A Valentine's Getaway – Death Valley National Park
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Death Valley National Park is only a couple hours’ drive from Las Vegas.
For some reason, associating a romantic Valentine’s Day getaway with a camping/hiking trip to Death Valley National Park seems like an oxymoron. Death Valley equals romance? But in our case, it really was a great getaway for a few days and since walking is what we both like to do nowadays, what better way to celebrate a holiday for lovers? Despite its morbid name, Death Valley is quite the experience.
We’ve been to Death Valley NP a couple of times over the past years, but we’d never had the opportunity to camp and really explore the area. Known as the driest, lowest and hottest national park, it’s the perfect time of year to explore the desert… very cool nights and warm, sunny days.
The Stovepipe Wells Campground leaves much to be desired.
We weren’t sure how we’d fare with getting a campsite. We’d forgotten that in addition to it being Valentine’s Day, it was also the long President’s Day weekend. The park is only a 2-hour ride from home, but we got a late start and arrived mid-afternoon. We stopped first at the Visitor’s Center and found that the main campground at Furnace Creek was full. We were told, however, that Stovepipe Wells, about 20 miles away usually had vacant sites, so we headed there. Well, there were campsites, if you want to use the term campsite loosely. It was more akin to a gravel WalMart parking lot with RVs and campers parked hog and jowl. A few sites on the perimeter of the parking lot had fire rings and tables, but most were just parking spaces between the marked lines in the gravel. Not very attractive or appealing.
The camp host there offered to call the Mesquite Spring CG about 40 miles away. They had five sites left, but it was first come-first serve and there were no guarantees. Ugh! Drive 40 miles to 1400’ altitude or settle for a parking lot? We opted to take our chances and drove to Mesquite Springs. It’s a long paved road to the campground and there’s not much else up there. We watched as five vehicles in front of us wended their way around the corners towards the campground. The lead vehicle was a trailer and the other cars followed closely behind. We were hoping it was a Boy Scout camping trip and they’d already reserved their group site. Maybe, just maybe, there’d be a campsite left for us. As luck would have it (and we really are pretty lucky), there were two campsites left. We spotted one and headed directly into it to stake our claim. Table, fire ring, level parking, plenty of room between campsites, flush toilets and trash bins close by, but not too close… the perfect spot.
Night and the cold come early in the desert this time of year. It was a pleasant 65F (18C) when we arrived. As soon as the sun began to dip behind the mountains, a breeze came up and it cooled down quickly. The darkness closed in shortly thereafter. David started a fire and we huddled closely. It was dark by 5:45pm. We grilled our chicken and by 6:45pm, after tolerating the cold for about as long as we could, we snuggled comfortably in our bed inside Blue for the evening. Our noses felt the chill all night long as the temperature dipped to the low-40s by morning, but the rest of us stayed comfy till the sun showed its face and began warming up the day.
Hard, scorched desert land made for a ‘crunchy’ cross-country walk.
A frosting of snow on the higher peaks of the Last Chance Range softened their appearance in stark contrast to the gravel, haphazardly strewn volcanic rocks and rugged terrain of the desert all around us. We sat basking in the warmth of the morning sun and sipped our coffee, admiring the vivid blue sky above us and figuring out exactly what we’d do with our day. As it turned out, we weren’t all that ambitious. We took a short cross-country hike, picking and choosing our way around creosote bushes, prickly pear, cholla and rocks. The sun-scorched, hardened ground crunched beneath our feet with every footfall.
We sat and chatted at the campsite till the day waned and it was time for another evening fire. This evening was a bit warmer with no breeze and the evening campfire warmed us till nearly 8pm. The aroma of campers’ dinners cooking wafted on the night air. The desert sky, with no ambient light around save a few campfires, is pitch black and with no moon to compete till much later, the stars put on a spectacular show… especially mighty Orion, my favorite constellation of all. I must admit though, the desert sky star show has nothing on a clear night at sea.
We rose in the morning and followed the same lazy coffee-sipping, soaking up the morning sun routine, feeling absolutely no guilt. We debated whether we should head back to Las Vegas, spend a night in a hotel or perhaps see if another campsite was available. Once again, luck prevailed. The main campground at Furnace Creek still had ‘campground full’ signs posted. We thought we’d just breeze through the campground anyway and check it out for future reference. The friendly Ranger on duty indicated he actually had a campsite available if we were interested, but for one night only. We were and claimed the site as our own. In minutes, Blue was parked and our camp chairs were set up in the shade of a mesquite tree. Instead of being 1400’ above sea level, we were camped at -196’ below sea level. The main difference noted was the temperature … about 83F (28C) during the day and a balmy 55F (13C) during the night.
Yikes! We were glad that Blue wasn’t thirsty.
The extent of our walking this day was exploring the campground, a couple of walks to the Visitor’s Center and multiple trips back and forth to the loo. We read, we chatted, settled all the world’s problems, bought more firewood (at $10+tax a bundle… yikes!) and thanked the heavens Blue wasn’t thirsty for diesel at $5.36/gallon.
Reality has a way of interfering with pleasurable outings. We had things to attend to in Las Vegas and grudgingly broke camp in mid-morning. We’d really not seen much more of the park than we had in the past, so decided today was the day to explore. Evidently, many, many people had come to the same decision. We stopped at Mesquite Dunes figuring we’d take a walk, but the parking lot and the dunes were unbelievably crowded, so we gave it a pass. The Salt Creek Interpretive Trail was just as overwhelmed with park visitors.
The Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes were just a bit too crowded for our taste.
The Harmony Borax Works weren’t too crowded and provided a good opportunity to stretch our legs
Crowded or not, there was no way we could leave without walking out onto the salt flats at Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in North America at -282’ below sea level. Named Badwater by a miner whose mule refused to drink the salty water, the walk out is about ½ mile long and basically leads to nowhere other than more salt flat. There’s a small saline water pool that is home to the Badwater snail (Angustassiminea infima), a species of minute, salt marsh snail that is found only here in the world. We didn’t see any, but we’re sure they were there. Surprisingly, the park is home to several endemic species.
The colors of Artist’s Palette
We drove the 9-mile Artist Drive scenic loop, a circuitous paved road that snakes its way through colorful canyons and around rock formations. ‘Iron salts produce the reds, pinks and yellows, while decomposing mica causes the green, and manganese supplies the purple.’ An overlook at Artist’s Palette provided great views of nature’s chromatic handiwork to admire.
Scenic view at Zabriskie Point.
Our final stop was at Zabriskie Point. Reminiscent of South Dakota’s Badlands, it was a quick walk to the viewpoint overlooking dramatic golden hills. There were several hikes in this area that seemed very appealing and we were kind of disappointed that we’d arrived too late in the day to take advantage (not really). We made note of the most promising hikes with thought of a future visit.
on the one hand, we tend to dislike crowds. On the other hand it was a long holiday weekend and we are actually pleased that so many people get out and enjoy our national parks. Funny, how we dislike tourists and of course, that’s exactly what we are! All in all, a pleasant, relaxing weekend getaway… just the two of us (ignoring the crowds). We didn’t walk much. We didn’t really do much. Sometimes it’s just okay to ‘be’ and not ‘do’.
Heading to Death Valley? Here’s a Guide to Exploring Death Valley by Clay Reese that’s excellent!