Death Valley
 

We are going to cross Death Valley on the way to Yosemite from Las Vegas during the last week of September. I know that the temperatures will still be on the wrong side of 100F during the hottest part of the day but we are from UK and may not be near the area again.(And the temp has been in the mid 90s here for 3 weeks now!)
We plan to stay just outside Death Valley the night before and be at Scotty's Castle for the first tour. We would then like to see one or maybe two more interesting places before having lunch at Furnace Creek Ranch. Then one more point of interest perhaps before heading out of the park and driving part way towards Tioga Pass and Yosemite. We don't want to drive off the paved roads at allin Death Valley.
Would also welcome ideas of where to stay overnight either side of the park - we plan to go to Bodie(?)ghost town the day after Death Valley before going to Yosemite. Am presuming that the dirt road to the ghost town is do-able in a hire car?
I have some more questions to post on different places so you will see me pop up again - I have had some good answers to previous questions and am very grateful to everyone. Many thanks.

I'll answer about travel after Death Valley. First you should know that you will drive past Lee Vining, up a grade and then reach the right turn to Bodie. Then you have about 13 miles on unpaved road. This road may not be paved but it is not a problem for everyday cars. It is grooved so it's a reall bumpy, dusty drive. It's also super de duper hot in Bodie so go early because there is no shade. Take water and food with you. There are many buildings scattered around the park and remenents of others that are partially desintigrated. Many buildings have furniture inside to give you the feel of the lifestyle of the time. You can also see Mono Lake as you would drive right by there on your way to Bodie.

Coming back to Lee Vining and then crossing Tioga Pass you culd stop in at the Tioga Gas station on your left after you turn onto 120 and have a bite to eat at the Whoa Nellie Deli inside the gas station. The drive into the valley will take 2 hours plus any time you add on for stops along the way.

You can overnight in Bishop. My recommendation is Best Western Creekside which is right on Main Street (395) and a few steps to the well-known Schats Bakery.

The road to Bodie off of Hwy 395 is paved for 10 miles and the last three miles are unpaved - to give you that Old West feeling. We were on it again a couple of years ago and it was paved. Just to check if my memory was correct, is gives the same info on the Bodie website.

I don't know about the road to Bodie from Hwy 167, the road to Hawthorne.

We took the unpaved road around 1970 - we ate dust! No problem these days with a rental car. Just the scenery and sagebrush will make you thirsty. Bringing water is great advice.

LOL we were just on the road to Bodie and we thought the whole thing was bumpy and dusty! Isn't it interesting what you rememebr!? Ha ha. I don't even remember the paved part!!

When we went to Bodie in '70, we asked which road was the fastest. We were told "the road out!". Yuk - we entered Bodie off 395, and left the other way over to 167. Both took "forever". It's a breeze compared to the good old days.

thank you for speedy replies - info about Bodie - also nice to have a hotel recommendation. I realise now I should have posted to California part of the board for Death Valley - do I need to repost - I am hoping for some information still about Death Valley. Thanks!

Selecting the state is only for the purposes of those who want to do a search really. All the posts go into the US forum. Don't repost.

Fodor's dumps all the posts into the general US forum, so you don't need to repost.

Lee Ann

Hilary, if you do search here under Death Valley you should get a couple very informative threads. I am going try to find them and bring to the top for you. Too bad you won't consider staying IN Death Valley. It would be unforgettable stay and there is a lot to see right IN Death Valley.

I agree: Stovepipe Wells is a terrific place to view early a.m. dunes and the opal(?) canyon, and their pool feels incredible.

well, we could stay in Death Valley on the night before we explore- is it bearable overnight in late September? Is there any kind of air conditioning?
Also Scotty's castle have they got fans which help keep it cooler as you go on the guided tour?

We did the trip in 1998. Fron Vegas we took road 180-178 to Shoshone then road 127-190into the valley.Visited Zabriskie point-dante's view-devil's golfcourse-badwater and artist drive. Had something to eat and drink in Furnace creek and then went to Stovepipe wells for the night after a nice swim.Next day we drove to Mammoth lakes.The next day we visited Mono lake(lee vining) and then took the Tioga pass to Yosemite n.park where we stayed in Mariposa for 3 days.Paul

We have now decided that we will stay in Death Valley overnight at Furnace Creek so am topping this message in the hope of more help. We will get to Death Valley mid afternoon from Las Vegas - we will enter the park at Death Valley Junction.So I was thinking that we would go to Dantes View before going up to Furnace Creek although that does mean that we won't get to the Information Centre until the morning. I am a bit worried about the last steep bit up Dantes View is it okay? And would we get good views from the lower carpark if we didnt go to the top? Also we could see Zabriske Point on the way in. Should we go anywhere in particular for the sunset please?
In the morning we want to go up to Scottys castle and then we will obviously need to come back on ourselves as so many of the main sights seem to be in the opposit direction. We want to exist the park by about 7pm - we are staying in Lone Pines. What can we reasonably do in that day? We will have a regular hire car so will only go on roads that are suitable for that.
Have left it a bit late posting - we are off on Saturday morning at 7am UK time - but betwen now and then all replies gratefully received! Many thanks

To see the sunset at Zabriskie Point, all you have to do is follow the people carrying tripods to the overlook area. We happened upon the place while driving through a few years ago and had no idea that that spot was famous for its sunsets, but there were tons of people at this one lookout point taking pictures. There is a parking lot near the overlook.

Look at this website for some suggestions for sunrise/sunset: http://tinyurl.com/jymhx

I would recommend this: Enter at Shoshone on Hwy 178 and drive through the valley on your first day. You can hit a few locations on your way to Furnace Creek (like Badwater Basin, Devil's Golf Course, maybe Artists Drive) and should still have time to get up to Zabriskie Pt. (or maybe Dante's View) for sunset. Sunset now is at around 7pm, end of September around 6:35-6:40pm. Zabriskie is not far from Furnace Creek - you should be able to make it there in 15 minutes easily, even though the road is a bit winding.

Next day, you could get up and watch sunrise at Zabriskie around 6:30am and then head for Scotty's Castle. It's a bit of drive up to SC - if it were me doing this trip I'd skip it altogether in favor of spending more time seeing other things and less time in the car. When you're done at Scotty's, head back down and see whatever it is you're most interested in that you missed the previous day, and then give yourself a bit of time to stop at the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells on your way out of the park. If you get to Father Crowley Point before it's dark you'll have some sunset views there.

I really think you'll be spending too much time driving back and forth on the same roads if you try to cram in Scotty's Castle and the main points of interest in the valley in one day. Drive in on 178 on the valley floor, and if you miss Dante's View it won't be the end of the world (but keep in mind, you may be able to get up there before sunset, especially if you can adjust your schedule and get to the park a bit earlier).

marking for later

We did more backtracking than we should have because we got to DV later than we planned and didn't see all the things along the way to Stovepipe Wells. I don't know if this is too much driving - it's been a while and I don't remember driving times, maybe someone else could help - but see Dante's Peak, Badwater (one of our boys' favorite stops), Artist's Palette, whatever, and end up at Furnace Creek. See the sunrise the next morning, maybe Mosaic Canyon (very pretty early morning walk), the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells, and Scotty's Castle. We thought the castle was well worth it. We were there in July (the only Americans there!), so we really didn't mind a lot of time in the air conditioned car - but we didn't mind the heat all that much either. We didn't take hikes, but we did walk quite a bit at the stops we made - and we did take a pool break in the middle of the second day. I thought the pool at Stovepipe Wells would be lukewarm at best, but it was spring fed and (to a Floridian) very cold. Do take plenty of water and remember to drink it! Also, take your time going over Tioga Pass - there are some beautiful places to stop. The park was very crowded in July, so the pass (which had enough snow on the side of the road for a snowball fight!) and the less crowded southern area were our favorites.

<B>Bellhouse:</B> Hilary's trip was more than three years ago. The thread was just topped so smbruner could find it again

(the better way to do that so old threads don't send newer threads down off the first page, is to bookmark it to one's favorites.)

If you are coming from Vegas and want to see Scotty's castle early, then drive north on route 95, head west in Beaty (there are signs for DV). Part way in there will be signs for Rhyolite, a small ghost town with a house made of bottles that will only be 5 minutes out of the way to visit. Go back to the main drag and when you get to the toilets on the top of the rise, stop and walk across the road for a fantastic view down the valley. Scotty will be to the right at the fork and up a bit. Furnace Creek will be to the left. Don't miss Badwater and do turn around and look for the sea level sign a couple of hundred feet over your head.

We did a trip much like you are doing, except we went on to Sequoia National Park instead of Yosemite.

I think your decision to stay a night in DV is good.
Top things to do and see:
Badwater
Scotty's Castle
Devils Golf Course
Dante's View
Ubahebe Crater
Sand Dunes
Zabriski Point
Have Dinner in Furnace Creek Inn-Very Good!!!
A great drive is Titus Canyon(yeah scary and yep dirt roads)

Here are my photos

http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/...F?source=pw980