The morning after our Whitney attempt, we immediately hit the road for the scorching hot temperatures of my beloved valley.
We checked out (most of) Father John Crawley Vista on the way in. I’ve done that drive many times before, but it offer so many great views. The Panamint dunes are hanging out there in the distance by themselves, making me wish I had a 4×4 vehicle. We got to see some Joshua Trees, too!
Driving south into the park, we also got some good views of the Devil’s Cornfield and the Mesquite Dunes. Greg didn’t even want to walk out onto the sand after our time in the Great Sand Dunes.
We hit up the VC where I was reunited with a few of my DEVA friends!
We were lucky enough to be there on the first officially-recorded 120+ temperature of the summer. This stirred excitement in very few people, but I was happy to see a temperature reading that high. It was going to be hot no matter what, so it might as will be very hot.
After leaving the refuge of the air conditioning, we headed to the Timbisha Shoshone réservation for tacos. We had a really, really strange interaction in which we waited for 40 minutes while no one appeared to be working before having our order taken. When we walked in, someone told us that someone would be there soon, but literally forty minutes later, a woman walked in and was served immediately. I really don’t understand, perhaps it was a big misunderstanding.
From there, we headed to sightsee. We went to Badwater Basin first and walked a little on the “boardwalk.” Once we were sufficiently sweaty, we drove on Artist’s Drive and saw Artist’s Palette. The road was paved once again, and my car was thrilled!
We had seen Father John Crawley Vista on the way into the Valley, so I didn’t really care about taking Greg all the way to Dante’s View (although it probably would have been worth it).
We got showered and had dinner, then went to play a good, old game of volleyball! Volleyball nights were some of my favorite memories from my time in Death Valley last summer, so I was thrilled to get to play again.
We hung out outside in the oven of hot air. It was still probably 116 degrees despite the late hour. After a beautiful sunset, we got to see some of the beautiful clear night skies. As they say, “Half the park is after dark.” I even saw a shooting star!
We retreated to the indoors before it got too late and spent some good time catching up with one of my friends. Lucky for me, she has two kitties, therefore cuddling ensued.
The next morning, we got a late start before heading back North, toward Lake Tahoe. We suffered through the marvelous heat before making it out of the desert and back into normal temperatures.
I’m so happy I got to see this beautiful park and some old friends! This huge park is definitely worth a visit, even if just for a drive-through.
