Finding Joy in Death Valley

Death Valley is an incredible place to go EXCEPT in the summer, when temperatures have reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit! Some roads are quite steep, and signs posted require that you turn off your car’s air conditioning to avoid overheating the engine.

: Death Valley is the largest U.S. National Park outside Alaska at 3.4 million acres. Nearly 1,000 miles of paved and dirt roads provide access. Even so, 91% of the park is officially designated as protected wilderness.

: Zabriskie Point, with an alluvial fan of clay and mud behind us. Looks like a giant hand.

: Don’t you love the drama of a desert sunset?

: Mike found us a little fixer-upper house.

: As we all know, real estate is about location, location, location. Here’s that house with a wider perspective.

: A contemplative sunrise.

: Mike overlooking Ubehebe Crater – half a mile wide and 500 to 777 ft. deep.

: Since the 1848 discovery of gold in California, Death Valley has experienced over 140 years of boom and bust mining. What they found was minimal, and in a harsh environment making mining difficult if not impossible.

: There are plenty of abandoned mines here. Mike had to go check out a few!

: This was Leadfield, a lead mining boom town founded on wild and inflated claims. Three hundred people moved here, and it closed in only seven months.

: Titus Canyon Road, a grand and rugged 4-wheel adventure. Named after an engineer who died here in 1905, when 13 people perished from heat and dehydration. It was Death Valley’s deadliest year.