Death Valley National Park- July 6-8

Death Valley is the largest national park outside of Alaska...3.4 millionacres! It simply is an arid desert…though was teaming with life…from lizards to green plants!We, my cousin (Dilip) and his wife (Sandhya) (GREAT COMPANY!!) headed out the 7 hr drive. We drove through Bakersfield, hoping to reach the valleymidnight…But, a million things happened and we ended up sleeping in the car from 2-6 am, in a post-office parking lot, close to Bakersfield! We reachedthe Valley at 8 or so, had breakfast at the Panamint Springs.The temperature throughout the weekend was btn 110-120F. Dry heat, but strangely, it was refreshing! We did not hike much, were advised against doing so. Nobody comes to the Valley during summer, but we did...now what does that say about us huh?

Now, we hit the Salt Creek Trail, a 0.5 mile round trip hike. There is this boardwalk with a steady running along (which was completely dry and gleaming with salt deposits). Pup fish, Cyprinodon salinus one of therarest fish, on the brink of extinction reside here in this windswept desert! We didn’t spot any though, there was simply no water! We did see several zebra-tailed lizards.
We then drove down to the Sand Dunes, my favorite spot. There wasn’t anytrail, but just heaps of piled up SiO2! I was literally rolling in the sand, loved it that much. Reminded me of the pyramids…


Then came the Badwater Basin…lowest point in the western hemisphere-282ft below sealevel! The landscape is simply flat and shiny…miles and miles of gleamingsalt deposits. What a sense of opennes to be walking in these flatlands!We drove to the Artist’s Drive…a scenic loop with volcanic hills changingcolors. The Artist’s palette was simply spectacular…a hilly scape withcolors from the rainbow!We stopped at a Furnace Creek resorts to shower…paid $4! We decided not to camp here since the night temp was abt 108F! We decided to camp at Wildrose Peak, 4000 ft in elevation. We pitched our tents, had dinner and rambled ontill 10pm. The sky was star studded and the moon was beautiful.




I missed Kaya.I didn’t bring her along. I couldn’t risk her being bitten by a rattlesnake or a scorpion!!
Way back home, we drove thru Yosemite! Man, was that wonderful…Yosemite is GREEN, lakes are BLUE this time of year. A must go…We lunched at CurryVillage…good ole’ pizza…I drove back home, from San Jose…10.30pm was when I saw Kaya… She missed me, and I missed her ten fold more. She was stuck to me all night and the next day too. Death Valley is the place to be this summer!