SoCal Memorial Day trip: Day 1 - Death Valley

This past Memorial Day, I wanted to check off a final few places from my California bucket list before moving next month.  So I decided to head down to southern California to visit Death Valley National Park, Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, Palm Springs, and some cool ghost towns.  On Friday, I drove seven hours down to Panamint Springs Resort, a tiny "resort" right on the western edge of Death Valley NP.  I discovered a fear I didn't know I had - driving alone in the desert on remote roads in the middle of the night with nothing and no one around for miles. Kinda scary!  Anyway, this hotel had like 10 motel rooms and a bar/restaurant.  These remote desert hotels don't really have a lobby or 24-hour check in...since I got there late at night, there was a piece of paper with my name taped to the door of the restaurant, telling me my room was unlocked and the key inside.  Rudimentary, but it got the job done! Here are some shots of Panamint Springs Resort:

 

 the hotel rooms

 View from my room

The only gas station around for almost a hundred miles - over $4.50 a gallon since it's so remote

old school vintage hotel keys!

So I got in my car Saturday morning to leave the resort and head to Death Valley NP, and since the desert sun is so bright and I got up so early, the wildlife was still out and about before going to hibernate during the day.  I was the only car around on the road for miles, and this coyote was about 8 feet from my car and started trotting alongside me.  When I stopped to take a photo, the coyote went to the middle of the road and didn't budge for awhile, staring me down before letting me pass: 

 the coyote is wondering why I'm looking at him

the coyote just chilling in the middle of the road 

Here are some shots of the roads in Death Valley and some of the little villages and buildings: 

 an old stone WPA building from the 1930s

 Stovepipe Wells, a small village in Death Valley 

 a lonesome gas station in Stovepipe Wells

hot, sandy desert

One of the first stops in Death Valley were these sand dunes.  The temperature was so hot (100+ degrees) that it was advised not to walk out through the dunes because you might get heat stroke and get disoriented and lost:  

 sand dunes!

 STOP: Extreme Heat Danger. Hiking after 10 am not recommended

 if you squint, you can see some people walking on the dunes

nothing around for miles and miles (and no cell phone reception!)

The next stop was this giant crater - just absolutely massive and incredible to look down into. Almost like a mini Grand Canyon.

 the cars & parking lot (for perspective), with the crater peaking out on the right 

 hiking trail on the ridge of the crater (crater to the left)

 danger sign! don't fall into the canyon!

The next stop was the Salt Creek Trail, a boardwalk trail through Salt Creek, which is the only water you'll see in Death Valley!  In the creek live pupfish, tiny little fish that are endangered.  

This is Salt "Creek" - not a lot of water, but substantial for Death Valley!

Next came the Harmony Borax Works, where they mined borax in the early 1900s:

 remnants of the borax mining operations

 it took twenty mules to carry the borax loads out of Death Valley 

 gotta love the temperature gauge they have outside of the visitor center in Death Valley 

Next up is one of the classic views in Death Valley, Zebreskie Point.  When you're touring these national parks, you start to get into a rhythm and you start seeing the same tourists at the spots each time you stop.  On this day, there happened to be 4 white passenger vans full of German men in their 20s and 30s, all of whom had taken their shirts off because it was too hot.  So weird!  Anyway, here are the views from Zebreskie Point: 

 iconic views of the rock formations

Next up was Dante's View, a 360 degree panoramic view of Death Valley.  So beautiful!  

The white portion is Badwater Flats -- the famous part of Death Valley that is the lowest elevation, hottest part of the United States 

Some more interesting sights along the road:  

 Elevation: sea level (!)

Up next was Artist's Palette, where the rocks are brightly colored in a variety of hues from the minerals in them:

Next was Devil's Golf Course, this weird area with these alien-like, grotesque bumpy rock formations coming out of the ground:  

And the grand daddy of them all - Badwater Basin!  It was so hot it was almost unbearable just to walk the 100 feet out onto the flats.  But here it is - the lowest, hottest spot in the US: