Death Valley National Park - Day 2

We had heard great reviews about the hike from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie’s Point, so we decided to start our day with this hike. We did the hike by way of Red Cathedral which is an impressive wall of towering red rocks. We did some rock scrambling to make it part of the way up the Red Cathedral. 

Red Cathedral - for some reason the pics don't show much red, but in person the rocks are quite red

Jim at Red Cathedral

After the detour to Red Cathedral, we continued the climb up to Manly Beacon and then on to Zabriskie’s Point. The views were magnificent of the very unusual landscape. In total we hiked 7+ miles and were happy to make it back to the truck to rest our legs and enjoy a picnic lunch.

Manly Beacon in the background

At Zabriskie's Point

Once rested and refueled, we drove along the 9 mile route known as Artist’s Drive which took us past colorful hills of oxidized metals containing bands of reds, yellows, greens, and pinks. The Artist’s Palette is one particularly vibrant section of the drive where we pulled over and took a few pictures.

There is a Borax Museum in Furnace Creek that was our next destination. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, however we were able to walk through the back lot of the museum that contains lots of old mining equipment. 

Jim checking out the equipment at the Borax Museum

With just a little bit of daylight left, we decided to drive the 20 miles down to the Dante’s View overlook. This viewpoint sits at 5476 feet and affords a beautiful view of Death Valley and the Badwater Basin which sits directly below it on the valley floor. We had been enjoying temperatures in the low 80’s all day, but when we got to Dante’s View, the temperature had dropped to the 50’s. So we took a few quick pictures and made a beeline back to the warm truck. We made our way back to our campground in Stovepipe Wells for our final night in Death Valley. Tomorrow morning we must head back to Fresno.

Looking down at Death Valley from Dante's View