If there was ever a place that made me feel as though I was in a post-apocalyptic, extra terrestrial movie, it would be Death Valley, California. Driving through mile after mile of nothing made me a little concerned for anyone who ever broke down or were to run out of gas because it is truly desolate. I wouldn't describe it as scenic, and in fact I was pretty ready to head on to greener places, but Drew assured me there would be something special early in the morning....and I've learned to trust his travel itenerary because it rarely, if ever, disappoints.
So after landing in Las Vegas at 10:30 local time (1:30 am to us), we rented a car and drove two more hours to an inexpensive hotel to catch a few hours of sleep (3.5) before we woke up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise. We drove about 25 minutes to a parking lot and then needed to walk the dunes to get in a good position to see and photograph the sunrise. It struck me as soon as I got out of the car how hot and heavy it was so early in the morning--I looked at my phone and it was already 87 degrees.
We had a lot of fun trying to ascend/descend the dunes in the dark. I couldn't believe how silent it was out there--no birds, no breeze, no people, nothing, As the sun barely started casting blue light all over, it became easier to see what we had lost sleep over. The shadows, the smooth angles, the mountains in the background were incredible.
We walked and ran until we were sure we were on the tallest dune and in the perfect spot to watch this landscape come to life in front of us. It ended up taking a little longer than we thought since the sun had to come up over the mountain range, so I did a little hill running on the dunes! It was super hard work and by the time I got back to the car I had logged four miles of walking and running......all before 6:00 am. I think that's a record I don't have intentions of trying to break.
ZABRISKIE POINT
Next we headed to another hidden gem in Death Valley, Zabriskie Point. This spot just required a short walk up a steep sidewalk to the lookout. I don't know how to describe the view other than wrinkly, almost fossil-looking rocks.
BADWATER BASIN
Lastly, we drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere. Badwater is a salt flat and the further you walk, the more snow-like the ground becomes, but it's salt (I tasted it to verify) By this point, it was extremely hot and even though the post-apocalyptic view was eerie and extremely unlike anything I've ever seen, it was upwards of 105 degrees and we were running on three hours of sleep, so we snapped a few pictures and headed back to the air conditioning.
All in all, Death Valley is definitely worth rearranging a drive to experience. I would never advise anyone that they need to spend more than a few hours in the park, and would highly recommend seeing it as early in the day as possible. But if you're willing to deny yourself sleep, you have the opportunity to experience something that I can only describe as knocking on Heaven's door.