I'm not sure why it took us so long to visit Death Valley National Park, but we went this past February as a stop in route to Las Vegas, and it was awesome! It was like no other national park we've visited thus far and at times felt like we were walking on a different planet. I can now see why Death Valley is the site where a lot of Star Wars scenes were filmed!
Here's our top 8 sites to visit at Death Valley. Yes, 8 is a weird number. We were going for top 5, but I couldn't whittle it down any further. So hey, I'm Asian. Eight is a lucky number for us. So TOP EIGHT it is!
At the very bottom of this post is our detailed itinerary. We looked through trip advisor, yelp and even checked out some hiking books at the library to formulate this itinerary, but most inspirational were web sites such as Josh's Californiathroughmylens.com, and Steve Hall's Star Wars in death valley at panamintcity.com.
TOP 8
1. Watch Fighter Jets Fly By at Father Crowley Overlook
Father Crowley Overlook is a vista point with sweeping views of the Panamint Range. Initially, I thought that we would just spend 30 min here and be on our way, but we ended up spending 90 minutes! Right when we arrived, people told us we had just missed a fighter jet dive into and out of Rainbow Canyon, also nicknamed as "Star Wars Canyon". Bummed, we waited around and started chatting with a couple from Monterey, CA. They've been coming here for decades, fine tuning their radio to pick up signals from the nearby US Navel Air Station Lenmoore. Apparently, there are certain code words for when a pilot would practice low-altitude flight maneuvers through the canyon. We were so lucky that within another 30 min or so, the couple picked up a signal and started waving their giant US flag for the pilots to see. Sure enough, we could hear the jet approaching and even caught a video of the jet flying through the canyon. Way cool. It's hard to appreciate from the photo above how difficult this maneuver must be through the narrow canyon. And reading the story in early August of a jet crash during practice right in this very canyon was shocking and sad. (Note: At the time of this posting, the crash is still under investigation, so I'm not sure if this lookout is open)
2. Watch the Sunrise at Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes
We initially went to the Mesquite Sand Dunes for a sunset hike the day before, but we quickly discovered that no matter how far we hiked from the entrance, there were footprints in the sand everywhere. When we went back the following morning before sunrise, overnight winds had wiped the dunes clean of footprints, and the dunes were pristine with ripple patterns for miles. We felt almost guilty walking and ruining the patterns, and tried to take a path following others' footsteps back to the car to leave as few of a trace as we possibly could.
3. Hunt for Pupfish at Salt Creek
The water at Salt Creek is salty. There are piles of salt precipitating at the sides of the creek, yet it is incredible to me how pupfish are able to survive these conditions that would kill all other fish. These fish are rare, and you won't see them anywhere else. It's also a great example of adaptation and survival, so it definitely makes the "top 8" list. Plus they are so adorable darting around with each other like little puppies! What's not to like?
4. Walk the Salt Flats at Badwater Basin
This is where you feel like you are on Neptune or one of the other outer planets. It's unreal. At Badwater basin, you are 282 feet below sea level. Runoff from streams carrying minerals collect at the basin with no outflow and evaporate. Cycles after cycles of this over thousands of years created this basin of hexagonal salt crust. From afar, it looks like snow, but up close, they are shining crystals of ill defined shape-- almost needle-like, but not quite. It was definitely not a crystal lattice shape that I'm accustom to seeing in the lab.
5. Stargaze at Borax Harmony Works
The only other place I saw this many stars was at a little cabin in the woods of Jackson Lake at Grand Teton National Park. Death Valley is known for good stargazing on clear nights, and so this was an opportunity we didn't want to miss. Yes, we were tired, but the sky was clear that night and there were no guarantees the skies would be clear the following night. We drove the 5 minutes out to Borax Harmony Works and laid a blanket out on the ground next to the mule cart and just watched the sky in amazement. We could also hear the chatter of a few little kids equally as excited as we were to see millions of stars. My husband also got to play around with all the settings on his camera to be able to capture the wagon in the foreground and Orion in the background, so he was happy.
6. Artist's Palette
Artist's Palette is a photographer's dream. It's easy to get to on a paved road and very little hiking is required to see all the variety of colors caused by the oxidation of different metals deposited in the rocks. We came here in the morning despite all the advice to come in the afternoon for best show of colors and the lighting wasn't too bad. (I guess I have no comparison of how much better it could have been if we went in the afternoon.) We also tried to walk around to see if we could identify "Inside R2's Arroyo", but I don't think we found it.
7. Devil's Golf Course
Unlike Badwater Basin, the salt crystals here are hard and intertwined with hardened mud. I was warned by a colleague that the crystals at Devil's Golf Course are sharp and showed me a scar he still carried from a fall there, so I tried not to run around too crazily, but we couldn't resist some of the unique photo opportunities here.
8. Dante's View Point
We almost didn't come here because it was a bit far out of the way and we were suppose to meet friends in Vegas that afternoon, but I'm so glad we decided to make the drive out to Dante's View. From the view point, we were able to see tiny little black dots along the white trail coming off Badwater Basin. Those black dots are people!!! We were one of "the black dots" the other day walking the trail to the salt flats. It was really eye opening to be able to see the basin from this perspective.
Our 3 full day itinerary in Feb 2019
| Date | Time | Activity |
| Day 1 | 4 PM | Arrive at West entrance of Death Valley: Father Crowley Overlook (Hwy 190) |
|
| 6 PM | Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes Sunset Hike |
|
| 8 PM | Check into Stovepipe Wells Lodge |
|
| 8:30 PM | Dinner at Toll Road Restaurant |
| Day 2 | 6 AM | Sunrise hike at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes |
|
| 9 AM | Check out of Stovepipe Wells Lodge |
|
| 10 AM | Hike Ubehebe Crater and Little Hebe Crater (1 hr drive north of Stovepipe Wells; 1.5 mile double loop hike, 2 hrs to complete) |
|
| 2 PM | Hunt for pupfish at Salt Creek Flats trail (about 1.5 hr drive south of Crater; 0.5 miles hike, flat) |
|
| 3 PM | Harmony Borax Works & Furnace Creek Visitor Center |
|
| 4 PM | Check into Furnace Creek Inn |
|
| 5 PM | Visit the Salt Flats at Badwater Basin |
|
| 8 PM | Dinner at 1849 Buffet at the Furnace Creek Inn |
|
| 10 PM | Stargazing at Harmony Borax |
| Day 3 | 6 AM | Sunrise at Zabrinskie’s Point |
|
| 9 AM | Artist’s Drive and Artist’s Palette |
|
| 11 AM | Devil’s Golf Course |
|
| 1 PM | Golden Canyon Trail hike to Red Cathedral (3 miles, moderate, 2 hrs) |
|
| 5:30 PM | Dinner of Indian Fry Bread Tacos at Timbisha Tacos behind Furnace Creek Inn |
| Day 4 | 8 AM | Check out of Furnace Creek |
|
| 9 AM | Drive to Dante's View and then out of Death Valley to Vegas |