity though!

We spent Friday night in Barstow to cut down on our Saturday drive since we would be heading back to San Diego on Sunday.  We added a good 700 miles to my new car, now just over 4 weeks old with 2,000 miles!  The only other ‘significant’ town we passed through was Baker.  The road was spotted with a few ghost towns, but for the most part, we travelled alone on the road to the park.  It was a good thing we filled the gas tank before we left Barstow since the gas in the park was almost $6/gallon!

Our first view of the park was from Zibriskie Point:

A short jaunt down the trail was a fun little break after being in the car for 3 hours:

We then drove to the Badwater salt flats, the lowest point in the United States.  It’s amazing that Mt Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US, was only 100 miles away from us.  This is where we had a little fun with our fisheye lens.

A quick drive through the Artist’s Palette and the Devil’s Golf Course, and it was already time to drive into the village for quick bite to eat and lemonade.  We finished our day hiking the Golden Canyon Trail and exploing the Mesquite Sand Dunes.

We drove out of the park to Beatty, a seemingly deserted and somewhat delapidated little town which it think is only in existance to rest weary travelers’ heads.  The main drag was filled with saloons and a few motels.  We settled in and was out early for a BBQ dinner.

We were up pretty early considering it was Daylight Savings that weekend (drat!) and out on the Mosaic Canyon Trail by 9AM for our last hike before entering civilization, refreshed and rejuvenated.

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a jaunt through the desert

B and I took advantage of the weekend and the cool winter weather and headed northeast to Joshua Tree.  We were fortunate that the unusual snow storm that dropped 12 inches did not affect our travel plans.  By the beginning of the weekend, all of the roads in the park were reopened.  It was the perfect way to my nearly week-old car to take the 3-hour drive.

The weather was sunny but cool in the low 60s.  The joshua trees seemed to be lined up in perfect rows, almost as if they were cultivated.  We took some easy hikes around Hidden Valley where we saw some other interesting vegetation and weekend warriors climbing the huge boulders.

We drove in a little further to Jumbo Rocks, clusters of giant rocks perfect for climbing and scrambling.  We took the hike, after looking at the ambiguous map, to Skull Rock.  We were not at al impressed, but the nature rail loop was nice.

Our final hike was to the 49 Lost Palms Oasis.  Palm trees and water after hiking through the dry and arid environment is something that you see in cartoons, but the cracks in the earth that allow water release is real.  The oasis was small, but I think that it was well worth seeing something since there aren’t too many around here as far as I know.

A highlight was driving out of the park as the sun set.  Serene, quiet, like being in another world….

We stayed with our friend who relocated to Rancho Mirage a few years ago.  He lives in a beautiful townhouse with a golf course for a backyard.  He drove us around the beautiful and over-the-top neighborhood before bringing us to Woody’s for DELICIOUS burgers!  The front of the restaurant was a simple burger joint with just a counter running along the kitchen.  Behind the counters, a jazz quartet was setting up for their first set.  The band was great, playing classics like Take 5 and Cantaloop as well as others that I didn’t recognize.  My music minor came in handy when our conversation moved toward blues influence in rock and opera, all over my Western burger-Angus burger topped with coleslaw, onion ring and BBQ sauce 🙂

After a day of driving, hiking and seeing sights, we were looking forward to a hot shower and the wonderfully comfy bed.  We slept for a solid 10 hours!  What a great weekend!