Pahrump, Nevada, is very close to the California border. That also puts it very close to Death Valley National Park. So, one day we set out to see this unusual national park.
Death Valley: The HOTTEST, DRIEST, and LOWEST! On June 10, 1913, Death Valley recorded a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit which makes it the hottest place on earth. Death Valley is a land of extremes, where the powerful heat is a force of nature, and the air further dries everything it contacts. It is the driest national park in America. Badwater Basin, in the southern half of the park, is -282 feet below sea level making it the lowest elevation in North America!
There are four entry points on the eastern side of the park. We entered from Death Valley Junction on highway 190. This put us closest to the southern part of the park. Points of interest that we visited in the southern part of the park were: Dante’s View, Furnace Creek Area and Visitors Center, Badwater Basin, Artists Palette, Zabriskie Point, and Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Pictures below. ⬇️
On the drive to Death Valley, we saw this mountain with “DV” written on it with rocks. It was close to Death Valley Junction. zoom in to see it better. The entrance. Information about the basin and park at the top of Dante’s View.Views from the top of Zabriskie Point. If you look closely (zoom in) at the very tip top of the hill, you will see two hikers (they are in the top one-third and center of the photo. I have NO IDEA how they got to that area, but I bet the view was fantastic! The climb up to Zabriskie Point was ALL I could do! The views from there were pretty awesome, also! Furnace Creek Visitor Center was very interesting. The following pictures are of some of the displays inside where I learned a lot of facts about Death Valley. This is what greeted visitors when they walked inside the center. Be sure to zoom in and read some of the information. Badwater Pool. If you zoom in to a point just a little higher than dead center of this photo, you will see a green sign (like a street sign) with two words with white letters. It will be blurry. Here is what the sign in the previous picture says. Now, look at the previous picture again. Can you believe half way up that mountain is actually sea level?!!Artist Drive was the last place we explored in Death Valley before we headed back to the RV. It is an area where there are many colors in the hills. There were places of some kind of greenish rock. Zoom in on the photos to see the green areas. My photos just do NOT do justice to how beautiful this area was!
Just a short 40 minute drive from our RV park was a national park. I had never heard about Cuyahoga (pronounced: ki-yah-hoe-gah) Valley National Park before our visit to Ohio, so, of course, we had to visit it.
We drove to the Boston Mill Visitor Center first. I was glad we stopped here. I learned more about the river and park, but also learned that some areas of the park were closed because of road and hiking path repairs. We were only able to go see one of the falls in the area (Brandywine Falls), and I was disappointed. So much of this park you can only see by bicycle riding (which we don’t do) or hiking multiple miles (which we weren’t prepared to do that day). Oh, well, that’s life. Here is what we did see.
Boston Mill Visitor Center.Cuyahoga River.Looking down river from the bridge in previous picture.Looking up river from the bridge. Can you find the two kayakers way upstream? You may have to zoom in. Brandywine Falls.This was part of thepath to see Brandywine Falls from the bottom.
We had a lovely day. Of course, on the way home, we stopped for some ice cream!
Retirement......LOVE IT! 