Sundy, July 27th - Monday, July 28th, 2015: Death Valley - nomen est omen

Yosemite Creek - Stovepipe Wells (Death Valley)

On Sunday morning - after a cold (4 ° C) night again – I pack things together in time and get onto the road, direction today is the Death Valley. Say goodby to that wonderful natinal park on the first 100km of the day.

And again hast o learn something „by the hard way“: Never postpone photos but always make them immediately! Had spotted some great spots the first late-afternoon, which I then decided to make pictures with my departure (as again the same way). No way!! - what shows delightful colors in the late afternooon comes completely different in the early morning mist. Not worth one picture. What a shame. But well, you know, „woman“ learns during a lifetime ;-)

 

Incredibly fast the landscape changes, just as fast as I get from 2500 down to 500 m elevation. And just as quickly the temperature changes. It is getting warmer and warmer. The guide at the Visitors Center for Death Valley's suggests me to take the campground at the very beginning of the valley, with all further down I would « grilled like a chicken ». We will see, I am not beeing put off that fast and start driving into the „Valley of Death".

Incredibly dramatically how everything changes completely, a new world opens up. And now it is really warm ;-) additional, first the partial winding road makes it impossible to marvel at the landscape too much and secondly there is all the time blowing a fairly strong crosswind which increases the otherwise already high temperature. Now even me is opening the sleeve zippers and the jacket a little and let the usual scarf buff away - wasps that could sting me in the neck will not be around here anyway. However, gloves and everything else of my motorbike gear remain unchanged. Not only for safety reasons but also because I would quickly get a whopping sunburn on my hands. Now I know, why all the Harley riders have so incredibly suntanned arms ;-)

The prevailing before noon forests, granite formations and blue lakes give way to yellow, orange and red tones. Instead of smooth rocks the mountains are jagged and now seem endless. Everything seems frozen, dead - omen est nomen - the valley takes its name quite actually. Around a third of Switzerland in squaremeters and just simply stones, rocks, desert - an endless seeming largeness – absolutely impressive.

 

 

In Stovepipe Wells - which is on sea level - I decide that it's enough for today. The lady at the reception makes me point out that it is not advisable to camp at that high temperatures (the campground itself is officially closed, only the RV section is open). I mean that this is not a problem if people even can run through Death Valley's for more than 130 Miles (there is actually a race takeing place 2days later!!). At night the temperature comes down from the 43 ° C to bearable 30 ° C. For the Americans unbearable, but hey, they know only air-conditioned rooms.

I set my tent up completely alone on the campground, drink as much as never before in life (as an exception even me has a murderly excessive thirst) and put me in the half-open tent, gazing at the stars in the pitch-black night.

At sunrise I pack up as I prefer to drive through the rest of the Death Valley in the more tolerable morning.

Really a special feeling; no traffic at all for more than 100km, and I am well aware that it would be really stupid to have a breakdown here. No shadow far and wide and only about every half hour with luck even a car. This really comes  very close to the name of my german blog: „pilgrim (with engine) ;-)