Death Valley is the hottest, driest, lowest place in the United States where life thrives.
Anybody whisked away to Death Valley National Park in the middle of the night when asleep, would wake up the next morning and look around wonderstruck, thinking “I must have crash landed on Mars”. The thought would not seem out of place given the scale of desolation and magnificence that is Death Valley. It is a place like no other. Whether you are scaling the snow capped high mountain peaks or getting blinded by the sun reflecting off of the white salt flats or feeling like an insignificant speck in the universe at Badwater basin when gazing up at twinkling stars embedded in the inky night, every moment spent in Death Valley is filled with wonder and awe.
December is one of the best times to visit Death Valley when the temperatures are bearable during the day. But dress warmly in layers as the nights will be chilly. Here are some must-see sights and must-do hikes when visiting Death Valley National Park:
Mesquite Sand dunes – a picture of calm
Mesquite Sand Dunes: We were as excited as kids on a field trip when visiting the Mesquite sand dunes. Imagine miles and miles of gentle sloping dunes with a spot of green here and there amongst the mostly light-coffee colored sand. It’s a great place to pretend to hike, when all you really want to do is run up and down the dunes, kicking sand into the air like a berserk kid. It is best to visit the dunes in the early part of the day, else you’ll get a taste for what it must surely feel like to be out on the Sahara in the peak of summer. After sunset on a full-moon night is perhaps the best time to visit too as the sand cools down after being baked all day. But you will need to watch out for rattlesnakes! Hmm, I think I prefer getting sunburned to being bitten.
Sunset at Zabriskie point
Zabriskie Point: Dusk was approaching when we hurried to capture the coveted golden light at sunset over Zabriskie Point. Mountains colored uncannily like lemon pound cake (I guess I was hungry) made for a breathtaking sight. Strategically placed benches along the short walk up to the visa point beckoned. We didn’t see a soul at all the other places in the park, but this one had a lot of people gathered to see the sunset. I’ve always loved sunsets more than sunrises, the light is so gorgeous when the sun is about to dip beneath the horizon. Everything is lit up with a mellow aura and a happy feeling of a day well spent. Zabriskie Point provides a vantage view above the mountains, and the mountain folds look deceptively small until you see a speck of a human being on them and realize their enormous scale.
Badwater Basin: 282 feet BELOW sea level!
Badwater Basin in the night: After the sun dipped below the horizon, we wanted to make one last stop at Badwater Basin before heading on to our campsite for the night. It was a long drive to Badwater, but nobody should miss seeing it at night. Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point in the entire United States. There’s not much to see of the salt flats during the night, but the inky sky above more than makes up for it. If you’re lucky, it will be a cloudless sky that night, with crisp air, and a comfortably cool temperature. As you walk towards the center of the basin, with all lights off you won’t be able to see even your own hand a few inches from your face. All around is black velvety darkness which surprisingly does not engulf you menacingly or make you feel claustrophobic – instead it makes you feel free. The band of the milky way is barely visible as you crane your neck upwards. Spot the star configurations you know and wonder if this comes close to what early man might have seen hundreds of thousands of years ago. Maybe not exactly, but I like to think not much has changed in the night sky since then. I don’t recall how much time we spent in Badwater Basin in the utter darkness, just walking around not knowing where we were, wonderstruck at the brilliant night sky. It could have been an hour, or it could have been eternity.
A glorious sunrise greets as at our camp at Sunset point
Camping at Sunset Point: We were faced with a real challenge when setting up our tent at Sunset Point campsite at night. What made it challenging was the howling wind, it never gave up trying to whisk us away to Kansas. Even with four pairs of strong hands and four pairs of legs standing on top of the tent, we faced some difficulty in setting it up. Once it was unfolded and pinned to the ground, we held it down with a few backpacks thrown inside to keep it on the ground. We were very sure it would otherwise just fly away like a parachute.
Salt crusted flats at Badwater Basin
Badwater Basin in the daytime: We headed to Badwater again in the morning to see it properly in the daytime. Flanked by mountain ranges of Sierra Nevada, Badwater basin is home to spectacular salt flats. Miles and miles of salt-crusted land, deceptively white like snow. The real snow capped peaks of Panamint mountains in the distance complement the surreal picture. If there had been rain, we would have seen the salt crusted puddles of rain-water which are very photogenic when they reflect the blue sky. There is nothing on the salt flats to measure relative distance or size so it seems like everybody is far away when they’re actually pretty close. Or maybe it’s the other way around. All I remember is I felt I was there on the salt flats all by myself with nobody around for miles.
Hiking in Titus canyon
Hiking in the canyons: There are plenty of day hikes one can do among Death Valley’s canyons. Golden canyon and Titus canyon are both great for shaded hikes. You can get lost walking among the layers of land shifted by earthquakes which occurred a long time ago, layers which are now slowly eroding as the weather and time take their toll.
Endless road
Death Valley National Park is a place of such scale, desolation and magnificence that it will be imprinted on your mind forever. Far away from familiar cityscapes and throngs of people and other human-sized things that provide perspective, it’s a welcome break to just stare at a scene that’s surreal and other-worldly in equal parts. It’s a place where you are compelled to reach out and touch the canyon walls and the salt flats and the sand dunes to prove that you are there at this moment or have indeed traveled back in time … or perhaps it’s the future?