Death Valley - Vegas to Lee Vining

So after Vegas we were looking at the long drive to Yosemite, or Lee Vining - a small town outside. To get there we had to traverse Death Valley. In other words a very ;large empty stretch of desert. And very hot. Remember it had been 110F in Vegas. Death Valley was likely to be higher. And it was.

So we picked up our new hire car, a more sensible, ie spacious Buick, and headed out into the wilderness.

And as uyou can see, it really was wilderness. There is a lot of empty space in the States. But it is very grand.

  

 Finally we got to Death Valley National Park, and gathered with many other cars to buy our self-service tickets at a rather temperamental ticket machine. In the middle of nowhere.

Now we missed the turning to Dantes View, ie Joe and I didn't pipe up quickly enough that we wanted to go. So we proceeded to Zabriskie Point. Obviously, great views.But very hot. I think so hot that even my camera shutters wouldn't open properly - hence the odd black corners to some of the photos below

 Joe and I then entered into negotiations with our driver to turn back and have another go at Dante's View which according to the guide books was the best view in the area. With heavy heart Thibault turned back and warned we wouldn't be allowed another about turn. It was however, well worth the detour. The only way I can describe it is to say it was like being at the top of the world. Awesome.

Dante's View stands some 6000 feet above the blinding white saltpan of Badwater. And "water" doesn't get any "badder" than pure salt. Looks spectacular though.

Right out in all this nothingness there is one old borax mine. You would have to be a dedicated, or desperate, miner to want to work out here,

And so to lunch, a surprisingly decent one at the Inn at Furnace Creek. Needless to say there was not a grand choice of restaurants, and Furnace Creek only really exists so travellers have somewhere to go on the way through the Valley.I mioght also note that Death Valley has some of the world's most depressing place names, and heat related, place names. Furnace Creek, Devil's Golf Course, Devil's Cornfield.

Needless to say the restaurant complex played on the Wild West theme a bit.

So then back outside and onwards, watching the temperature gauge in the SUV rise - to 123F. Yes that is the highest temperature I have ever been in. It was a tad uncomfortable.

we headed on to Stovepipe Wells, and just before it, the sand dunes. Some people hike out into the Dunes. We just got to the first one by the road stopping point and took a few photos. Really too hot for a hike.

We then decided, almost because we had a car able to do it, to go off the tarmac and up a gravel road to Mosaic Canyon. But frankly when we got to the end it was just too darned hot to walk any further.

Another photo stop at Father Crowley Point.

And then finally early evening we had got past all that bleakness to our little motel in Lee Vining, Murphey's Lodgings, with the promise of Yosemite the next morning, after crossing the Tioga Pass.

For dinner we took everyone's advice and went to Whoa Nellie Deli, an odd restaurant sited next to a gas station. Its part shop, part restaurant, and there are no waiters. You order, are given a number and wait for your food to collect it. Joe and I had elk chops. Well why not? They were delicious, although I did fear they might have been roadkill.

View from Whoa Nellie Deli