Adler's Fall 2013 Northwest: November 25, 2013 Death Valley

Nov. 25, 2013 Death Valley, CA

Death Valley is very much ALIVE! We had a wonderful day scouting out several high points of the park today. We did three different hikes and got in about six miles total, so it was good! We drove down past the elite Furnace Creek Inn that is run by Xanterra, the same company that runs the Grand Canyon (Phantom Ranch), so I can imagine how expensive that is. They had mega palm trees surrounding it in this very arid land, so you can guess what their water bill is! It looks fabulous! Then we went to Golden Canyon and hiked back to the Red Cathedral, a famous landmark in the park. This particular hike reminded us of Box Canyon in Florence, but on a more elaborate scale. From there we drove the nine mile loop through Artist's Palette, which was so stunningly beautiful! At one spot the colors were so intense and it reminded us both of the time we took our children to Ella's Deli in Madison, WI and had a kazoo! That consisted of 32 scoops of ice cream and sherbet and it was to celebrate our oldest daughter's birthday! Well, we got to enjoy that 'kazoo' again, only it didn't cost us any calories! Next on our list was the Natural Bridge hike, and that didn't disappoint us, either. The road back to hike this trail was terrible and we are so glad again, that we have a truck! We would have never made it with our Malibu, and it was well worth the drive back. It was getting near sundown, but we felt we still had time to drive down farther to Badwater, where it is the lowest elevation in the park. Our altimeter lied. They say it is 282 feet below sea level there. We did five earthcaches today, and they always educate us on the area. We know we are still learning! We feel we made headway in seeing what is here, and think now that our time will go too quickly. We have more to explore tomorrow and know it will be interesting and pleasing to the eye.