Death Valley Nov. 26-29, 1997 [Death Valley Gallery] [Back to Photo Page]

Getting there ...

We were on the trip to the Death Valley National Park during the Thanksgiving long weekend, 1997. The flight to Las Vegas was delayed by more than two hours due to the weather and busy airport. It was Linus' first time to get on an airplane, and he was doing quite well on the plane. The traffic in Las Vegas was also terrible. We were probably four hours behind our original schedule. It was already dark when we arrived at the Furnace Creek in the Park. But there was some good news: the weather was warm and the sky had cleared up.

The Second Day ...

• Zabriskie Point (the photo on the top)
  I got up early and decided to drive to the Zabriskie Point alone to see the early morning. I was running up to the vista point from the parking lot because I knew I was a little bit late for the morning sun light. The view here is incredible: the rugged, barren, but colorful badlands are just right in front of you.
• Devil's Golf Course
  After breakfast, we began our journey along the Badwater Drive from Furnace Creek to Badwater. Devil's Golf Course was our first stop (Actually we went back to Furnace Creek on our half way to the Devil's Golf Course because we forgot the most important thing in the desert: water). A short dirt spur road leads to the Devil's Golf Course. Here the Salt Pan surface is covered with jagged rock salk spikes. Those are real rocks, and they are really hard.
• Badwater
  Badwater is the lowest elevation point in the United States (-282ft, -86m).
  There is real water on the valley floor, and we can see the Telescope Peak and the Panamint Range reflected in the salt saturated water. We walked toward the edge of the Death valley Salt Pan, and we were soon surrounded by nothing else but white salt.
• Natural Bridge Trail
• Artists Drive
  

  Artists Drive is a loop going through rugged canyon country. The colorful deposits of Artists Palette are the results of mineral oxidization. Reds, brown and oranges are iron; the purple shades are manganese and the greens are thought to be mica. Do you find Linus in this picture? Guess what, he took a picture for us. Just kidding :-)

• Golden Canyon Trail
  We hiked to the Golden canyon to wait for the sunset. It's about 1 hour easy walk one way. The Manly Beacon and Red Cathedral were both lit by the late afternoon light, but they showed totally different colors. I decided to climb up to a high point and set up my tripod to wait for the sunset. I saw my own shadow on the distant cliffs.
• Stovepipe Wells

The Third Day ...

• Sand Dunes
  I got up early again and headed to the Sand Dunes closed to the Stovepipe Well for the sunrise. It's still early when I got there, and I decided to walk into Sand Dunes. About 15 minutes, I was in the Sand Dunes with perfect formation and without any foot prints except my own trail. The sun began to rise, and the color of the mountains and sand began to change too. It was one of the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.
• Mosaic Canyon

  Mosaic Canyon can be reached from Stovepipe Wells by a 2.5-mile drive up an alluvial fan. Immediately above is an 0.5-mile stretch of polished marble narrows. We stopped there (the photo at the left) after about one hour hike because it was becoming more and more difficult to climb up and down with Linus sitting on my back (although Clare was carrying Linus when we took the picture, I carried Linus most of the time. Don't you believe me?).

• Salt Creek Trail
  

  We had lunch in the parking lot of the Salt Creek Trail. This trail is about half an hour, easy and pleasant walk on the paved wooden trail. There is still water in the creek. There are also some creatures living in the Salt Creek although we didn't see any of them.

• Scotty's Castle
  

  Built in the 1920s as a vacation retreat by Walter Scott, a prospector and sometimes a con man, and Albert Johnson, a Chicago millionaire.

• Ubehebe Crater
  

  Ubehebe Crater is 2400 feet in diameter. It was created about 1000 years ago during a tremendously destructive volcanic eruption. There are also several smaller craters nearby. We saw someone hike down the Crater; we didn't even think about it.

• Back to Sand Dunes
  We went back to the Sand Dunes in the late afternoon for the sunset. Linus liked to play sand very much. The light was warm, and the sand was turning gold.

The Last Day, Going Home ...

We stayed in Beatty (a small town about 20 miles from Death Valley) on the previous night. We decided to pass by the park and went to the Dantes View on our way back to Las Vegas. The last few miles to Dantes View are very winding. The view there is stunning. From this point, 5475 feet above sea level, one can see the lowest point in the Death Valley, plus spectacular views of the Panamint Range and the surrounding mountains.

Because of the detour to the Dantes View, we were almost late for out flight in Las Vegas. We got on the plane just 5 minutes before the plane took off. In general, this was one of the best trips we've ever planned.

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