Been Through a Desert (On a Horse With No Name)

Leaving Great Basin, we knew we were about to meet a new extreme: The High Desert. Although we had traveled through hot, dry, deserted areas before, this was a 'new' for us since past parks didn't earn the moniker 'Death Valley'. To prepare for this excursion we hung out at a rest stop for a couple hours, hoping to once again beat the heat by rolling into the park after sundown. 

On our way, we past through Sin City, also a new for us! The chaos of Las Vegas soon turned into quiet no-nothing towns as we drove deeper and deeper into the desert of southern California. After passing the twinkling lights of the bougie 'Death Valley Inn', we eventually found our way to Furnace Creek Campground, the only campground still open during the summer. A couple other campers we already tucked in for bed, but we had no problem finding a campsite. Even at 10 pm it was 103°F, so we decided to cowboy camp. After rolling out a tarp and our sleeping bags (just as extra padding to lay on top of) it was lights out for us. 

We woke up early to watch the sunrise at Zabriskie Point before hustling to the Visitor Center to stamp our passports (take a look around the gift shop!) and get out of dodge. Once the sun was up, one could imagine it got pretty hot and with the tight turns up and down hills, we were pretty worried about the car over heating whether it be brakes or engine. 

On our way to the next park we stopped by to visit with some very kind family members! Although we were still in the California heat, the conversation was an oasis from the desert and just general trip exhaustion (when you mostly talk to one person for a month, things begin to get pretty dry). We really enjoyed being able to catch up with family and eating some delicious chicken before it was back on the road. 

Our next stop was Pinnacles National Park. We were looking forward to this park, mostly due to the long awaited promise of showers (for those who have met us on our journey, we appreciate that you haven't mentioned how bad we smell, but we understand if you do)! We once again did not know what to expect and the only real idea of activities to do there was some sort of hike with the word 'bear' in the name. After camping that night, we got up to find that there was no such trail, and instead did a short but strenuous hike up to a pinnacle viewpoint. Afterwards it was finally time to shower, and again, back on the road. 

Death Valley and Pinnacles were both short stops on our long journey but our experiences there (but mostly our visit with our incredibly kind family) were very rejuvenating. We finally reached the end of what consider to be our 'south west' parks, meaning we no longer fear breaking down on the side of the road when it is 100+ degrees and no towns for the next 100+ miles. This lifted a huge weight off our shoulders and after this oasis we are ready to tackle the next leg of our trip!