Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Extremes. How curious it is that the lowest point in the contiguous United States is only 76 miles distant from the very highest point (i.e., as the crow flies, point-to-point; by road it'd be 130 miles). Only seventy-six miles between the two extremes. Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park is 282 ft below sea level; Mt Whitney is 14,494 ft above. Shannon and I visited both (and many other points of interest) during our latest 11 day excursion beginning 26 March, driving a total of 2,221 miles in our Toyota-mounted Rocky Mountain Four Wheel Pop-Up Camper.
Mt Whitney, only 76 miles away, is 14,494 ft above sea level.
Directly below, not the two pinnacles the red lines point to.
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We drove into Death Valley from the south, passing Artist Drive on the way toward the very aptly named Furnace Creek Campground.
We continued north to Golden Canyon where we hiked a loop with a side spur that took us up to Zabriskie Point.
The colors are pretty amazing
The trail up to Zabriskie. See the two tiny hikers up to the right?
Atop Zabriskie Point
Fun Trails
We did a lot of driving in the heat the first few days, preferring to see some highway sights from the truck -- while enjoying the cool AC. We drove up to take in the sights from Dante's View:
And drove north to see Scotty's Castle:
Nice detail on the weather vane -- a prospector cooking over a campfire
One evening we had dinner at the Death Valley Inn, a nice white table cloth/wine list kind of dining room. Recommend it highly.
Outside it was 99 degrees. Those folks in the pic above chose to have their dinner out there. I do not believe they asked to have that patio heater turned on.
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After a few days in that heat we headed west to Lone Pine, California and the Mt Whitney portal trail. En route we needed a couple gallons of gasoline to be on the safe side, way out in the middle of nowhere, so we stopped at Panamint Springs and paid $5 a gallon:
Lone Pine NFS Campground wasn't really open for the season but the eight spaces available were free, so WTF.
The trail up to the Whitney Portal Campground is less than five miles in length, but climbs some 2500 feet in elevation.
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After a couple nights and a great hike we headed back toward Death Valley, but stuck to the higher elevation, south in the Panamint Mountains to Wildrose Campground.
A very thoughtful fellow tourist pointed out to us the spot where we could hike to see the rare Giant Panamint Daisy, Enceliopsis covillei.
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We headed out of Death Valley and passed by the ghost town of Rhyolite on our way toward Cedar City UT.
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Next, on toward Bryce Canyon, Goblin Valley, and Cedar Mesa.
