Hundred Miles from Home: Death Valley

Death Valley Trip Review

Zabriske's Point

Yo yo guys

The Death Valley Trip turned out to be a great success. I really could not have been much happier...it was a great way to start off the semester for SCoutfitter overnight trips! The scenery in Death Valley was breathtaking. Because the landscape is so barren, the lighting is crucial to getting the full dramatic effect. Our first full day in Death Valley started at 5:30 am: we woke up early to go to Zabriske's point to watch the sun rise. It was a chilly, windy, morning as we watched Telescope Peak, the 11,000 ft. peak above Death Valley, slowly be lit up by the rising sun from the East. The sunrise was one of the most dramatic i have ever seen, especially with the Badlands area below us being lit up all sorts of different yellows and oranges by the sun. After the sunrise, we cleaned up camp and made our way out to begin seeing the sites in Death Valley

Here is a list of what we saw:

Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level)

Natural Bridge Canyon

Devil's Golf Course

The Artist's Palette

A Hike from Golden Canyon up to the Red Rock Cathedral and then down Gower Gulch to exit back into the valley.

We watched the sunset as we exited Gower Gulch...an extremely dramatic sunset indeed. I felt like i was in another time and very far away from any civilization we know today...Death Valley is barren and foreign. It is really like no place i have been before.

That night we made camp and enjoyed delicious pasta and some bomb eggless cheese cake. After Dinner we did a night hike into the petrified dunes surrounding camp...watched the stars and constellations for a while and than headed back to go to bed.

The Next day we woke up...made breakfast burritos for breakfast and than got on the road to go to Salt Creek to See the Pup Fish ( a fish only found in Death Valley).

After Salt Creek we made our way to some gigantic sand dunes. We trekked around the dunes for a while and brought sleds with so we could slide down the 400 foot or so sand dunes. It was a blast.

The Drive out of the park was spectacular. We exited from the North end of the park, going through the Panimant Mountains and than dropping into Owens Valley. We saw the entire eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain range from the top of the Panimant Mountains and the view was just insane.

Overall I would give the trip to Death Valley an A+++. We had an awesome time and I love seeing new places. It was great!

Here are some pictures