World Class Hugs

By Rachel Puryear

On this blog, I’ve written previously about visiting Death Valley National Park, and more desert beauty in the Mojave and in Arizona.

This time, we visited Death Valley again to see Lake Manly – a rare lake that occurs in the park’s salt flats after receiving (relatively) large amounts of rain for the area.

The water is no longer deep enough for boating. But people can still go out and wade in the water, and enjoy the peaceful and surreal scenery, all reflected in the mirror-like surface of the lake.

No one knows how long the lake will last – but if you want to experience it, it’s best to go sooner rather than later, certainly before the super dry and hot summer comes. It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Bonus:

On this trip, we visited a couple of places that we had not been to previously, and that therefore are not covered in the earlier post on Death Valley. Accordingly, here are a few other gems in the park, and nearby:

Panamint Valley:

This less-traveled northeastern region of the park offers breathtaking views while driving along its roads. You can stop at Darwin Falls for a hike – and maybe some falls, depending upon the timing. You can see the awesome Rainbow Canyon.

You can stop and hike, or just enjoy the stunning views out at Father Crowley Vista Point – and if you’re lucky, you might see military aircraft doing flights overhead in the area (this is the only part of the park they’re allowed to fly through). It’s a great spot to give their top pilots low-flying practice.

Rhyolite, NV Ghost Town

Along Daylight Pass Road – the road leading into the park and connecting with the nearby town of Beatty, NV – there is a ghost town called Rhyolite.

This is a fascinating stop where you can see the ruins of the town, and learn about its colorful history. In a short timespan, the town saw incredible booms and busts.

There’s also a “bottle house” on the grounds – as an example of a resourceful way to build homes in the desert with limited raw materials.

Charcoal Kilns

We actually drove along Emigrant Pass Road to see the Charcoal Kilns, and made it to all but the last few miles before the road was closed due to storm damage. So, I can’t report personally on this particular site.

However, it was still worth the beautiful drive and scenery out there, without much traffic along the way – this part seems to get overlooked by most visitors, and it doesn’t seem nearly as traveled as other areas.

The road was closed just after a campsite along this road, and the campsite offered a much more close-up view of Telescope Peak than we saw anywhere else in the park.

It’s also noticeably cooler at the campsite than in the warmer parts of the park – so if you’re there and the heat is getting to be too much, this could be a great place to cool down.

Towns to Stock Up Before Park Entry:

Death Valley is remote, which is how it can offer such vast, unspoiled beauty and amazing night skies. As such, some preparation is needed to visit, and you might want to stock up on supplies before entering the park. The park does, of course, have stores, restaurants, hotels, and gas stations in a few villages within the park – but these can be pretty expensive and far apart.

Bakersfield, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Los Angeles, CA are the nearest large cities where you can get anything and everything, and they’re both a few hours away. These cities would also have full fledged hospitals.

There are also a few towns closer to the park, which have much more limited selections, but at least some basics. Trona, CA, Randsburg, CA, Ridgecrest, CA (all coming south through CA), Pahrump, NV, Beatty, NV (coming west through NV), and Lone Pine, CA (near Panamint Valley) are among the handful of towns within an hour or two of the park, where you can get at least some of the basics you need.

See here for more information about visiting Death Valley National Park. Here’s also great information about accessible sites in Death Valley.

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