This past summer’s road trip took us north to Anacortes and back. On the way north we went up US-395 to Reno, then to Ontario, Oregon via US-95. From there we took US-95 and US-195 to Spokane. After a couple of nights in Spokane and a visit to Gonzaga University, we drove across Washington State to Sammamish for a couple of nights and a visit to Seattle University. Then it was on to Anacortes.

After a pleasant week with family, we set off for home. I-5 took us to our first night’s stop in Roseburg, Oregon. The next day we turned off I-5 in Grants Pass, taking US-199 to Crescent City, picking up US-101. This is where the scenic part of the drive started. The highway takes you down the coast and through groves of huge redwood trees. South of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, we turned onto CA-1 to go to that night’s stop in Fort Bragg, California.

Our next planned evening stop was in Monterey. We decided to stick with the coast route for most of the drive south from Fort Bragg. CA-1 in this stretch is a winding road that travels right along the coast. While the drive isn’t fast, the views are beautiful. Our first stop on the drive was at the Point Arena Lighthouse where we were treated to this view. Click on any picture for a full-sized view.

The privately-maintained lighthouse has a small museum, gift shop, and lodging. For an incremental fee you can tout the lighthouse itself. We did not take the tour.

Built in 1870 and destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, it was rebuilt two years later. It is a notable landmark along the coast.

Our next stop in our tour of Death Valley National Park is the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. Formed where the wind carrying sand from eroding mountains to the north is stopped by Tucki Mountain, this vast field of dunes is a beautiful stop. Named for the mesquite bushes that grow in the area, the highest dune is about 185 ft (65 m) high.

With no set trails on the dunes, people scurry everywhere.

Evidence of life is everywhere, with tracks of all sorts in the sand. They range from the small …

To larger tracks.

The light can be interesting. We weren’t there at sunrise or sunset, which is a recommended time to visit. Perhaps next time.

And now we say goodbye to Death Valley, with one final view looking south from Daylight Pass Road on the east side of the park toward Badwater Basin.

Moving to the next installment of this extended chronicle of our trip to Death Valley in April 2023, this post shares some photos from our drive along Artists Drive and our stop at Artists Palette.

Artists drive is a beautiful, one-way road north of Badwater Basin and The Devil’s Golf Course. This nine-mile (14.5 km) drive takes you past some amazing and colorful rock formations. I think the most common way to get to the drive, which goes from south to north, is to put it at the return from your visit to Badwater Basin. We went to Badwater Basin, stopped at The Devil’s Golf Course, and then drove Artists Drive. It was on to the Mesquite Sand Dunes after that, but that is for next month.

As you drive up from the valley floor, the view behind you can be amazing. Here is Telescope Peak looking west from Artists Drive. (Click on any picture for a full-sized view.)

The view looking up the hill was very nice too.

The Sun was just barely highlighting the edges of the rocks on top of the craggy peaks.

About half-way through the drive, you come to Artists Palette. The rich colors of these volcanic deposits are the highlight of the drive. Here they are in the distance as you approach Artists Palette.

This panorama shows the wide spread of this remarkable formation.

You may also enjoy this closer view of the colors.

As we finished the drive, we noted that even the more subtle colors can be beautiful.

After a few months off, I am back with the next post in my series of posts from our trip to Death Valley National Park last April. Prior posts include Ubehebe Crater, Zabriske Point, Dante’s View, and the Father Crowley Overlook. This post covers our visit to Badwater Basin.

Sitting 282 ft (86m) below sea level, Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America. Just 84 miles (136 km) to the northwest, Mt. Whitney rises 14,505 feet (4,421 m) as the highest point in the contiguous US states. Eastern California is a place of amazing geography.

Wikipedia tells us that Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin — a basin that has no drainage to other bodies of water. Over the centuries it has accumulated salt from the evaporating water. Normally very dry, this past year two rainstorms created Lake Manly, a rare ephemeral lake in Badwater Basin. For a while it was deep enough for kayaking. Sadly, I was unable to get there to see it and I believe it is mostly gone now. All of the accumulated salt makes what little water there is undrinkable, hence the name “Badwater.”

Badwater Basin is almost directly below Dante’s View. The Badwater Basin parking area is just out of sight in the lower right hand side of this picture. Click on any picture to get a full-sized view.

From the parking area, you can walk out onto the salt flats. The white line in the picture above is the white walkway in the picture below. Snow-covered Telescope Peak is in the background.

Having earlier written about our visits to Dante’s View and Zabriske Point in Death Valley National Park, we move on to Ubehebe Crater. Located at the north end of the park, Ubehebe Crater is a formation of 13 overlapping volcanic craters that created in an eruption 2,100 years ago. The largest of the craters and the one really carrying the name “Ubehebe Crater” is half a mile across (800 meters) and 600 feet (183 meters) deep.

The 55-mile (89 kilometer) drive from Furnace Creek to Ubehebe Crater takes about 90 minutes. You turn off of CA-190 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Furnace Creek onto Scotty’s Castle Road, also known as the North Highway. The scenery along the way is beautiful. You see alluvial fans, rock formations, and the stark beauty that characterizes Death Valley. The turn off to Ubehebe Crater is right where the road heads into the mountains to Scotty’s Castle.

As a side note, the road to Scotty’s Castle closed in 2015 after a major rainstorm caused significant damage. It was expected to re-open in 2023, but the remnants of Hurricane Hillary dumped 2.2 inches of rain on the park in a day. That compares to an annual rainfall of 2.15 inches. Roads were damaged across the park and the park closed for several months. The damage done to Scotty’s Castle road delayed the reopening which is now not expected until 2025.

As you approach the craters, you enter a field of ash and lava. You pass the turn off to Racetrack Valley before arriving at the parking lot at the crater’s rim. Here is the view from just a short distance from the parking lot.

The craters formed in a steam and gas explosion triggered when rising magma came into contact with groundwater. The exploding gas threw rock in the air leaving deposits of both basaltic lava and fragments of sandstone. It is quite an impressive sight. Click on any image to see a full-sized version.

Snow-covered Tin Mountain loomed over the crater’s rim. Tin Mountain is a 8,953-foot (2,729 meter) mounting in the Cottonwood Mountains, part of the Panamint Range. Off to the left is Dry Mountain in the Last Chance Range.

The colors and patterns of the crater rocks and the Grapevine Mountains of the Amargosa Range are striking.

Last month I wrote about our visit to Dante’s View in Death Valley National Park. This month we move on to Zabriske Point. Zabriske Point is a highly eroded area with colorful sediment and rock formations along CA-190 south of Furnace Creek. I first heard of the place when I was in high school and my older brother was taking a cinema class that was covering the director Michelangelo Antonioni. Antonioni has a film called Zabriske Point (1970), a somewhat bizarre film of which I only remember people rolling in the dirt at Zabriske Point in Death Valley and a house blowing up at the end of the movie.

Zabriske Point is named after Christian Brevoort Zabriske, a VP and General Manager of the Pacific Borax Company. The Pacific Borax Company drove development of the borax mining industry in Death Valley in the early 20th century and made Twenty-Mule Team Borax a household name.

The area around Zabriske Point is composed of sediments from an ancient lake, it is part of the Amargosa Range, just like Dante’s View. This makes for a variety of colors and textures in the landscape. The parking area is just off of CA-190 and it is a short walk up to a view area. The view to the west has what is perhaps the “point” in Zabriske Point.

Looking back at the parking area, you can see the Funeral Mountains in the background. Click on any picture for a full-sized version.

The light foreground sediment contrasts with the dark rock in the higher elevations.

Last month I started my series of pictures from our trip to Death Valley this last April. From our stop at the Father Crowley Overlook, we drove down through the Panamint Valley, over Towne Pass, and into Death Valley proper. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells where I picked up my lifetime National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass (age has its benefits) before heading to Furnace Creek and our lodgings at the Ranch at Death Valley.

A downside of a trip to Death Valley is the cost of food and the lack of options. We had dinner at the Last Kind Words Saloon, where the service was good and the food was decent, but the prices were quite high. If you are traveling during the winter and spring, make your dinner reservations in advance, as things fill up quickly. In any case, we had a nice room and overall the resort was in good condition. We were up the next morning and after an expensive and so-so buffet breakfast, we drove off to our first stop of the day, Dante’s View.

Dante’s View is about 24 miles (39 km) from Furnace Creek. With the windy road and a significant elevation climb, it is about an hour’s drive. The drive itself is pleasant. You pass Zabriske Point on the way (our visit there will come in a later post) and Twenty Mule Team Canyon. The drive through Twenty Mule Team Canyon is picturesque, but I don’t take it in a low-clearance car as it is rocky and steep in places. Apparently several scenes from Return of the Jedi were filmed there, but I admit I did not notice anything that would connect the location to the movie.

Once you make it past the last steep grade to the parking lot at Dante’s View, you are rewarded with an amazing view. On any visit to Death Valley, this is not a place to be missed. With our rainy winter, Telescope Peak and the Panamint Range was just amazing across the valley to the north. Click on any picture to see a full-sized view.

Dante’s View is 5,575 ft (1,699 m) above the valley floor and has an amazing panoramic view in all directions.

Dante’s view is directly above Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. The parking lot for Badwater Basin is just out of view.

The view to the northwest up the valley is remarkable.

Part of the Black Mountains in the Amargosa Range, Dante’s View is named after Dante Alghieri, author of the Divina Commedia. It was named in 1926 when the Pacific Borax Company was beginning to realize the tourist value of Death Valley and was introduced to the site by the Deputy Sheriff of Greenwater.