Death Valley National Park, California

RV Trip to Death Valley National Park

December 1~3, 2020

After our last trip to Arizona in October, we were going to just stay home for a while during this pandemic. I was just checking on the web to see if camping spots were available and accidentally came upon a full hook-up site at the Furnace Creek Campground after Thanksgiving. Furnace Creek is the only campground inside the park that has hook-ups. And out of all the sites, there are only 10 full hook-up sites and usually they are booked far ahead of time. Just couldn't miss this opportunity and quickly snatched up that site for the opened two days. I suppose someone must have cancelled their planned trip at the last minute. With our America the Beautiful passes for National Parks, we also received a $11 discount which means we only have to pay $25 a night for the spot. What a deal!

We left the house a little late December 1 and making it even later was we had to go home after about half an hour of driving because we forgot a couple of items needed on the trip. Without stopping other than getting gas in the little town of Baker, we arrived at the campground just before it turned dark. After setting up and had dinner, we were tired and ready for a good restful night.

Woke up to a beautiful, sunny winter morning the next day. This is a huge, long site on asphalt that can fit any full-size RV plus a tow. Other than RVs, there are tent camping sites scattered around also.

It was a short, walking distance from our campground to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. Making it a pleasant walk on this beautiful day! 

This is also the most photographed spot in the park with the thermometer. You can imagine what that thermometer will show in the hot summer months.

Both the campground and the Visitor Center are located right next to the main highway 190 inside the park.

Public washing station outside.

These are the full hook-up sites.

Restrooms

Our site was very spacious.

Badwater

After the Visitor Center, we started our exploration of the park. It seemed that even though this should be high season for tourists in this National Park, there were not that many cars or people. Made for a safer visit during this time. After driving about 20 miles from the campground, we arrived at Badwater, the most popular spot in Death Valley. We have been here before years ago, but I was too lazy to even walk down to the basin. I decided to take the long walk this time around.

Good parking space for the RV. Notice the little white sign up on the rock? That's the sea level marker. Which means we are under sea level now.

Such interesting landscape.

Story board that shows the places below sea level around the world.

282 feet below sea level

Yep, it was definitely a long walk but we wanted to check out what's there.

Walking on the salt flats.

This was as far as we went. Some people were having their photo shoots there that day. 

Could be very interesting.

After resting and having lunch inside the RV after the long walk, we continued our drive around. There were places we decided not to go because of rough road condition or limited length and size of vehicles. I would have liked to see the Artist Palette area but the one-way loop was limited to vehicles that are within 25 feet. Ours is just 24 feet but we decided not to risk it. Instead we stopped at the roadside stop at Golden Canyon Trail where we found good parking for the RV.

Golden Canyon Trail

This turned out to be a very interesting canyon that has two trails that lead to Zabriskie Point. We had no intention to go on the trail but just taking a peek at the canyon was fun enough for us oldies.

MOR hiked up a little further on the trail and this was what he saw. 

I, on the other hand, just waited for him back at the entrance of the canyon.

Exiting the canyon.

From the Golden Canyon parking lot looking at the Badwater Road.

Stovepipe Wells

Stovepipe Wells is located north of the park but south of Scotty's Castle. The whole area of Scotty's Castle was closed due to flood damage so we did not attempt to drive up that direction. There are campgrounds in Stovepipe Wells also but no hook-up facilities, all dry camping. 

Stovepipe Wells Village

There are some stores and restaurants in the village, I believe.

A big General Store across the street, making it looked more busy with visitors.

Campground is just right next to the store. 

After this, we drove back to the campground and ended our day of exploration.

On the second morning, we woke up early to enjoy the sun rise right outside our RV.

And then got ready to leave the park.

Zabriskie Point

After checking out of the campground, on our way out of the park, we stopped by the roadside attraction of Zabriskie Point. I found this to be my favorite spot in the park. Very unique and special.

Had to hike up to see the views but it wasn't bad actually.

Isn't this gorgeous?!

Wonders of God creation.

This is right next to Highway 190 with good parking.

I thought this canyon-like landscape was quite interesting. It was much better seeing this in person right next to the parking lot.

Parking lot at Zabriskie Point.

This is a short visit spending two nights inside the park. I know we have only scratched the surface and for those who are active it would be a lot of fun staying there a few more days. Hiking the trails, bike riding, and driving to all the scenic spots. As for us, it was a nice break from our stay-at-home time away from home. After Death Valley, we also stayed two nights at our favorite campground in Pahrump, Nevada which will be on the next post.

To watch the videos on our visit in Death Valley, please click for our YouTube here. Please subscribe, like, and share. Thank you!

 

"If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."  -- Matthew 15:14

Williams, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada

RV Trip on Route 66--California to Arizona (Day 8)

Williams, Kingman, Oatman, and Laughlin-October 12, 2020

Our trip on Route 66 is coming to an end. Our original plan had more days at the end as we head back home but we decided to cut it short instead. I have read about the crowded situation at Zion National Park and that was the reason we skipped going into Utah. We then planned on going to Lake Mead after stopping at Williams and spend a couple of days there, then head over to Las Vegas for a couple of days. After much thinking, we figured that this is really not a good time to visit Las Vegas. For one, it is difficult to find parking at the regular casinos/hotels in town as we are driving around in the RV. Also, with many places shut down because of COVID, including the buffets we enjoyed, it would not be enjoyable as the normal Vegas that we experienced. Going home was just the right thing to do. We decided to spend another night in Laughlin so we could enjoy another prime rib dinner and also for a more relaxing drive instead of going home straight from Williams.

Now that we have a shorter drive between Williams and Laughlin, we wanted to see if a drive to Oatman would be possible since it is also one of the sights along Route 66. We knew that it's a hilly, winding road between Kingman and Oatman which made us wonder if we should do it in the first place.

MOR said he is willing to try and with him being a careful driver, I trusted his judgement.

Getting ready to leave the beautiful Grand Canyon Railway Hotel & RV Resort in Williams.

A gorgeous day again!

Looking out at the Bill Williams Mountain.

Mr. D'z Diner, Kingman, Arizona

This is a famous diner on Route 66 in Kingman. We passed by it a few days ago when we came through town and we were determined that we will have lunch here today. Instead of finding out if the RV will fit in their parking lot, we just parked at the huge lot across the street at the Powerhouse building where the Visitor Center is. It turned out that Mr. D'z parking lot looked like a sizable one that could fit anyway.

Colorful exterior of Mr. D'z Diner.

Attractive enough to passersby on Route 66.

Entrance to the restaurant. It was quite busy inside at lunch time that day.

There is no escape, we had to go inside to order our lunch and waited in the crowded space.

Cute vehicle outside the diner.

Election year.

I must say that they served some excellent burgers. Just the way I like mine.

For those who have no diet restriction, their root beer floats is something to try.

After our lunch, we made a turn around the corner of the Mojave Museum and continued our drive on Old Route 66. This is a quiet country road with very few traffic and at times quite scenic. It was all fine and dandy until we reached the foot of the mountain where we started the climb up.

Scary ride on Black Mountains

The road started turning narrow and curvy with many hair-pin turns. At times it was quite scary especially when we were met by huge trucks coming on the opposite direction. MOR did a good job slowing down and stopping for opposing traffic but I was so nervous that he may get too close to the edge of the road. Thank God that we came through in one piece!

Nice views of the area.

country road

Starting the climb up.

Wild burros at the side of the road.

\

More distraction!

Until we got to the top of the mountain where a huge parking area was found.

That's the downhill road where we would take later on.

And with the views of the basin under our feet.

Oatman, Arizona

The tourist town of Oatman was named after the Oatman family who was massacred by an Indian tribe in the year 1851. They were on their way from Illinois with a group of Mormon moving westward on a wagon trail. Some of the members decided to leave the group and headed towards Arizona. Soon, this group found a place to settle down but the Oatman family wanted to keep going west to California. Unfortunately, they met a group of hostile Native Indians who beat the family to death with clubs. Olive, the 16-year old daughter and her 10-year old sister were the two survivors. (It turned out that their brother, Lorenzo also survived from the severe beating and later trying to look for his sisters.) The two girls were captured and enslaved for a while. After the younger sister died of starvation, Olive was either sold or traded to the Mojave Indians and was adopted by the family of the chief. To signified that she was part of the tribe, they tattooed her chin as a custom of the tribe. Olive was released in 1856. With support from different sources, she completed her college education and later got married. She lived to be 60 some years old and died in the early 1900. Although the Oatman family did not live here in town, it is still an interesting town to visit with its own history. 

This ghost town turned tourist attraction was once a gold mining community. Two prospectors found $10 million worth of gold here in 1915, making this a hot spot for gold mining in the western U.S. and became one of the largest gold producers.

At 2, 710 feet on the Black Mountains.

A rare scene in any U.S. towns.

with an old western feel

Wild burros wandering everywhere around town.

The fire in 1921 burned many buildings in the village but left the Oatman Hotel in tact.

I guess any vintage item can make it home here.

This burro was standing in that same spot and position the whole time we were there.

I wonder what he was waiting for?

A little run-down, a little messy but still fun to see.

Still here!

There's a picture of Olive Oatman.

Main Street USA

I am glad that we drove by and it was quite an interesting visit. For those planning on visiting here, I suppose it it OK driving through that mountain road in a regular car but if you are taking an RV, I would suggest to come here from Laughlin/Bullhead City on 153. It's a much easier drive on flat road.

From Oatman, we took the 153 back to Fort Mojave area then head north to Bullhead City back to Laughlin. While we were on 95, we found the Walmart that we saw on the way here a week ago so we took the opportunity to fill up our gas tank for some cheap gas. But, we later found out that the quality of the gas here is not that good comparing to what we had as we climb the mountains the next day.

Gas under $2 is pretty rare nowadays, especially in California.

But, I don't think we will do it again.

Back to Riverside Casino RV Resort for the night. As I had requested, we were back on the top level of the park with a wonderful view of Laughlin right before us.

We just had to have another prime rib dinner at the Prime Rib Room again.

This time we made sure we had reservation. We even had a table with a view of the river.

Safe social distancing with neighboring tables blocked off.

What a wonderful way to end our day!

Video of our trip here. Please "Like", "Subscribe" and "Share". Thank you!

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "   -- Matthew 6: 22~23