Death Valley National Park - California, USA
When I first heard from my son, who is a first year Boy Scout, that his troop was going to Death Valley, I was so jealous! I have always wanted to visit this national park, especially after my kids and I made a life goal visiting all 60 national parks. When the troop was asking if the parents can help to drive the scouts there, I volunteered straight away. This was going to be a three-night camping trip. For kids, camping is something they truly enjoy and can’t wait to do more, but for me, I like my bed and a decent bathroom. In addition, it has been almost 19 years since I camped last time. I wasn’t sure at all if I were going to make it or just cave in and book a hotel nearby in the end. I decided just to go with it and see how everything unfolds.
We picked up the car and left home on Friday night around 6 pm and didn’t arrive at the Red Rock Canyon camp site until 12 mid night. It was pitch black and absolutely freezing! We parked the car and started to build our tents straight away with the help of the flash light. It was one of the coldest nights I have experienced. I think the tempreture must have dropped to almost 0ºC/32ºF. I woke up so many times in the night due to the cold tempreture and started to question whether the whole weekend camping trip was a good idea. And then, I got up in the morning and looked out of the tent, I was in awe with my surroundings. As you can see from the images, the camp site was absolutely breathtaking. We watched the sunrise from our tent in our sleeping bags. It was so mesmerizing. I then didn’t mind at all anymore about all the trouble we had at night and was so happy to be present in such an amazing place. I also discovered many interesting animals footprints beside our tents. I think some coyotes might have passed by at night.
After a quick breakfast with the rest of the troop, we continued our journey to Death Valley National Park. When it is about just 40 mins away from our next camping site in Death Valley, the scenery of the road changed dramatically from boring highway to snowy mountains, dry desert with cactus and Joshua trees, and vast dry plains. It was such a beautiful ride. I had to stop many times to snap some pictures and admire the views in awe. When we finally arrived at the Stovepipe Wells Camping site, we learned that the Government ShutDown is still going and many of the sites in the park have been closed. Bummer!
Over the next two days, we explore various sites there that remained open. Badwater Basin, the colorful Artists’ Drive, Golden Canyon, Volcanoes, and the our scouts’ favorite, the Sand Dunes. Each place reveals the amazing natural phenomnon that the earth once experienced. The scouts had such a blast surfing down the sand dunes. What added even more magic to our stay in the park was the luna eclipse happened on our last night of stay on January 20th. This was not planned at all. We only just found out about it when we arrived at the park. With almost no light pollution near by, we were able to see the blood moon and the milky way at the same time. The whole experience was mind-blowing. A night to remember, for sure!
We did manage to complete another two nights of camping despite the cold, the rain and the strong wind at night. In fact, I did enjoy it. To sleep in the wild, watch the stars from our sleeping bags, wake up to see sunrise with a cup of tea, it was actually more than just fine, fantastic really!
It was a real pity not to be able to see many other famous spots in the park, but it is the perfect excuse to go back and visit again.
