Below Sea Level

Currently In:  Three Rivers, CA (6 miles from Sequoia National Park)
Moving on to Hollister California, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Redding, Redwoods National Park
We will be in Oregon in Late May

We made it to Death Valley!

It was our first time actually staying in a National Park as well as "dry camping" - meaning no hook ups to electric, water or sewer at our site.   We had to arrive with a full fresh water tank and run the generator to keep the batteries charged.  It was only two nights, so we figured we could handle it.
And you can't beat the view!

Our neighbors at the RV park, Ralston and Debra, invited us to drive through Titus Canyon in caravan with them.

We met at the Rhyolite ghost town.  Man, we have seen a lot of ghost towns!  This one was different because of the train depot and boxcar.

It was an exciting and beautiful drive.  We climbed up and down these mountains on narrow roads with switchbacks.  Yikes!

We took a break before the drive through the canyon.

We saw this during the second part of our drive.

Here are a bunch of other things we saw during our whirlwind tour through Death Valley.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Natural Bridge

Keane Wonder Mill and (gold) Mine 

Old firetruck at Stovepipe Wells

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie at sunset

The lowest point in North America is in Death Valley at Badwater Basin.

Death Valley gets a small amount of rain each year.  The evaporation cycle creates these salt flats.

 This pond is spring fed and never goes away.  Animal and plant life feed on this water.

We also visited the Inn at Death Valley.  Located at an oasis, it has historical value as well as being absolutely spectacular.  Darn - we had breakfast before we got here!

Drive up to the Inn

Garden in front of the Inn

Lobby

Chicago connection - the railroad!

The old laundry-now a beautiful garden

One of the best things about this National Park is the night sky.  No photos attached, but there were more stars in this designated Dark Sky Park than I have ever seen in my life.  We sat outside our rig for quite a while both nights just to enjoy the magic.

Finally, we had a crazy trip out of the park.  We came into the Park from the south, but wanted to leave a different way so we could see a different part of the Park.  We took our motorhome on a 6 mile trek down a 9% grade.  Put her in low gear, put on the exhaust break and enjoy the ride!

Once we got off of 14 South, we turned on California 58 headed to Bakersfield.  Turned the corner and saw green terrain for the first time in months.