Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Death Valley second visit:

Yesterday morning I had to fix the toilet in the trailer, the vaccum gasket of the flush valve was pierced and it leaked water everywhere when it was under pressure. Fortunatly I was able to get a spare part at the RV superstore in Pahrump, also we had battery problems that I was able to fix by installing an external charger maintainer on a separate 110 V line ti works fantastic.

So after lunch we left for Death Valley, it's 45 minutes from our base camp. This time I wanted to see the south side with two sites in perticular, Badwater and Dantes View. Our first stop was Dantes View it starts with a 13 miles drive to climb up the mountain from  1000 feet to 5475 feet with the last mile being a very steep white knuckles clifthanger, My wife had to cover her eyes with her hands, I just love those roads ;)


A look of the Saltflats of Badwater from Dante's View

Whe then arrive to a parking lot with a breathtaking view to Death Valley bellow, There is a half mile trail to the sommet, so I decided to do the trail. The temperature at this altitude is 51F or 10C with a strong gusty wind. I have been going to the gym at the resort for the last few days and after comming back from that trail I don't regret it. The view from the top was incredible you can see the Badwater Saltflats bellow in the valley. So we drove down to Badwater a 30 miles drive dropping from 5475 feet to 282 feet bellow sea level donw at Badwater. My wife had serious problems with the pressure equalisation we even had to stop on the side of the road she was in pain. We made it to Badwater and I went on the trail to take my pictures wile she stayed in the car with the dog who was also acting strange maybee having problems with her ears as well.

Saltflats at Badwater


A closer look

The trail is flat and very easy and the view of the salt flats unlike anything I ever saw, and yes did I mentioned there is no wind and the temperature is 79F or 26C and dry, very dry. We then started our way back to the campsite at sunset and got there in the dark. With the tome changes and all the activities we were very tired and went to bed at 20h30. Tomorow we head for the Pacific Coast.

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