Zabriskie Point
From this promontory, I was able to take in the landscape below with its golden colored badlands and darker hills.
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| The Badlands & Salt Flats Beyond |
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| Painted Strata |
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| Waves & Wrinkles |
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| The Black Rock on Top is Lava that had Oozed Out |
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| Mountains Beside the Badlands |
Badlands
From the Zabriskie Point parking lot, I hiked into the Badlands on a 2.6-mile loop. Most of it took me down into the gullies between the mounds and hills.
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| Trailhead |
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| Makes Me Think of Egyptian Pyramids |
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| Baked in the Sun |
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| Many, Many Layers |
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| As If It Was Cut by Man and Not Mother Nature |
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| Black Streak through the Gold |
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| Rock of Gibraltar |
One stretch of the trail climbed up top and gave me a different perspective of the area. I appreciated being able to see it up close, from on top, and from a distance.
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| Wrinkled in Time |
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| Pained Waves & Red Cathedral |
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| Dry Wash |
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| Zabriskie Point |
Artists Drive
This 9-mile side road wound up into the multicolored hills bordering the valley.
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| Hills Look Like Rocky Road Ice Cream |
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| The Hills Are Melting |
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| Artist's Palette |
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| Closer View |
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| Rugged Formations |
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| Baked Earth |
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| Layered Color |
Badwater Basin
I can now say that I have stood at the lowest spot in North America, at 282 feet below sea level.
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| Salt Flats |
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| Salted Crusted Soil |
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| Salt Crystals |
It felt a bit like entering another world as I walked out onto the salt flats, into a faint haze, and along the water's edge.
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| Badwater Reflection |
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| Mirrored Mountains |
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| Protective Hillside |
Golden Canyon
The 2.9-mile hike climbed gradually through a canyon surrounded by rock formations of many shapes and sizes.
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| Canyon Entrance |
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| Dragon Heads |
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| Artillery Battery |
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| Many Colors |
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| Nooks & Crannies |
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| Wedge |
The final section narrowed significantly which required me to fit through some tight spaces.
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| Narrow Passage |
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| Pass on the Right or Left? |
I turned around at the spot known as Red Cathedral.
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| Red Cathedral |
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| Closer View |
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Inner Sanctum
(the turnaround spot) |
Dantes View
At an elevation above 5,000 feet, Dantes View afforded me a spectacular panoramic view of the long valley in which Badwater Basin resides, the salt flats that stretch the valley's entire length, and the bordering hills and mountains.
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| Southern Tip of the Valley |
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| Northern End |
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| Badwater Basin |
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| Telescope Peak above the Valley |
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| Edge of the Salt Flats |
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| Ridgeline Extends from Dantes View |
Other
The following are a few of the features that caught my eye, usually while driving from one named spot to the next.
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| Salt Flats |
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| Snow High Above Death Valley |
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| Shades of Brown |
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| View from the Spot Where I Dry Camped |
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| Cottontop Cacti |
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Silver Cholla
(needles glow gold in the sunlight) |
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| Desert Sunflower |
If you consider everything I saw during my stay, the landscape and character of Death Valley National Park far surpassed what I had imagined from the first time I heard its name.
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