USA 2004
Death Valley National Park
We set off again at around nine o'clock to make the most of the day. Contrary to our existing itinerary, we decide to drive from Pahrump towards Route 178, as this is described in the travel guide as the most scenic route. However, we are prevented from entering the valley – “Flooded” we read on the large signs. We are naturally annoyed that this information has only been posted now, meaning we have chosen this route for nothing and now have to take the route we originally planned (Route 190).
When we arrive at the entrance to Route 190, we see the same sign – “Flooded” along with a closed road. I ask the lady who is busy surveying the land if there is another entrance or if we have no way of getting into the valley at all. She tells us that there is another entrance. When I ask her why the other two roads are closed, she replies that both roads were washed away by flooding in August. Great. Neither of us really believes it. Everywhere you read that it hardly ever rains in Death Valley, and now it's supposed to have rained so much that everything is flooded?
So we continue on to the aforementioned entrance to Beatty (Route 374), which meant a huge detour, but never mind, we want to see Death Valley!!! Thankfully, the entrance is really free and we reach the lowest point, 200 feet below sea level. There is water in the valley, everything is covered in salt. We unanimously agree that there are very few people who can say they have taken photos of water in Death Valley.
Incidentally, the roads are really flooded... We got to see that too. We had imagined the heat to be more extreme, but we certainly caught one of the cooler days, and it was already 5 p.m. Once again, we complain that our Buick doesn't have an outside temperature gauge. But we would estimate that it must be somewhere above 40 degrees. Overall, we imagined Death Valley to be different, without being able to say exactly what we expected.
We spend the night in Bishop, once again at Motel 6.
Photo Gallery: Death Valley
