Furnace Creek, Death Valley

We missed out on doing the Death Valley trip last time as we were on bikes and it was blistering hot. So, we put it back on the plan for this trip.
After leaving Mammoth at 7.30 our first stop was to find Whitmore Springs or Wild Willys hot tub as it is known locally. We asked a local and by chance he put us on to another hot spring called Shepherds. This spring has now been set up like a hot tub in the middle of a field and is fed by a natural hot spring. Wow what a way to kick of the day, with the air temperature at 8 degrees C, we donned swimming gear and in we went.
With amazing views all around we luxuriated for about 30 minutes and then spent another 10 minutes chatting to a guy back packing who claimed to be an animal communicator and he was able to ward of bears by barking like a dog.
In the distance we could hear the howling of wolves. This was a truly amazing start to the day.
From our altitude of 8000 feet we started downhill to Death Valley. Through the towns of Bishop, Big Pine and Lone Pine the last of which we stopped for a great coffee and purchased sandwiches for later in the day.
Lone Pine is also the entry point for Death Valley and so with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains on our right and another range on our left we headed South into one of the most hot and unforgiving parts of the world.
It quickly dawned on us how amazing this place is with only 2 inches of rain a year if they are lucky it still supports fauna and flora. We say the settlements of Stovepipe Wells, Furnace Creek a beautiful oasis where a golf course and resort dominate the landscape, then we headed to Death Valley Junction and Armargosa Valley. We visited Artists Palette, Mesquite Flats sand dunes, The Devils Golf Course, Bad Water Basin the lowest point in North America at minus 282 feet below sea level. Dante’s Peak where we got view 110 miles up the Valley including Mt Whitney the USAs highest Peak.
On the way out, we stopped for Fuel at Armargosa right next door was the alien Cathouse Brothel complete with pimp car out front.
We made the final run into North Las Vegas well away from the strip for a well-earned night’s sleep.
We were not sure what to expect from Death Valley, but it was absolutely stunning with a really clear day and temps topping out at 102F, 38.9 C, well worth the trip.Read more