Death Valley National Park in July? Or…Are you insane? Yes and yes. When we were planning our National Parks Road Trip, adding Death Valley during the hottest time of year wasn’t in our original plan. But then it turned out that we were practically driving right by it, and how could we drive by a National Park and NOT visit (we couldn’t). So there we were. In Death Valley and it was about 120 degrees. I don’t even care if it was a “dry” heat. It was hot.
We read all of the warnings. Our tires might melt, so don’t stop moving. Bring plenty of water. Don’t take off your sandals and run through the sand dunes. Are you curious about this one? I was. Apparently some geniuses went to the sand dunes (amazing, by the way) early in the day before it was really hot and sunny. They took of their shoes and ran (creative license on this part, I’m not sure if they walked, ran, or cartwheeled) across the sand to the far side. Well, the sand heats up pretty quickly, and they were kind of trapped there with no shoes. They needed to cross the sand dunes (shoeless) to get back. Which caused 3rd degree burns on their feet, and they had to somehow be rescued. They lost their Mensa memberships. All this was told to scare us into keeping our shoes on while walking on the sand dunes. It worked. By the time we got to the dunes they were already about a million degrees. I think my flip flops melted. It was worth it.
In some strange way, Death Valley was my favorite. It was eerie and alien-ly beautiful. The colors. Oh, the colors. Green, black, pink, orange sand/rocks. I’m not a scientist so don’t hold me to the part about it being sand/rocks, but it was gorgeous. Probably minerals or something. We did the Borax.
We were able to get out of the car at the best scenic vantage points (like Dante’s View and Zabriskie Point) to take in the otherworldly views. Again, HOT, but so worth it. I feel like I also need to say that I like being hot way more than I like being cold. I’d rather be in Death Valley in July than go skiing at any point in time.
The advantages to going to Death Valley in July were:
We were among the only crazy people there, and of those of us who braved the heat, we were the only English speakers. It was very interesting to be in the USA and literally hear NO ONE speaking English (except for the Park Rangers, that is). It seemed like most people were speaking French. This was a bonus, as I miss Europe & it made me feel nostalgic. I appreciate that others appreciate our country. I (most likely, since I’m not 100% sure where most of these people were from ) appreciate their countries too, so its a win-win. And I’m pretty sure that they weren’t Americans for whom English is not a first language. I could always be wrong about that, but there was definitely a European vibe going on. This was true in every single National Park we visited on that trip, but Death Valley was the only one that was 100% in the non-English speaking category. Fascinating…
So, would we visit Death Valley in July again? In a heartbeat. With lots of water, sturdy shoes and a French/English dictionary.
As part of our National Parks Road Trip that I keep mentioning, we drove from Tioga Pass, we made our way to Mono Lake while seeing some amazing scenery along the way. We parked the car in the lot and paid a cash donation to support the restoration of this ecosystem (I think that’s what it said, but I can’t really remember).
As we approached, we started to see the tufa towers sticking out of the lake (cue my excitement at seeing something new and different). Mono Lake is ultra salty and it’s one of the oldest lakes in North America. By some magic of science and calcium, the tufa towers form and make this a really special place (see here for a much more scientifically accurate explanation if you care). There are different places around the lake to view the tufas, and unfortunately I didn’t get photos of the really cool looking ones. Because we definitely did not choose the best viewing area available. As we walked we noticed that we were kind of getting stuck in the “mud”.
We tried to ignore it for a few minutes & act like the naturalists that we so clearly are not. Like, this is just nature kids, hold your noses and enjoy the looks of these cool limestone piles sticking out of the lake. God created this beautiful lake and these neat looking pillars for some reason, and I’m sure there is some amazing scientific fact behind the horrid stench that we are mouth-breathing right now. Luckily there was a naturalist onsite who was happy to answer the question we were dying to ask. What is that smell?
I think we caught Mono Lake on a bad day, because she told us that it isn’t usually as strong and awful as it was that day. The water levels were very low, and because of that what used to be covered with water was exposed. Therefore, the smell was basically rotting sea creature carcasses (or something like that). Oh, and the bird poop. Birds LOVE Mono Lake and the area where we decided to view it was their personal favorite toilet. And the billions of flies.
So we hopped back in our (thankfully) rental car with our bird poop covered shoes and drove to Mammoth Lakes, where we were spending a night at the Westin Monache Resort (yes, it was free, in case you had any doubts) before heading on to Las Vegas. We knew that there were forest fires in the area, as we could see the smoke in some places. However, as we got closer to Mammoth Lakes it was very, very smoky. We were visiting as the Aspen Fire (a wildfire caused by a lightning strike) was happening, and the air was thick with smoke. The smell wasn’t unpleasant the way Mono Lake was, but it was definitely disturbingly smoky.
Since we were only stopping for one night along the way, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend in Mammoth Lakes. We walked a very short distance from our hotel to a pretty shopping and dining plaza nearby. There were tons of places to eat. There was also a festival with live music going on, and there were games for the kids to play. This was off-season for this ski resort town, but there were still lots of people out and about. I imagine it is a wonderful place to be in the wintertime if you like to ski (or drink hot chocolate while everyone else goes skiing).
This is an SPG Category 5 hotel, which is normally 12,000 points per night. We were able to use an additional 1,500 points to guarantee an upgrade to a suite. We planned ahead and figured we would want the extra space after our 2 nights in the Yosemite Curry Village tents. The hotel did not disappoint. The room was very large and comfortable, with a separate King bedroom, a living room with pull-out sofa bed, and a kitchen. It had a large bathroom. It felt like heaven after 2 practically sleepless nights prior to this stay.
So, our tips for going to Mono Lake and Mammoth Lakes: Take this review with a grain of salt (get it?) and just do it. Be prepared for some interesting smells. And go to the less bird-poopy part of Mono Lake (hint: there’s a visitor center and a boardwalk to walk on…doh!).
