I had a business trip planned to Sacramento. Leann grew up on stories of her parents visit here and always wanted to go. Since I was already planning on being there she booked a flight and joined me after my meetings. The next day we did the 7 hour drive to DVNP, with plenty of stops along he way. We took Route 60 through the mountains and turned south on 395. The Sierra Mountain range was in constant view to our right, what a spectacular drive.
Mono Lake is an ancient saline lakeMono Lake is home to trillions of brine shrimp, millions of birds, and the famous tufa towersThese rock towers form when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with the waters of the lake, which are rich in carbonates. The reaction forms limestone. Over time the buildup of limestone formed towers, when the water level of the lake dropped the towers became exposed.I was looking forward to getting a view of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48. I didn’t know at the time that a few years later we would be on top of the mountain on the last day of a weeklong backpacking trip.We decided to hike Mosaic Canyon before we went to the hotel. It was a great way to start our visitLeann had trail fever and wanted to keep going even thought it was getting darker.This was the spot we turned around, we got back to the car in the dark and did not have headlights, newbies!Next day we did the hike up Wildrose Peak, winter is great time to visit the park. This was about half wayView of the salt flats and Bad Water BasinThe colors in the park are amazing, I had no ideaAlmost thereLeann at the topWe stayed at a hotel in Stovepipe Wells so we did not leave the park until we had to go homeBadwater BasinLeann on the salt flats that we saw from Wildrose PeakWe did a hike to another slot canyon: Fall Canyon which is not as spectacular as Mosaic but still worth doingCanyon is getting narrower, but at least we finished when it was not darkEnd of the road, trail guide said there was a route around this “DRY” fall but we didn’t find it.Ubehebe CraterLeann on the rim trail.Hike to Golden Canyon, the colors are amazingMost of this is just compacted dirt, it’s a real mess when it gets wet which Leann and I will learn on a future trip.I like having a hiker in the picture to add perspectiveSand dunes across the road from our hotelDunes and mountains
Death Valley quickly became one of our favorite national parks, we returned 2 more times and counting and one was in the summer. Stay tuned for that story.
