We packed up and left Sequoia at sunrise, bound for Death Valley. We had to drive across several mountainous areas and as we drove the landscape became more and more deserted and the plants became low and sparse apart from the Joshua trees.
Even when it felt like it completely flattened out we were surrounded on all sides by mountains.
Once we made it to Death Valley it felt like we were driving into a bowl. The elevation was marked every thousand feet until we got to sea level and then we were actually below sea level.
Signs warned us that the car may overheat if we used the air conditioning so we switched it on and opened the windows. It was unbelievavbly hot. Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest point in North America. We felt like we were in an oven. We stopped to get gas at Stovepipe Wells. Stovepipe Wells had a hotel, a saloon, a gift shop, and a gas station. I can't imagine living and working in this place. There was also a campground! It was just a lot of marked spaces, each with a metal picnic table.
We made another stop at the Mesquite Sand Dunes and were greeted by these happy signs:
We went for a short walk on the dunes anyway. I don't see how you could walk out too much more than I did. I had on tall sandles and immediately the sand was burning my feet like hot coals. The sand is completely dry and very loose which makes it hard to walk on. Just a short time walking around in the heat made it difficult to breathe. I collected a little of the sand and high-tailed it back to the car. The walk was definitely worth it though.
We continued on to the visitors center which is on the outskirts of the valley near the Nevada border. The temperature there was reading 111 degrees.
We were relieved to make it out of Death Valley and turn on A.C. again. The ride was definitely amazing, but a little nerve wracking!
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