Death Valley in 4 hours.

Seems like most of my work trips turn into quick side trips to travelnevada.com Here’s a link that can help you find yours. My trip last year took us to Death Valley.  I had never really thought about DV as a place that would have blown me away the way it did. I went there mainly because I had seen some cool pictures of sand dunes.
the nearest National or State Park.  If there’s one within 2 hours we are going to try and find the time to make it.  Vegas is one of those places that offers so many options!
  We got off work around 3 and made the two hour trip to the entrance of the park a little after 5.  I knew we had a few hours before sunset, so we didn’t have a lot of time to mess around.  We made our first stop at Zabriskie Point. It is on the east side of the park. It’s hard to imagine this whole area used to be a lake bed but that’s what created or left behind all the sediments and formed the cool colors you’ll see when standing here.  Manly Beacon is the formation you cant help but stare at.  The rock is filled with different colored rock layers.  It’s Beautiful and I can only imagine that sunrise and sunset are incredible from this view point.

 We left Zabriskie Point and set off for Badwater Basin.  This is the lowest elevation within the United States at 282ft below sea level.  Ironically its only 84 miles away from the highest point in the Contiguous 48 United States.  This place is the one place that probably blew me away the most.  To look up at the cliff side above us and see the line where sea level was, was kind of surreal.  The ground is basically a salty crust.

With only a couple hours till sunset we left there and headed north to Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.  The one place I had on my list to see. There is a 2.8 mile hike on alltrails.com we did most of this loop but I kind of ventured off once the sun started setting. The dunes here are incredible.  They were everything I had envisioned, the contrast from light to dark is incredible. The ridges look like they are perfectly formed.  If you’re into photography this is the place you’ll want to be.  Make sure you get to the tallest dune and shoot all of the colors you’ll see.  Also make sure you look in all of the directions, I know its easy to only look west at sunset but sometimes the best colors are going to be behind you. Also if you have someone with you have them walk along a distant ridge line and shoot them so you can tell just how small we are.

 I wish there was some clouds in the sky this night but don’t let that stop you from seeing the beauty that you’ll be surrounded by and even though there wasn’t any clouds to light up the sky, I was treated to some amazing color long after the sun had set.  The colors were broken up by the  Mountain ridges to the west. Luckily we didn’t leave too early.

So if you’re looking for a cool adventure only a couple hours from Las Vegas, don’t look past https://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm  yes its hot, just bring lots of water and sunscreen.  It’s one park that will leave you wanting to go back I promise!