Death Valley, CA., Dantes View

                                                  Thursday  3/29/2012

We have been sight seeing all day, just getting home before dark for the last 3 to 4 days. In this picture we are on Bella Vista St. in Pahrump and heading west toward California.

It was a very cloudy day, so lighting was not good for pictures.

The weather was in the low 70's with a slight breeze.

After about 35 miles we entered in California.

Even though we are in the desert, with no trees, the scenery was beautiful.

A lot of the pictures are blurry in the lower part of the pictures, because I was taking most of them as Joe drove. The ground was white here. Must be salt flats.

At the intersection of 190 and 127 , we came to the Amargosa Opera House. We stopped for a few minutes, but the tour was all ready in progress, so we went on down the road, and decided to catch it another day.

After the Amargosa Opera House, we turned onto 190, toward Death Valley National Park.

The route we were on that day, was a scenic route.

Pahrump sits at 2,697 ft above sea level. When we left Pahrump, we went up to 3000 feet, and then started back down.

After another 30 minutes or so we entered in to Death Valley National Park.

This entrance into the park is on the honor system. You pay in a machine and put the ticket in the window of your car. The pass is $20 for seven days. We had already bought our annual National Park pass in Bullhead City for $80. We saw Mohave Lake in the Bullhead City area which was $10. With the $20 for Death Valley, we have used $30 of our $80.

I told Joe as we drove, my sight senses were in over load.

It is so hard to show what we were seeing because of cloudy lighting and because pictures just don't give you what the eyes see.

When we first started traveling, I didn't realize how much I would enjoy the National Parks. This picture shows a mountain that looks like it has been mined. Those are buildings  beside the mountain.

I just love being in country that has not been touched by man.

I can see God in these areas of beauty.

Before we continues down to the valley, we took a left onto a road that takes us to Dantes View. We had to climb back up

to 5,475 feet above sea level.

From Dantes View you can see southern Death Valley below.

It was very cold at the top of this mountain. The wind was really blowing, but the views were worth it.

Looking further south.

There are two  paths from the parking lot.

Because it was so cold, we only walked a little bit of one of them.

On day trips, I don't have time to do anything with my hair let alone makeup, so I just pull my hair back and put a cap on. It was too windy, so we had to take our caps off, before we got out of the car. I needed my cap for this picture!

The Salt Flats directly below Dantes View.

Joe points out the road below, that we will drive on to the Salt Flats. You can see white dots on the black road, which are cars.

The first 2 to 3 miles down the Black Mountains from Dantes View is a 15 % grade,

with a lot of switch backs.

When I told Joe I wanted to go to Death Valley, he said he had no interest in seeing it.

After  being here, he said he changed his mind.

He said he didn't realize there was so much to see.

We were told by others, that you need a month here to see everything!

Death Valley National Park consists of 3 million acres, so it takes time to get from point A to Point B.

There is a lot of driving, but beautiful scenery to view while driving.

The park is filled with multi-colored rock layers, from red,orange, green, brown, black, tan, white, and blue.

Joe doesn't like me to drive, because the car goes to where I'm looking.

We get back to the main rode and continue down toward the valley.

Enjoy the drive down the mountains as we did.

Note the green in the distant mountain.

The scenery constantly changes.

Close up of previous picture.

And closer up still!

Our next stop was at Zabriskie Point. You can see where the motor homes and cars are park on the left in the picture. That is the parking lot to the point.

I will show you Zabriskie Point in the next blog.