Death Valley National Park - California

In the afternoon, I drove to Death Valley National Park from Lone Pine.

Death Valley National Park - California

I always enjoy the summer drive across Death Valley from the Sierras. After backpacking in the high country, it's fun to visit the low country. California is a land of extremes. It's about 95 miles from Mount Whitney the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,505 feet, to Stovepipe Wells at 10 feet above sea level. I begin my drive east at Lone Pine which sits at the base of Mount Whitney in the Owens Valley. Sometimes I drive to Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level. However this time I was eager to reach my air conditioned hotel room in Las Vegas so I skipped that drive, and anyway it was hot enough at Stovepipe Wells. I wasn't eager for hotter temperatures since I was heading back to Phoenix.

Rainbow Canyon

Devil's Cornfield