Death Valley National Park, CA

Some tough climb into the narrow canyon on Artiste Drive

Zabriske Point during sunset

Marble Canyon

Dante's View

Contemplating on the Sand Dunes

Bridget and I headed to Death Valley National Park, CA over the Easter day weekend.  We started our journey at 4am and reached there about 2pm.  Since we arrived on a Thursday, I was kinda expecting the campsite to be empty, and to my surprised there were only 3 spots left when we arrived.  Luckily for us caused if we were to arrive a few hours' later, we couldn't have manage to get a spot.  So by 230pm we set up the tent and headed for some adventures.  Our campsite named was Texas Spring and located at sea level, there was another campsite called Furnace Creek, which is -176 ft, and it was fully occupied!  

The 1st stop was the Sand Dunes, the landscape is like those in the desert.  We took a stroll along the Sand Dunes and spent some time there...but the wind was so strong, especially when we were sitting down on the sand dunes.  The sand blew directly to my face and I had to really covered my eyes to avoid more sand from blowing in.  It was actually like walking on a sandy beach except there wasn't any ocean or beach...just a wide horizon with a neverending border...it felt very peaceful actually, like there was no restriction and no destination...just walking n walking n walking....

After that, we visited Marble Canyon and walked along the canyon while admiring the marble formation there.  We just hiked for about an hour, and finally our body felt very exhausted, perhaps from the long drive and the hot and dry weather there.  We kept drinking lotsa lotsa water, caused we felt really dehydrated.  Then, we headed to Zabriske Point to enjoy the sunset. The sunshine enhanced the colour of the rocks, which was really breathtaking...So after a long day, we went back to our campsite, and slept....well...the wind was strong in the night that both of us were actually afraid that the tent will fly off! So, we didnt sleep!!! maybe taking a nap will be the word for it...

The next morning, we drove to Artiste Drive to meet up with the ranger, Charlie who brought us to an isolated point in Artiste Drive.  It was a 2 hours hike with 15 ppl, and I seriously did some rock climbing here.  It was definitely a new experience for me, but with the support and encouragement I managed to put up my brave cap and went through the hike!  I came out being more brave and adventurous :-)

After that, we headed to Dante's View, the highest peak in Death Valley, height of 5334ft...the view, breathtaking and since it was mid afternoon, this was the best place to be, windy but not cold..I should say, the weather was perfect!  We ate our lunch in the car while enjoying the view...Then we took a nap! :)  Later that night, we went to a ranger's talk about the formation of Death Valley National Park..and what amazed me was this national park looked so similar when it was first discovered in the 1920's!  Even when we entered the national park, there weren't any booth paying for entrance fees, only a sign saying 'Pay Entrance Fee' pointing towards a shop which was a convenient store and outside of it was the machine for the payment.  I could say that this national park is really untouched!  Maybe because not many living things can survived in such a harsh condition...  That night, we had to sleep in the car caused the wind was so strong that the tent got loopsided...another adventure for us!!!

Overall, we had good times, and of course we were hot,dehydrated, sweaty, and NO SHOWER!!! :)  So after leaving Death Valley, we headed off to another more relaxing adventure, i.e. San Clemente...beautiful beaches and managed to get our sleep finally! :)