Here is our route we took from North Ranch to Death Valley, with a stop at a Passport America RV Park in Las Vegas. From Pahrump we took Bell Vista Avenue which becomes State Line Road to CA 127. Turn right on 127 then immediately left on CA 190, unless you want to stop and visit the Amergosa Opera House. Roads were good!
Spend some time exploring the National Park Web site. Here is a
link to the National Park Web site, listing all the movies made there. Lindy often gets confused when trying to locate information, and in the midst of her confusion, finds rich information enriching our visit. Then again, it just might be Lindy--you will be more attuned to the task!
The full hook-ups at Furnace Creek are nice. It is best advised to reserve sites ahead on line. There is a discount with the Senior Pass, but you must pay the full price ($18, I think) per night for electrical. A bargain! There are also lots of sites for dry camping, with restrooms available around the campground. We definitely will return, and will check ahead to reserve our site. We liked the vastness, the spectacular scenery that changes with the light.
 |
| Hook ups: 50 & 30 AMP, sewer and water |
Coyotes are around at night in great numbers. Rupert joined them in their howling on more than one occasion! And we did see a few during the day as well. One walked through our campsite and another was howling about 100 yards away from the camp, like he had lost his friends, and when Mike was walking the dogs right after the sun was up, one walked within 10 feet of she and the dogs. Mike was VERY careful walking the dogs at 6 in the morning, and the last "walk" before bed at night. We left nothing out at night. If we grilled something, we put it away.
We love looking at stars, and Death Valley is one of those top places for star gazing. It was easy to spot the Milky Way stretched across the sky. Cassiopeia was easy to spot. Google Sky helped us spot the planets that were in the early morning sky and other constellations that were visible. The park newsletter contains a section of what is visible each month. We will pay more attention to that when we schedule our return trip.
 |
| Phone booth at Texas Springs Campground |
There are many Earthcaches and Virtual caches which we did not get to, which through the process of completing each loads the participant with MUCH information. We have a few that we have saved for next time, as well as others out there in areas we did not get to. We shall return for these.
 |
| Sunrise on the mountains to the west |
 |
| From Zabriskie Point, Saturday the 1st--after more snow! |
We drove through Texas Springs Campground, which appears to be all dry camping. The restrooms were
built by the CCC in the 1930's, and are still being used today. This campground is up on a hill, just behind the Furnace Creek Inn, so the view overlooking the valley, and sunsets at night would be nice. We found this phone booth there.
There are jeep rentals available--at the Chevron station in Furnace Creek by the Visitor's Center and up across from the Furnace Creek Inn. We did not explore the costs. We used our "jeep" to explore! Then Mike dusted it after each trip! There is a
PDF that can be downloaded of roads to take in and around Death Valley from the National Park Website. Each is described in detail: whether it is paved or not, and what kind of vehicle is best for navigating same.
We left Sunday February 2, because we had to--we had chosen a block of time when the site was available,
 |
| Lakeside RV Resort |
with NO thought of what was to be on that date back in early December...! Lakeside RV in Pahrump was perfect, that is until we got there, and spent just as much time trying to find a site as we did traveling to get there that would get good satellite reception! It was good practice in backing in: let's see, backing in to 3 different sites.....! Good practice! And with excellent results!
Hope you have enjoyed this tale of our travels, and that some of it just might be useful to you, should you wish to visit Death Valley.
Later! Meanwhile, we shall be SWIRVIN on down the road, heading for North Ranch, where we shall stay a spell.
Roving Riders
Comments
Post a Comment