In the evening of our first night in Death Valley, we visited Zabriskie Point to watch the sun set.
park
Death Valley Furnace Creek Visitor Center and The Ranch
Our campground in Death Valley National Park was right next to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center:
Near the Visitor Center is The Ranch, an oasis with a hotel, shopping center, and restaurants:
Buffet at the 1849 Restaurant:
Nice gardens:
Death Valley Furnace Creek Campground
We stayed at Furnace Creek Campground within Death Valley National Park, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
The first time we’ve ever stayed inside a national park in our coach.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-20
- Check out: 2023-03-23
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Partly sunny, a couple days of drizzle
- High temps ranging between 61-73°F, lows around 43-50°F
- Wind gusts to 37 MPH
Noise:
- No road or train noise
- Some neighbor kid noise, not too bad
Site:
- #69, pull-through, asphalt
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind and in front of coach
- Level
- Large site: about 95 feet long by about 50 feet wide
- Picnic table, fire pit, gravel
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 55 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 43-148 Mbps down, 11-23 Mbps up, 29-40 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
- AT&T: no service
- Verizon: no service
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- National Park!
- Visitor center
- General store
- Restaurant
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Great campground in the heart of Death Valley NP
There are two things I wish about this place: 1) That they had more full hookup sites, and 2) that we’d gotten to stay longer. We originally booked a dry camping spot but were lucky enough to snag a cancellation for a full hookup and I’m so glad we did. I would have stayed here either way, as it’s truly the best place to stay in or near the park. The pull-through sites are incredibly long and every site is large so you’re not cramped against your neighbor, which is appropriate when staying in the largest National Park in the contiguous 48 states. It’s also very convenient to all the “must-see” places in the park. If you need internet while staying here, you must have Starlink. Cellular data was non-existent for any carrier. There is WiFi at the Furnace Creek Ranch. We camped at Furnace Creek in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Gas in Stovepipe Wells was quite a bit cheaper than at Furnace Creek and the food was better at the restaurant there, too.
Interactive map:
The campground map:
Death Valley National Park is interesting in that it is mostly below sea level. The campground has an elevation of -190 feet:
Our site:
Death Valley is the hottest and driest national park… so of course it was cool and rainy:
Entrance:
Dishwashing station:
Other sites:
Video: Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 121 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California.
Travel from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California
We drove our coach 121 miles, about three hours of driving, from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California.
Here’s the map route, heading west:
An interactive map, with our stops marked:
Horses artwork:
Driving past the buildings of the Vegas strip:
Overpass artwork:
Snowy mountains:
A snack while driving:
Paladin in his safe space:
Mountain:
We stopped for lunch at the Area 51 Alien Center:
It’s Nevada, so there’s also the Alien Cathouse Brothel:
The Area 51 Alien Center:
They have a cafe, but it was closed, so we grabbed packaged sandwiches for lunch:
Cow artwork:
Leaving Nevada, entering California (no welcome sign, just “click it or ticket”; real friendly there, California):
Bumpy road:
Enering Death Valley National Park:
Most of the park is below sea level; passing sea level elevation, heading down:
-5 elevation:
The Ranch at Death Valley, at -190 feet elevation:
Valley of Fire State Park
We visited Valley of Fire State Park, north of Las Vegas, Nevada.
A cheeky squirrel found some food in the picnic area (no, we didn’t feed it):
Red Rock Canyon
We visited Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Entrance station; timed-entry reservations required:
Visitor Center:
Gift store:
Exhibits:
Tortoise:
Jackson the burro:
Picnic:
We did a hike to a waterfall:
Grand Canyon West
We visited Grand Canyon West, a commercial operation of the Hualapai Tribal Nation.
On the way there, we enjoyed seeing lots of Joshua trees and snowy mountains:
The sign for Grand Canyon West:
The main terminal; there is lots of parking, an airport, large heliport, and gift store here:
One catches buses to reach the other two areas:
The first stop is Eagle Point:
Do you see the eagle?
A selfie:
The main attraction of Grand Canyon West is the Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that extends 70 feet out over the canyon:
We went to the restaurant for lunch first, which had a great view over the Skywalk:
No personal belongings allowed on the Skywalk:
Line:
We put our stuff in a locker:
They have photographers on the Skywalk to take posed pictures:
Some stock pics of the Skywalk that came with our photo downloads:
After we experienced the Skywalk, we headed outside and looked at some Native American tribal structure exhibits:
Then caught a bus to Guano Point:
Posing ravens:
Nice Grand Canyon views:
This point is named for a guano mine (harvesting bat droppings for fertilizer); there are still some ruins of a tram used for that operation:
A long line for the bus back to the terminal (it was much longer when we joined it):
On the way back to Kingman, “Expect Cattle”:
Yep, cows were expected:
A fun experience, and a different perspective on the Grand Canyon.
US Virgin Islands National Park
As previously mentioned, the US Virgin Islands consists of three main islands, and a bunch of minor ones. We were staying on Saint Thomas, but another highlight of this trip was to cross off another national park, in our goal to visit all of them. The nearby island of Saint John mostly consists of the Virgin Islands National Park.
It is possible to take a passenger ferry over to the island, and walk to the park visitor center, and explore the town of Cruz Bay (where the ferry docks), but we wanted to explore more of the park, which is best done by car. So we headed to the car ferry dock.
Here’s a car ferry loading; the cars all back on, to make it easier to drive off at the other side:
The departing ferry, and another arriving:
We made it onto this ferry, the Big Red Barge:
The cars are packed rather tightly:
Arriving at Saint John:
Driving off:
Why did the chicken cross the road? They’re all over the place:
Jenn got her National Park passport stamps:
Info in the visitor center:
Visitor center gift store:
Selfie:
The visitor center was undergoing some renovations:
Virgin Islands National Park sign:
Trunk Bay is one of the most popular parts of the park; we hoped to be able to stop here, but they have very limited parking, so we skipped it:
Maho Bay is another (too) popular beach:
But we were able to find parking at Francis Bay, a less popular but still very nice beach:
We had a picnic lunch on the beach:
Parts of the beach were a little rocky, but the sand was very soft:
Underwater photos:
Jenn swimming:
Video of fish:
Looking like a merman:
Continuing on, we visited the historic windmill of the Annaberg sugar plantation:
A turtle:
Goat:
Donkeys:
Lots of steep roads:
Back to the car ferry:
A nice swim, fascinating history, and great to visit one of the more difficult to reach national parks.
Waco Mammoth National Monument
We visited Waco Mammoth National Monument in Waco, Texas.
This park was established fairly recently, in 2015, and is quite small. It consists of just a visitor center and a shelter over a dig site with several mammoth fossils.
The visitor center and outdoor gift store:
Info sign:
Dig shelter:
Inside the shelter, a ranger giving a talk:
Fossils:
