Winter break in Death Valley 2

Next day we took off to Death Valley NP.

On the way 1.

On the way 2.

First of all, everything we thought to know about distances changed, even if you think you are close - you are not! Next trail head is just ahead, I can see it, 30 min later it is still just ahead, but we are not there. We had great weather for hiking, sunny and around 15C.
We did a couple of small hikes, which we want to share with you. First we stopped at the visitor center at Stovepipe Wells and got a hiking map and had a picknick on the camp ground. All set and stocked up on water we are ready to go. Unfortunately, it turned out that some trail heads were only reachable with high clearance cars - so that shorted the list of possibilities for us quite a bit. Anyhow, we started off with the Mosaik Canyon, close to Stovepipe Wells a short gravel road takes you up to the trail head. Usually we like to do round trips, but the Mosaik Canyon is an in and out hike, never the less the rock formations are stunning and were worth to have a look at. K and P collected an entire bag of rocks for later closer inspection.

Rock formation 1.

Rock formation 2.

The boys.

Along the way.

Along the canyon 1.

Rock formation 3.

Flora.

In the canyon 2.

Along the canyon 3.

We spent about 1.5 h in the canyon and it was beautiful. Next stop were the Sand dunes. By the way, it takes much longer to return to the car than to walk out, at least it feels that way.

P and K all excited.

More and more dunes.

Fun sand.

The dunes were very high.

Dunes 1.

Dunes 2.

More fun in the dunes.

Boys chilling in the dunes.

Last stop of the day was Badwater. The famous salt lake right in the middle of the valley. The lake is 85.5 m below sea level. Crazy feeling to walk on this stuff, and stunning views - surrounded by mountains walking on a flat huge salt crust- perfect ending of a perfect Death Valley day.

Walking on Salt.

The Salt crust from up close.

The sign on the mountain shows the sea level.