Death Valley National Park & Mohave National Preserve, CA

On the last Friday of January, we headed to Death Valley National Park. We had inched closer the night before and stayed an hour away at Preferred RV Park in Pahrump, NV to do chores. Knowing there was no internet, we only planned to stay for the weekend and explore the popular Furnace Creek area. The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was 134F at Furnace Creek, so January was a good time to visit.

Neither of us had heard much about Death Valley and we didn’t have many expectations, but we really enjoyed this park!

Death Valley didn’t end up being as scary as it sounds, but maybe that’s because we didn’t go anywhere remote. There were multiple resorts, restaurants, markets, and gas stations. These photos are from the Inn at Death Valley.

We quickly unhooked the camper and rushed up to Dante’s View (also the cover photo), where we could see the highest elevation in the park, Telescope Peak at 11,049ft, and the lowest point, Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level. Badwater Basin is also the lowest point in North America.

On Saturday, we started out at Badwater Basin. This valley is also the driest place in North America. We walked about 1/2 mile out to this photo.

Next, was a stop to see Devil’s Golf Course. Interestingly, there is also a normal golf course in the park.

We then drove the Artists Drive loop to see Artists Palette, where minerals in the rock have oxidized to pastel colors.

We wanted to do at least one hike and chose the ~4 mile Golden Canyon trail through golden badlands. This trail kind of felt like a maze.

And last, headed to Zabriskie Point for sunset. Zabriskie Point overlooks the badlands we had just hiked.

Before leaving on Sunday, we went back to Zabriskie Point for sunrise.

We headed south towards the Mohave National Preserve to look for a boondocking spot to spend the workweek. This was the most desolate drive we’ve done so far.

After passing up a couple of places that did not look that great to us, we found a beautiful site inside the Mohave National Preserve. But as soon as we were in, Michael felt like we were stuck there (because of humps and dips at the entrance) and wanted to leave. Normally, I’m the anxious and apprehensive one. I suggested waiting until the following weekend to figure it out but he wasn’t having that. So we pulled mostly out, decided it was nothing a shovel and blocks couldn’t handle, reparked, and settled in for the week.

We only left our little road on one occasion. There were a couple of hikes that looked interesting in other areas of the Mohave Preserve but they were all ~60 miles away. The closest grocery store was also 60 miles away.

What we were close to was a lava tube! To get to it we had to drive 10 miles on a very washboard road where we saw some Joshua Trees and volcano cones. The walk to the lava tube was just a few steps from the small parking area.

That weekend it was time to say goodbye to the desert and free boondocking and traveling without reservations for a while. We were able to leave on Saturday with no issues and after a one-night stopover at the Californian RV Park in Acton, CA, made it to our next destination – a beachfront campsite!