question on Death Valley area
Oct 17th, 2010, 01:45 PM
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question on Death Valley area
emalloy - if your reading: I was reading a post by yellowrose477 regarding LV and surrounding area. You gave adivce about driving to DV from Vegas. Wondering appox. how long the drive you suggested would take? I understand it will depend on how long one stays at the stops. Will be visiting Laughlin and thinking of going to DV. Any suggestions on what roads to take from there or should we go the Vegas to Beatty route you suggested?
Oct 17th, 2010, 02:10 PM
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Laughlin is a couple of hours south of Las Vegas, and it takes us a little over 2 hours to go to DV by way of Beatty. This means that it would be a bit over 4 hours from Laughlin. Interestingly, the drive googlemaps sends you on goes into DV through the south and takes 4 hours to get to Furnace Creek where the VC is. It would make for a very long day, but could be done, perhaps you could do a loop, go up to Beatty, over to DV and then down the valley and out through the south. This would allow you to stop at Rhyolite, for a couple of minutes if you haven't been to a ghost town, then get a fantastic panorama of the valley, drive down the center of the valley, check out Borax works, VC, Artists Pallet drive, devil's golf course, and Badwater. You would not have much time for hiking or driving up to Scotty's Castle or any of the other sites at the north end of DV. You might have more time to explore by going in through the south end and avoiding possible traffic in the Las Vegas area.
DV is a very large park, and we haven't explored the western parts of it yet, but hope to before too long.
If you are planning the trip for the winter, you also need to consider that daylight leaves you fairly early, so you would be wise to leave as early in the morning as possible.
DV is a very large park, and we haven't explored the western parts of it yet, but hope to before too long.
If you are planning the trip for the winter, you also need to consider that daylight leaves you fairly early, so you would be wise to leave as early in the morning as possible.
Oct 17th, 2010, 06:15 PM
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There is lodging in DV. Go to www.nps.gov then search Death Valley.
Have a great time on your trip!!
Have a great time on your trip!!
Oct 19th, 2010, 02:21 PM
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If you stay in Death Valley, I'd recommend Furnace Creek Ranch. It is the most central to the sites, is right next door to the Visitor Center, and has services there like gas, restaurants, gift shop, and small grocery store.
Oct 20th, 2010, 07:02 PM
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Appreciate all the posts. Looking at Furnace Creek Ranch site, I see there are some cabins to rent. Anyone stayed in one of their cabins, or just at the motel? FCR is more in the price range we would prefer, Inn sounds great but not interested in paying $300+ a night.
Oct 20th, 2010, 08:30 PM
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We've stayed in cabins and in the motel rooms. It's been quite a few years since we've stayed in the cabins, but about 2 years ago we checked out the cabins. It looks like they have fixed them up. They are old (but we loved staying there with the kids) but clean and decent. They have TVs now and the bedding is the same as the motel rooms now I think. The cabins are closer to the road, but that is not an isssue at night because there is hardly any traffic. They actually feel more private than the motel rooms as you are in a little "court" off to the side, with a lot of trees/ bushes around. It's a good budget option. Sort of goes with desert hiking.
