Yea though I drive thru the Valley of Death…, Hilltop Campground, Sloan, NV 5/20

We were pouring over the maps while eating breakfast this morning and decided that since we were so close to Death Valley, and neither of us had seen it since we were little tykes, that it was worth checking it out. It wasn’t in our original plan, but what the heck. Besides, after the long wet winter in Nevada City I was in search of sun and heat. Heading towards Death Valley from Lone Pine we spotted a beat up camper van with a large “Cherries” banner. The seller was a toothless old codger from east of Stockton(?!) who considered himself a stand-up comedian. Although his jokes were awful, his cherries were excellent. We stuffed ourselves sick on cherries and dotted the countryside with our version of Johnny Appleseed. Once reaching Death Valley, we were completely surprised by the landscape and terrain of this National Park. We had assumed that it would be flat and well – just desert. Boy, were we wrong! We climbed over the Panamint Range and drove thru lave mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the contrast of the yellow salty desert against the snow capped mountains, purple ranges and even a few wildflowers growing in the parched earth. We made several stops along the way, checking out the Devil’s Cornfield, Stovepipe Wells Village and the Borax Works. By the time we reached the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center it was in the triple digits and I was pretty toasty warm and quite happy, thank you! We decided to have a picnic lunch outside at the Visitor’s Center and really take it all in. At this point we were at 190 feet BELOW sea level. My favorite group of the day was the 20 or so Brazilians who had rented out Harley’s and were riding thru the Valley proudly displaying the Brazilian flag on their cycles with bright orange Route 66 t-shirts. We caught up with them at another rest stop and they were quite a happy bunch. The best viewing spot of the day was at Zabriskie Point, which is the exact middle of Death Valley. From this 710 ft. overlook you can view a medley of badlands, lava flows and distant peaks. It was as if the entire landscape of Death Valley was all condensed in this one spot. On our walk up to the point we passed multiple groups of people and never once heard English. Isn’t it great that so many different cultures are enjoying the hottest place on earth! (Record temperature was 134). Our eventual destination for the night was Mt. Charleston, Nevada, which is located about an hour outside of Las Vegas. We had quite a climb to get here, too! We went from below sea level to an elevation of a little over 8,000 feet. It’s quite a lot cooler than earlier today I might add! The campground is very aptly named Hilltop. On one side we have the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and on the other side are views of downtown Las Vegas. I honestly don’t know which one is more of a detriment to my well being! Looks like another round of games tonight over mojitos and cerveza. Ned’s promised me breakfast in Vegas tomorrow before we head out to Hoover Damn and Zion. Salud!