Easter at Death Valley National Park

On the road again...can't wait to get on the road again...in our first-ever RV!

Our RV trip started out with a feeling of deja vu.  After picking up the RV, loading it with our stuff and 4 bikes and 3 cats and 2 kids, we headed for Nevada, our first night’s stop, traveling up Hwy 50, our route over the Sierras and to their backside into the high desert.  But a capricious April storm had dumped yet more snow over the Echo Summit, and chains were required!  Not wanting to turn into a giant bobsled, and in any case having no chains on hand nor the desire to see how a 29-foot RV handles in slush, we ended up pulling over on our very own Icehouse Road, just 20 miles from the cabin!

Home sweet RV home

But the next morning dawned bright and sunny, so we headed up over the pass, reaching the high desert without incident.  Snow dusted the sagebrush, and we passed many a site we would have liked to see, including Manzanar National Monument, a Japanese internment camp during WWII.  It was already clear that five weeks would not be enough time to see all the marvels that awaited us.

Stopping at every overlook we pass...this one in Nevada coming down into Death Valley

First stop after making it through the snow was Death Valley.  We arrived at Stovepipe Wells, a huge gravel RV parking lot surrounded by stark, harshly beautiful mountains.  We biked up to Mosaic Canyon, and the next morning explored the dunes. 

Even in April, Death Valley is HOT!!

Mosaic Canyon, absolutely gorgeous

Mesquite Dunes, just next to our campsite, early morning hike

Sunset walk up Mosaic Canyon

Then Aunt Suzi and crew arrived!  They brought full Easter Egg Hunt supplies and 24 hours of nonstop touring.  We all piled into their car and headed south:  Badwater, where the water is so salty not even a mule will drink it; the Devil’s Golfcourse, and Natural Bridge, a high stone arch.  

All together again!

Bad water and bad country, stark and beautiful

Then through Artist’s Drive, where the rock faces are painted green, pink, copper, gold, and purple, all the result of mineral deposits.  The heat wore us out, and we ended up at Furnace Creek for ice cream, much to the kids’ delight.

Lowest point in North America

The next day we headed early for Zabriskie Point, source of incredible views and unearthly badlands.  Suzi, the kids and I all walked through Gower’s Gulch to Golden Canyon, a four-mile downhike trek through a dry wash.  Griffin searched for gold in the broken rock pieces, attempting to break them open, while the others cavorted around us, finding a bat cave and chatting about who would find the most easter eggs.

Grey gravel wash of Gower's Gulch

This is about as green as the Death Valley gets

Then it was back to the gravel lot for the Big Hunt!  We hid two dozen eggs, eight chocolate bunnies in danger of melting, and a dozen more plastic eggs filled with money and treats.  After two rounds of searching, only one chocolate bunny evaded the hunters.  

Waiting to be found

Suzi and Ethan packed up to head to their traditional Easter dinner with Suzi’s friend Donna, and we headed to the pool to shower and cool off, then prepare for the next leg of our journey.

Gravel-lot campground in one of the hottest places on Earth

Hoover Dam has loomed large in my imagination, particularly after reading Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees.  A wonder of Depression-era construction, it is still considered one of the world’s engineering marvels, and brought water (and suburban sprawl) to the desert.  Completed two years ahead of schedule, it helped revive a nation reeling from joblessness and hopelessness. 

It is hard to capture the enormity of the dam.  There are people at the top, looking smaller than ants!

Trying for a selfie at the top of the dam

We camped at Lake Mead and rode our bikes through the Historic Railroad Trail, arriving at a Visitor Center absolutely swamped with tourists.  I had no idea this was a major stopping point on the USA tour route.  

Cool tunnel bike trail to dam

We walked the dam with the hoards, gawking down the immense slope that descended to the 19 power plants (hydroelectric power is a side benefit of the water control and access the dam was meant to provide).  

Inside the power plant--which generates enough electricity to have paid for the entire dam AND provides electricity to much of the Southwest

Then we toured the power plant, which generates enough power to light all of Las Vegas.  We rode back to retrieve our sweet RV, now nicknamed Carl, and drove across Memorial Bridge and the Colorado River to head to the next spectacular site: None other than one of the most impressive spectacles of the world:  the Grand Canyon.

Welcome to one of the only features on Earth visible from Space!