Death Valley National Park Travel Forum

Hi,

following a business trip to California I will take the opportunity to extend it for three weeks. I always wanted to see Death Valley NP and now I am not sure if it is a good idea to go there alone. Would not be according to the travel plans to get lost there and being boiled.... :)
Do you have any idea what is possible and how to do the most of the visit for someone alone?

Thanks!
Christian.

When are you going? Since it is a National park I would imagine there are ranger stations for information. You should be fine unless doing something out of the ordinary.

Hi, I'll be there end of Juli beginning of August. So you think crossing it is no problem (with enough water etc.)?
Thanks for the fast reply! Christian.

Are planning on driving, walking, biking?

Mainly driving, if possible some small hike (more walk). Sorry that I am not that well informed now as things developed quite fast. Christian.

I hope driving! Driving is not a problem, just don't venture off the main roads and you will be fine. Make sure you do have extra water and a cel phone would come in handy. I wouldn't travel it at night if I didn't have to as the side roads can tend to be unmarked and a wrong turn can put you way off the path. You should have a cel signal in most of the valley.

I rode from the CA to NV side with side trips to Scotty's Castle, Furnance Creek, and the crater on my motorcycle in April and there is plenty of traffic to keep you company.

Sound advice Jim.

Ok that sounds good. No I won't make experiments.
Thanks to both you! So if I manage my schedule to get there and if nothing happens :) you can have a look at some pics later after my return!
Ciao, Christian.

That's great I'll look forward to that. Have a wonderful trip.

have lots and lots of water and don't run your air conditioning too much or your car may overheat. it will be EXTREMELY HOT. we stayed at the furnace creek ranch when we were there and it was nice. do the tour at scotty's castle - well worth the few dollars.

Unless you are driving an old "clunker" not running the AC to keep your car from overheating is a myth. All new vehicles have extra fans and cooling capacity to handle the heat, even in death valley. Now, I would not sit an idle for a long period of time, but driving with the AC on will not be an issue.

In fact, the car manf do hot weather testing of new models in DV during the summer. If you want to make a quick stop at an interesting tavern and see some of the "remains" from testing; stop at the Sour Dough in Beatty, NV just east of the valley. The testing crews stay in Beatty when doing their testing and have decorated the walls of the bar with various stuff. Including the front end of a MBZ SLK complete with working headlights.

Side note to Beatty, for the best prime rib try the place directly across the street from the Sour Dough. I can't recall the name, but it is nothing more than a diner, maybe even be attached to a bowling alley (not sure). Great reasonable food.

Death Valley is easy to do by car. The distances are large, so leave yourself time to get from one place to another. Just make sure that you always carry extra food and water in a cooler in case of a breakdown. If you are really worried about being stranded, rent a satellite phone (about $50-100 per week with about 1-2 hours of prepaid talk time and about $2/minute after that), so you will always be able to call for help no matter where you are. You can find them easily on the internet if you google "iridium rental" or "globalstar rental".

We have been to Death Valley twice and haven't had any problems. The best place to stay is in Furnace Creek, which is centrally located for many of the sites. Check out our Death Valley pages for things to do. Our favorites were Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, Badwater, Scottie's Castle, and Ubehebe Crater.

You're going to want to do things early in the day and late in the day. Check out my page
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/d0cfc/b79b8/4/

I caught sunrise on the sand dunes and it was great. Not sure if you're a hiker, but get elevation and it won't be so hot. I hiked up Wildrose Peak, which is 9,000 feet elevation. Not nearly as bad as badwater which is -200 feet below sea level.

Hi, big thanks to all! Looks like it will all be much later in the year as work dominates the plans. I am already in California (business trip) and will be here frequent until autumn. Then I will postpone my trip home to have my time here to explore the state. I think it will be better then. Of course still it will be necessary to take care. Lets see, I can't wait!
Ciao, Christian.