Desert rats

Standing on the Mesquite Flat sand dunes
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The town of Beatty where we stayed after visiting Yosemite Park had Death Valley on its doorstep. We set off early to make the most of the park before driving on to Las Vegas so we arrived early and had plenty of time in the slightly cooler (but still baking) morning heat.

The amazing park had some truly awesome sights, and as well as the stunning sandy dunes pictured on most Death Valley postcards, we saw eroded badlands, an evaporated bed of salty, mineralized water 282 ft below sea level and great views from a 5475 ft high viewpoint.

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Most of the strange rock formations here formed as a result of geographical events which happened as far back as 500 million years ago. One short drive in Twenty Mule Team Canyon took us on a windy loop through an ancient lakebed surrounded by high strangely formed rocks. It gave you the sensation of feeling like you´re in minature, driving a tiny toy car.

In this instance, the pictures really can tell more than a thousand words, particularly narrative crafted by this particular wordsmith...

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NB: The more eagle-eyed amongst you (including any pesky editors or subs reading this!) will note that Death Valley and some of the other destinations to come (Las Vegas, Grand Canyon) are no longer in California, but we´ve included them in the California entry anyway. But for the record, Death Valley and Vegas are in Nevada.