If you are visiting Las Vegas,
said, you have two to four days to spend and you want to see
some "nature-oriented" attractions (in addition to Las
Vegas that you may get bored after a while...), then considering to visit Death Valley National Park.
It is only about 2 and half hours driving distance from Las
Vegas. It is filled with beauty of rocks, canyons and sand
dunes.
Our largest national park south
of Alaska (bigger than Connecticut, is the largest national
park in the lower 48 states), Death Valley is known for extremes: It is North America's driest and
hottest spot (with less than 2 inches of rainfall annually and a record high of 134'F), and has
the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere-282 feet below sea level.
Well, don't let the name
"Death Valley" scare you away. If you come to visit
at the right time, you will see and feel the striking
landscapes, deep solitude, and crystalline air that is truly
beyond the "death".
Plan an overnight stay inside
the park will allows time for the valleys vivid sunrises and
sunsets, and visit to the Death Valley Museum and Furnace
Creek Visitor Center for some information and a quick overview
of the park.
Plan also to visit the walk on
the 1-mile Golden Canyon interpretive Trail (leads from the
valley floor, 160 feet below sea level, up to the Zabriskie
Point overlook. Up at sea level, the dry wash cuts through the
yellowish mud-stone and siltstone for which the canyon is
named), this is the place you want to see in late afternoon
(just hour before sundown, the hills are glowing at 24
carats).
A drive to Zabrishie Point for
fine views of the valley. A second day permits exploration of
the valley's northern reach and Scotty's Castle, the retreat
of an early-century millionaire, and nearby Ubehebe Crater,
blasted out during the region's volcanic past.
Ten miles south of the visitors
center, you can reach the nine-mile loop called Artist Drive
and drove through chaotic hills of virulent blues, Georgia
O'Keeffe pinks, greens, and yellows. The rocks and minerals
responsible -- limonite, hematite, ash, manganese, decomposing
mica -- are just the palette.
Thirteen miles south of the
center, you will wander out into the choppy, crystallized sea
of slat called the Devil's Golf Course, left by an evaporated
lake. And 18 miles south you can cautiously taste the brine in
the ponds in the salt pan at Badwater---lowest point in the
Western Hemisphere, at 282 feet below sea level. From these
salt pans you can extrapolate the former Lake Manly, which
once covered several hundred square miles of Death Valley to a
depth of 600 feet.
After visiting Death Valley and
return back to Las Vegas, if you still have time, you can also
visit Red Rock Canyon, that is just 25 minutes driving away
from Las Vegas. The unique geologic features of Red Canyon
present some of the best examples of the Mojave Desert. A
13-mile scenic drive (one-way road) give visitors sightseeing,
photography and hiking opportunities of crossed-bedded Aztec
sandstone.
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