California Day #6- Death Valley National Park

What’s up guys!?

Today I am headed back to the hot desert to visit a really neat National Park known for being the hottest place on EARTH ever recorded! It’s also the lowest point below sea level in North America! I have a bunch of water and sunscreen packed for today and the six hour drive- let’s go!

I said a sad goodbye to the mountains but was soon faced with the beautiful desert instead. I literally need to move somewhere with mountains because my mood is so good when I’m near them. If you’ve been to the mountains, you understand.

Death Valley National Park is unlike anything I’ve seen before. As soon as you get there, the views change drastically and it’s so sad that pictures barely do it any justice. The drive up to the park was gorgeous and there was a huge valley below that I later drove into. The coolest thing for me was all of the different colours in the rocks and mountains. Purple, pink, red, it was so vibrant! I passed by some sand dunes and then stopped at a gas station for a drink…woah! It was SO hot compared to when I got into my car. It was 90 F and I wasn’t even in the valley yet.

It’s hard to tell but the rocks are a deep shade of purple!

My favourite stop in the park was Artist’s Palette on the 9 mile Artist’s Drive. I drove through the multi-coloured mountains and if you look closely, it does look like a palette of mixed paint colours. I hiked a bit to a lookout and died in the heat…I’m not used to these conditions! LOL I’m also extremely out of shape but the view was worth it at the top. Everyone else was huffing and puffing beside me so I wasn’t the only one!

The next stop was Badwater Basin- the lowest point in all of North America- 282 feet below sea level! It was really cool to see and the salt flats looked like they went on for miles. I walked out to them a bit and watched everyone take cool pictures. I just love people watching and seeing other people happy!

This is my Lokai bracelet. I wear it on all of my trips. It has water from Mount Everest in the white bead (highest point of the world) and mud from the Dead Sea in the black bead (lowest point in the world). It’s a reminder to remain balanced in life, stay hopeful in the lows and stay humble in the highs. So what a great photo opp bringing the world’s lowest point to North America’s lowest point. 🙂

Lokai also gives 10% to charity- I am such a fan of them. Here’s the link to read more!

The final stop of the day was Zabriskie’s Point. It was a steep uphill walk with the most gorgeous view of the badlands and surrounding valley. This park looks like it’s from another planet! It’s made of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago!!

I was going to do a 1 mile hike to Natural Bridge but with the heat and my lack of water left, I decided to be safe and skip out on it. There is also a place called the Devil’s Golf Course but I literally forgot about it because I didn’t remember to drive back to it- oops! I was going to drive right back to Vegas tonight, but I decided to book this room in Pahrump ahead of time just in case I didn’t feel like driving more and in case I wanted to spend more time at the park today. I had already booked my rental car until 5:00 PM tomorrow so I figured I could take my time in the morning and maybe see a couple more places before I switch gears and return my car. My parents got to Vegas today so they will be all settled before I go stay with them tomorrow.

I have one more park to see tomorrow- Red Rock Canyon! Then it’s time to relax in Vegas for a couple days before I head home and prepare for my third nursing assignment. I was SO sad to leave California tonight. I love it here so much and I cannot wait to come back. My Airbnb is really cute tonight too! There was an amazing sunset.