The ride into the park is a bit surreal. The surroundings seem so similar to the pictures we've seen taken on Mars. It is highly dramatic and boundlessly vast.
Oh, and it's hot. Hot, hot. Hot like Joshua Tree and the Preserve just couldn't even touch. The car thermometer consistently registers over 100 blistering degrees outside (photo below: top right hand corner: 105 in the shade baby!!!).
Upon entering the Death Valley Park, we descend into the main area of Furnace Creek. Aptly named, it's a furnace alright! A quick pop in to the visitor's center gets us some campsite options, and given that it is late afternoon already, we opt for the nearby Texas Springs (must be why all the water that comes out of the taps is near scalding hot!).
We sup early (trying not to sweat through our shorts). Thankfully there are a couple cold beers in our little icebox that make it somewhat bearable. We choose to eat early so that we can make the sunset drive to Zabriskie Point along with half the other visitors in the park! It's a photo swarm!
We decide we will try to get up at sunrise to harness the excellent morning light — maybe at the Artist's Palette (near Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America at 280ft BELOW sea level) or the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
We will also check out "Devil's Golf Course" (which we are suspecting is not actually a golf course...duh). Given that it is after 8 p.m. right now and the temperatures are still hovering around 100 degrees, we expect that getting up at sunrise will not be an issue — we may be severely dehydrated by that time.
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