Leaving Las Vegas we begin to head back West. Another one of those ‘Bucket List’ items was a brief visit to Death Valley. It is not blessed with much in the way of tourist attractions but the environment and ecology are just extraordinary.


Tourist accommodation is limited to a basic hotel (and golf course!) at the appropriately named Furnace Creek.


A short distance away is the viewpoint of Zabriskie Point.


The lowest point of Death Valley is found at Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level. It is an expanse of salt pan which regularly records the highest temperatures on Earth.

The geography of Death Valley sees the surrounding high land cooling whilst the basin radiates heat. This results in strong ‘Katabatic’ winds blowing down into the valley resulting in my daughter empathising with a ‘roast chicken in a fan oven’.


The Artists Pallet is a canyon area near Badwater. The rocks and hills are vividly coloured from blues and purples through to reds and yellows. The colours are the product of oxidation of the metal minerals found in the rocks locally.

Leaving Furnace Creek, our road heads across the Nevada Desert past the small town of Stovepipe Wells. Much of the desert around Death Valley is not covered in sand but rather gravel and salt pan, growing cactus and Joshua trees. An exception occurs around Stovepipe Wells where the sand has, over the years, developed dramatic sand dunes.


From here we head westwards towards the Sierra Nevada range, Mono Lake and Yosemite.