Tripping in Death Valley

We’ve always talked about visiting Death Valley National Park for two reasons.  First, because Death Valley is not too far from St. George (about 3 hours) and second, because it’s the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service and we’ve been encouraged to “Find Your Park.” 

About 45 minutes from home, traffic on the I-15 freeway came to a complete standstill.  After waiting more than an hour, traffic finally began to move.  The delay was for two accidents – one was a small pick-up truck which rear-ended a car hauler and the second was a motorcyclist who bit the dust.  No word of any fatalities, but at last 3 passengers were life-flighted into Las Vegas.

Death Valley officially became a national park in 1994, although it was designated such in 1933. It is spectacular but nothing like our Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arches or Canyonlands National Parks.  Death Valley is desolate in a “Moses and the House of Israel” kind of way without a speck of green to be seen anywhere.  Death Valley holds the record for being both the hottest place in the world (138 degrees) and the lowest point below sea level (258 feet), but it is unique and strangely beautiful.

We spent the night in Pahrump (pop. 36,000+) which Ed kept insisting he had been to before … “I’ve attended WMA conferences here a couple of times” but when I asked him how far we were from the I-15 freeway and he responded “only about a mile” I knew he was confused.  Turns out he thought he was in Primm, instead of Pahrump, which explains why he kept commenting how much it had changed in the past few years.

We were also lucky enough to hit the right weekend for the Pahrump Balloon Festival.  We hadn't planned on it ... didn't even know it was happening, but it was so fun to wake up to several dozen hot air balloons in the clear blue sky on a cool Saturday morning.

Another check off on our Bucket List.