Bakersfield to Death Valley

I think I have started this way before – WOW WOW WOW !!!  I do not know what else to say.  I left the very plain Bakersfield at about 10 am after doing my blog and making some phone calls to friends.  After the rain of the last 4 days, the skies were blue, the air was cold (6 deg C), and the forecast fine.  And I checked the road conditions due to the recent snow and the one road I planned to travel on (Hwy 178) was open – No restrictions.

Well, not 20 minutes after leaving the motel car park, I was in a canyon that just was PERFECT for Elising. That is one of the beauties of not over researching the trip – I literally do not know what is around the next corner, so everything is a surprise.  Yesterday it was the Pinnacles NP, today it was this stunning canyon from Bakersfield to Lake Isabella.  I had picked this road when sitting in an armchair on the Gold Coast 6 months ago. Today it was the only road open through the Sierra Nevada after to the recent snows, and it turns out to be magic !! How good is that !  I could see the canyon coming – In photo 3 look in the upper left, then in 4 it is more obvious and I knew it was mine, and then 5 is going into it !! The next  5 or 6 shots are just driving though that canyon – When I had enough breath in my body to enable me to take a shot.  Grinning ?  No , not at all !!!  Yelling out at the top of my voice ?  You bet ya !

Over the tops of about 5000 ft, it was cool, (2 deg C) but I had all my thermal gear on and was loving it.  Odd thing is they seem to have enormous Pine Cones from their fir trees - these things are MONSTERS, at least 6-8 inches tall, nothing like normal small fir cones from Europe !!  And you certainly wouldn't want to hit one in the Elise - so it is a constant weaving down the road to miss them !! And thinking of normal sized ones all the time !
After that, it got a bit boring for a while (relatively speaking !) as we moved towards Ridgecrest, with only stunning views of the snow topped Sierra Nevadas in the distance to keep me interested.
I stopped in Ridgecrest for fuel – and the cashier insisted on coming out to refuel my car for me !!
He had never seen a Lotus before and was adamant that they were worth $170,000.  So I didn’t disillusion him, and got my car refueled and my windscreen cleaned !!!
Then it was into the local auto store to buy some oil, some WD 40 and some anti squeal for the bloody MIntex brake pads Geary sold me !  (I thought Pagids squealed but these Mintex make Pagids sound positively pathetic !! I wish I had kept my Pagids on !!)  And the salesman wanted to come out and see the car, so all the customers in the store came out too !
Anyway, I then found a Starbucks to have a coffee and send a few emails before getting on the road again.

Right now, the sun is setting as I sit in the campsite in Death Valley, and the evening is just perfect.  And about 20 people in the campsite have come over to chat about the car, the trip, and every thing else !!!  Fortunately it will be dark soon and I shall get some peace and quiet !!!

From Ridgecrest the road just got better and better.  Then Joshua Trees started appearing and it became more “deserty”, but always with the snowcapped Sierras in the background to tantalise !!  Passed some evaporative salt pans which made me think of Port Hedland, and then a couple of great gorges again, and each time we came into another Valley, I thought “Is this Death Valley ?”, but it wasn’t !   Then suddenly I came to the sign “Death Valley National Park” and I was there !! 

 Took a few pics, and then the road turned right at a Junction signed to “Furnace Creek” – Sounds about right !  And then the road headed up into the mountains again – Just disappearing in them.  And it went up, and twistier and twistier, all the time the most perfect surface you could ever want – Smooth as a billiard table.  I was only doing 65 but it was so steep that what little traffic I encountered was doing about 40, so I just romped past them, and at the top (4500 ft) it was back to 2 deg C again and I was glad I hadn’t taken all my warm gear off when in the valleys where it was about 12 deg C !!   And then the drop down into Death Valley itself.  20 minutes tops and the temp went from 2 to 20 in that time, just winding down this long steep incline, and in the distance the Valley gradually opening up in front of me.  Suddenly the road side marker says “Sea Level”, then not 2 miles down the road, minus 100 ft, then shortly afterwards, minus 200 ft !!

(Pic for son-in-law Benn - Drives apparently go further when you are below sea level, Benn !!!)

And the view never stopped changing.  Sand dunes one minute, rocks the next, scrub the next, while the mountains in the background also changed in colour and texture all the time.  A magical drive.  I finally got to the Ranger Station where, due to purchasing an annual pass the day before, I paid nothing but just got my window sticker and carried on to the Furnace Creek camp site. Almost empty when I arrive at 3.30 pm, it quickly started filling up on a first come, first served basis (like most National Parks, so it is better to stop at 3 or 3.30 pm when travelling to ensure a spot.  Tent pitched, but the ground is so hard the pegs won’t go in, so you tie the tent down with rocks, of which there are plenty left behind by the previous occupant of the site.   A bottle of Pinot Grigio, purchased at the camp store, went down a treat, accompanying my can of stew heated in my little camp stove perfectly.   I fell into bed as it got dark at about 9, and slept through till 6 am – But that is tomorrow !!

Only pay internet here in Death Valley so I avoided it last night, and am posting this over a beer at the end of the following day exploring the Valley, but that is for tomorrow.

The photos attached tell the story better than my words.  Just scroll through them quickly and you will get a great feel for the kind of day I have had on the road !!  Can't be bothered to weed out the bad ones - there weren't any IMHO !!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/BakersfieldToDeathValley?authkey=Gv1sRgCJq2loP70MidxwE#