Red Rocks State Park & Death Valley National Park, CA

Las Vegas, NV - Suwei and I left for Las Vegas last Friday with her parents in tow. The plan was to take the long route through Death Valley, in order to cross out another item on her California "To Do" list. We had hoped to cross off "Yosemite in the Winter", but instead managed to get an appointment for the MRI. That meant two hours of laying inside a very loud, buzzing magnet and a very late start...so, no Yosemite. And, since we were now going directly to the desert instead of to the snow, Suwei's parents decided to join us.

About 11:00pm we pulled into Red Rocks State Park about 40 minutes north of Mohave. We camped there, took a couple of photos and then continued on to Death Valley.

It was a perfect weekend for a visit to Death Valley. Cool in the morning, hot (but not too hot) in the afternoon. We dropped into the valley via hwy 190, had lunch at Stovepipe Wells, climbed the sand dunes there, snagged one of the last campsites in Furnace Creeks, then hit the Devil's Golf Course and Badwater (the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level) just before the sun set for the evening. It was all quite beautiful.




The next day we got up and learned about Borax, alluvial fans & ancient lake beds as we walked a few interpretive hikes. Feeling like quite the tourists, we also checked out the natural bridge and an abandoned mill before leaving the park and having lunch in Shoshone. After lunch Suwei's parents headed back to the bay area and Suwei and I continued on to Las Vegas.

For more pictures go here:

Red Rocks State Park & Death Valley National Park, CA

For a map of Death Valley go here: http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/death_valley/death_valley_map.html