MWT - Part 13 Death Valley National Park - Day 3 Mesquite Sand Dunes

After exploring Scotty’s Castle, Ubehebe Crater and some of Titus Canyon on our third day at Death Valley we stopped at the Mesquite Sand Dunes on the way..

Part 12 Death Valley National Park - Day 3 Titus Canyon

Road to the west end of Titus Canyon in Grapevine MtsAfter the wind buffeting at Ubehebe Crater (I love that name), we drove to the mouth of Titus Canyon for a hike into...

Part 11 Death Valley National Park - Day 3 Ubehebe Crater

After touring the opulence of Scotty’s Castle we headed out to Ubehebe Crater which you can read more about here...

Ubehebe Crater

Death Valley Junior Ranger

Pledging to protect the parks
Because I’m a Ranger I like to earn my Junior Ranger badge while learning about all parks I visit. After our tour of Scotty's Castle my book was done, yet we still had more exploring to do in the park.

I may get funny looks yet promise to finish all the activities in my book. This made number 13 badge. Hey, I got a late start.

Good point brought up by a reader not from the US so I will explain. Within the National Parks system here, which includes almost 400 sites, a program for kids to learn about the individual park's cultural and natural history requires completing a certain number of learning activities, by age, to earn a Junior Ranger Badge. Some of the kids I have pledged in have many badges they proudly display on a backpack, jacket, vest or hat. It's a great way to get kids involved with their parks. Oh yea, I hang mine on a curtain in the living room.

MWT - Part 10 Death Valley National Park - Day 3 Scotty's Castle

Scotty’s Castle
After two days exploring the stark beauty of Death Valley I was totally unprepared for the opulence of a castle built in the desert. Read more about Scotty's Castle here.

Part 9 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Artists Drive

Gaelyn and Jeremy at Artists Point, sorry for the poor stitch job
We left Badwater Basin to return to camp after a very full day of sightseeing but wait, there’s a scenic 9-mile (14.48 km) one-way loop road that winds through colorful mud hills called Artists Drive and we need to go...

Part 8 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Badwater Basin

Sea Level sign, note red lineBadwater is the lowest elevation point in the Western Hemisphere at -282 feet (-85.5 meters), only in Africa is it lower. Read more here...

MWT - Part 7 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Natural Bridge Canyon

Looking into the mouth of Natural Bridge Canyon
After leaving hell, oops I mean Furnace Creek, we attended an afternoon guided Ranger walk into Natural Bridge Canyon to learn more about the geology of Death Valley.

Part 6 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Furnace Creek

Some folks called it hell.

Furnace Creek Inn
Originally built as a working ranch in the 1880s it is now a complete resort complex called Furnace Creek... 

Part 5 - Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Harmony Borax Works

In the last Death Valley post I mentioned the mining of salt deposits. Well sodium borate, or borax, known as the “White gold of the desert” ranks as Death Valley’s most profitable mineral as seen at the Harmony borax Works.  Read more here.

MWT - Death Valley National Park Day 2 - Salt Creek - Part 4

We didn’t beat the early birds but tried to get an early start as planned to see a lot on our second day in Death Valley. First stop the .5 mile (.8 km) roundtrip boardwalk to Salt Creek which you can read about here.

Death Valley National Park Day 1 - Aguereberry Camp and Eureka Mine - Part 3

 Explore Aguereberry camp and the Eureka Mine here.

Kangaroo Rat in Death Valley

Every night after sundown a little visitor came around camp. Not pesky like a ground squirrel or chipmunk looking for handouts.  Read more.

Trying to hide

Death Valley National Park Day 1 - Part 2

Highway 190 and the Panamint RangeAfter hiking Mosaic Canyon we drove out of the valley floor to the Wildrose charcoal kilns.

Death Valley National Park Day 1 - Part 1

Sunrise from Stovepipe Wells campgroundBeing in California put me in a different time zone so I awoke early enough to greet the day and prepare for hiking in Mosaic canyon.

Good Bye Death Valley

Just a quick hellow from a hotspot in Shoshone, California. Don't blink or you'll miss this place.
On my way to historic Tecopa Hot Springs to camp for the night.
Death Valley for three days barely scraped the surface of an extreme place, in every way.
On the way out of the park today I met Mark Alan Meader at Photographic Aspect. What a great surprise.
Still haven't decided where to next.
I'll try to keep you posted.
Sorry I haven't gotten to reply to comments or read blogs, I'll be buzy with that after I return home.