2018 Road Trip - Death Valley National Park

"Desolate beauty" are the words that come to mind when describing Death Valley. It's very hot and dry and there is little vegetation to see. The rocky features makes it look more like Mars than Earth. Yet the area had a unique and interesting landscape which is hard to capture in pictures.

We knew what we were in for when going to Death Valley. It was going to be extremely hot so the plan was to just drive across the park and only stop occasionally to briefly leave the air conditioned comforts of the car. The official high at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center was 125 degrees Fahrenheit, but the car thermometer occasionally went over 130F during the drive. The car did well on the trip, but we got worried near the end when the engine started revving higher. It took awhile to realize that it was due to the fact that we were climbing out of the below sea level valley.

Besides seeing the wide open rocky landscape of the valley we also stopped at two U2 Joshua Tree locations. Despite the album's title, the cover photos were taken around Death Valley and not Joshua Tree National Park. The first stop was Zabriskie Point where the front album cover picture was taken. The second stop was just outside the western border of the park and was where the iconic joshua tree picture was taken. The tree has since fallen over, but has become a shrine for U2 fans. A problem is the location is not marked and is a quarter mile hike off the road. With only GPS coordinates to go by we tried as a family to find the spot. Unfortunately the kids freaked out about walking off trail in a desert so I proceeded alone while Jamie took them back to the car. Eventually I found what I was looking for - the tree along with all the U2 fan contributions.