Hey guys!
Today’s day when I finally stop you bothering you by articles from the US because this is the last one!
As I wrote in the past, I went to Death Valley National Park for the last day before departure and only for a few hours. Yeah, I had to drive 3 hours there and 3 back just because of some desert, haha! Crazy, I know, but those who knows me are no longer surprised, right?
I slept in a super-weird motel in Bakersfield and got up early in the morning to be in the NP by ten. Instead of 3 hours, it took me four, because I was stopping and taking pictures of everything, haha!
At the entrance, I paid $25 fee and started out first at the Mesquite Flat Dunes.
In summer, Death Valley can be absolutely unbearable due to the heat, but now at the end of November the temperature dropped to pleasant 25 degrees. I remember three years ago when I was at Mesquite Dunes, I walked about 300 meters and started to feel dizzy and sick from the heat. Back then it might have been about 60 degrees.
When I got enough of acting like a retard on the dunes, I went back to the car, poured the sand from my shoes (which I destroyed perfectly) and got going again.
I drove across the whole park all the way to Badwater Basin, which is about 80 meters below sea level, however there is no sea. The whole area is covered by specific salt formations (it’s really salt, I tasted it, haha!). In the beginning, the shapes are pretty destroyed by people walking around, but if you go for about a kilometer, you will see something completely different, which is definitely worth the walk.
Then I moved to the next spot, which was called Artist’s Palette and where you’ll find literally colorful mountains. It’s incredible what nature can do. You can enjoy this outlook about 300 meters from the parking lot.
And last, I did a walk in the Golden Canyon, which I never saw before (its name wasn’t attractive enough the last time I guess, hahahaha). But I have to say that this place has surprised me the most. It was already late afternoon, so the amount of people dropped a lot. The sign said the trail was about 5 km long. I was terribly tired and I didn’t want to go there, but I thought I was probably never gonna see this again, so I just started walking just with a camera around my neck. And it was a good decision.
The path between the rocks was not so interesting, but once I got out of it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was surrounded by strange white mountains and their red variation in the middle. I was THE ONLY ONE here. Finally, I scrambled to one of these weird mountains, sat down on the top of it and thought about life, haha!:)
Then the sun started to set down behind the mountains and I had to go back to the car because I wanted to make the most of the way in the light. I was passing Mesquite Dunes, where there was like a hundred cars parked. I was wondering what they were all doing there. BUT! When I left the park borders, the sky began to turn orange and I suddenly understood what those people were all doing. They were waiting for the sunset. At that moment I was mad at myself, that I didn’t stay too, because I experienced the BEST SUNSET I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. I swear to God that I have never seen more beautiful colors! Well, I’ll let you guys be the judge of that! <3
E.
