Death Valley

After searching, unsuccessfully, for off-roading opportunities in the Three Rivers area near the Sequoia NP area we stumbled upon the Red Rock Canyon State Park north of Mojave, CA.  This beautiful park is full of great bluffs, washes and desert jack rabbits which were too skittish to photograph.  I put the Rubicon in to 4L, and we did a little mild rock crawling through Nightmare Gulch.  The boys had fun but we wished their cousins Kurtis and Conrad were along.

After a glimpse of Mount Whitney (highest point in lower 48) from Lone Pine, we headed into the heat they call Death Valley.  We feel fortunate it only hit 111 while we were there.  The staff at the visitor center said it hit 125 a day earlier. This park takes you over 4000 foot passes and then down into valleys at or below sea level.  Not at all what we were expecting.  The boys LOVE dunes, so we had to stop and try some sand sledding…a little Alaska showing through.


We visited the ghost town of Rhyolite which once had 10,000 inhabitants. It is hard to believe based on the way things look now. One of the most interesting houses that is still in great shape is the Bottle House whose walls were made completely of empty glass bottles and mortar.  Of course we had to go to Badwater (elevation -282) and experience the lowest dry land in North America. The Artist drive was gorgeous.  With so many features named after something evil we decided that this area looked like God's palette with eons of pigment piled on top of each other.

 We then headed to the Las Vegas area.  Fortunately, Amy found the most incredible RV park…aptly named the Oasis RV Resort. It had multiple swimming pools (which we took advantage of immediately upon arrival!), private bathroom/showers, and over 400 sites.  Many snowbirds call it home from October to March.  The main site we came to see was the Hoover Dam.  There is a reason that it was named the engineering project of the century.  Not only is it big and beautifully designed, it has paid for its construction and operation costs through the sale of generated power.  Hmmmm…clean energy that doesn't cost the taxpayers and lasts for generations?  We sure could use more of this kind of thinking. After our third straight day of 100+ degree weather we decided to head to cool climes of Flagstaff.