Death Valley in the Winter

December 25 - 28, 2014 

Serena came home on the 21st, and the three of us started our trip to Death Valley on the 25th! We left home around 10 am.  We took Hwys 101, 46, 99, and then 58 to Tehachapi, southwest of Bakersfield.  Before we reached Bakersfield, I started looking for a decent restaurant on Yelp in that area for lunch. To my surprise, no restaurants popped up in Yelp for Bakersfield, but a bunch of them showed up in a little town called Tehachapi!  Unfortunately, as we drove by them, one by one, we noticed that they were all closed.  Of course, it was December 25!  I should have known better not to travel on  Christmas.  But we were lucky to find one restaurant open, Village Grill, even though the restaurant we were actually looking and hoping for was its neighbor, the Red House BBQ (4.5 stars in Yelp).  By the time, we finished lunch, it was almost 4:00 pm.  We quickly hopped on to 58, and then 14/395 straight north to Olancha.  The sun set around 4:30 pm, even before we reached Olancha.  We stopped by for some gas in Olancha, and I remember it was dark, windy and cold!  From Olancha, we turned right to 190 and drove 76 miles in the dark until we reached our hotel in Stovepipe Wells Village.  There, in Death Valley, it was warmer than in Olancha--that was a good sign!

Our Hotel Room in the Stovepipe Wells Village

We chose to stay in Stovepipe Wells because it is located midway between Badwater Basin and Scotty's Castle.

Our First Day-December 26th

We had a good old American hot breakfast buffet (French toasts, pancakes, bacons and sausages) in the hotel, and drove south first to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to pay our park usage fee.  The FC Visitor Center is a well-staffed and informative center.  For the record, it was 55 degree there (190 feet below sea level) on Dec. 26, 2014!

I don't remember why, from there we decided to go to Dantes View (5475 feet) first. The view up there was indeed magnificent, but it was sooooo cold and windy--about 35 degrees with a 45-50 mph wind!

From Dantes View with the highest peak Telescope Peak (11049 ft) in the background.

Charles' face turning red with the cold

For obvious reasons, we did not spend too much time up there; instead, we drove to the Golden Canyon to satisfy our hiking desire. Rubee was determined this time to hike till the end of the Golden Canyon trail to see the Red Cathedral.  It was sunny and the temperature was perfect for hiking!  Voila, here was the Red Cathedral!

From the Red Cathedral, we saw an uphill trail which seemed to be able to take us back to the beginning of the Golden Canyon trail too; we decided to take it.  From the view up there, we understood why it is called, the "Golden Canyon" trail!

Golden Canyon

Afterwards, we drove to Badwater Basin. We had some snacks for lunch in the car.  It was interesting that salt crystal expanse at Badwater Basin in the winter was a lot smaller than the summer, and the color of the salt basin was not as white as what we witnessed in May.  Also, it was strange that I could not find any pictures we took there.  Is it possible that we did not take any at Badwater Basin?  Anyway, our next stop was the Artists Drive, a beautiful drive with colorful hills on both sides! Each color represents a different mineral content.

It was around 4:30 pm after we completed the one-way Artists Drive.  We decided to go to the privately owned Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch Resorts to rest and have a good early dinner.  The restaurant was a bit pricy, but the atmosphere was nice and food fantastic! Suddenly, Charles said, "Happy Anniversary!" I had totally forgotten that today was our 34th wedding anniversary! It was so nice that Serena was with us! The dinner was his anniversary gift.

Dinner in the Furnace Creek Inn restaurant on Dec. 26, 2014, our 34th Anniversay

The next day, Dec. 27th, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant around 8 o'clock, and headed towards Scotty's Castle at the northern end of the Valley which Charles and I did not visit in the summer.  On our way to the Castle, we wanted to drive through the Titus Canyon Trail, a 26-mile one-way dirt road, which is the largest and most diverse canyon in the park. Serena sat in front with Charles to be the navigator, which was a good thing because Charles almost missed the turn to Hwy 374. After about 24 miles of driving on Hwy 374 we crossed the California and Nevada border, and then, after another two miles, we made a sharp left turn to the Titus Canyon Trail.

Thus we began an amazing three-hour journey, witnessing volcanic rock formations, colorful hills, winding narrows, a ghost town, and Indian petroglyphs.  The only disappointment was that we did not spot any bighorn sheep.

Good thing we were driving an SUV (Honda CR-V)

A Ghost Town

Charles at the entrance to a mine in the ghost town

Rubee and Serena inside a ghost town's residence

After we completed the Titus Canyon drive, we went straight to the Scotty's Castle.  We all agreed that we could have spent an entire day in this beautiful canyon--maybe next time.

There is no restaurant in the Scotty's Castle area. We had a quick snack lunch in the car, and then took a tour of the Castle. The tour was interesting and informative.  It turns out the Scotty's castle is not Scotty's, but belonged to Albert Johnson, a Chicago millionaire in the 1930s.

Rubee and Serena on the stairway leading to the Castle

Charles and Rubee 

After the Castle tour, we were eager to check out a volcanic crater northeast of the castle.  Fortunately it was not too far, and we would still have about an hour before the sun set.  It was another good decision we made today because the Ubehebe Crater was huge, and very impressive!

the Ubehebe Crater

Rubee on the top of the Crater

Charles about to fall into the Crater

Charles at the bottom of the Crater

Serena at the bottom of the Crater

It was dark when we got back to the hotel. We had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant, watched some TV and went to sleep!

Sunday morning, Dec. 28th, Charles got up before us, and went out to find a geological survey marker near the Stovepipe Wells area. He found it!

Geological Survey Marker near the Stovepipe Wells

We had breakfast, and then checked out of the hotel. Before heading home, we had one more stop--Mosaic Canyon. The walls of the canyon for the first 1/2 mile are all smooth marble, burnished over time by the flowing water from occasional flash floods.  It is a very beautiful canyon!

After Mosaic Canyon, we drove westbound out of Death Valley about 20 miles, arriving at Panamint Springs where Charles and I camped in the summer. We stopped there for breakfast. After breakfast, we drove uphill to Father Crowley Vista Point from where you can have a good view of the valley.

We continued our drive out of Death Vally on Hwy 190 until it intersects with Hwy 136.  We took Hwy 136 because we wanted to show Serena the view of Sierra Nevada Mountain range, including  Mt. Whitney.

After Hwy 136, we took Hwys 395, 14, ... heading home! It was a wonderful trip, especially having Serena with us this time!