Saturday, March-22
Nestling under the towering contours of Mount Whitney - elevation 14,505 feet [4,421 metres], the highest point in the contiguous United States - Lone Pine is a good place to stay before venturing east into Death Valley National Park. The local accommodation is good value-for-money and there’s a nice atmosphere about the town, which, because of its location, has hosted many a western movie cast & stars including names like John Wayne and Audie Murphy.We gas-up our tanks and are under way again by 10:00am ..
.. and head into Death [arghhh!] Valley, with just a little apprehension. It’s all down to the handle, you see!We leave the still snow-covered Sierras behind us, to our west
After an hour’s riding, covering approx 40 miles, from an elevation of 4,000 ft [1,220 m], we make our first big descent of the day down-and-down into the expanse of the Panamint Valley; crossing its base before climbing back up again ..
.. to 4K ft and the top of the Panamint Range to start our second big descent of the day down to 'sea level' and into Death Valley proper.
After passing through the official entrance of the Park at Stovepipe Wells - showing my Annual Pass (still valid from last year’s US visit) - we make a dash across the wasteland to the eastern side of the Valley and hunt down our accommodation for the ensuing night. What little available lodgings there are within the park itself, i.e. like at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort, - during a spring weekend [Saturday], is unfortunately beyond our budget.So we hightail it into the neighbouring state of Nevada and check in at a hotel & casino complex in the relatively nearby Armagosa Valley (NV).
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Sunday, March-23
I just cannot believe how lucky we are with all this glorious springtime weather. Temperatures are regularly up in the mid-late 20sºC [low 80sºF]. Fabulous!
So much so that we decide to set the alarm for 5:00am this morning to get back into the Park by 6:30am in order to watch the sunrise at Zabriskie Point. We arrive there just in time to watch the moon sink down into the western Panamint Ridge horizon on the opposite side of the Valley. 
Other like-minded visitors share the same idea
As the moon slips below the huge ridge separating the Valleys, almost instantly the sunrise takes command and casts a crimson shadow across the rock face. It’s quite a sight, so much so I snapped two pics and stitched them together to make this panoramic view
Back towards base camp at Armagosa we divert off the main DV drag (Hwy-190) and scoot a mile up in height to Dantes View. Pretty cool view from up there at this time of day .. huh?!
back towards the hotel .. -----------------------------------
.. in time for breakfast - a whole pound (1lb weight) of broiled prime gammon ham steak with fried eggs (cooked ‘over medium’) and fresh hash browns & wheat toast - all washed down with as much coffee as you can drink. And all for less than USD $10 (< GBP £5)! .. Yummy.
By late morning we’re packed and on our way back into Death Valley for the very last time and make a track for the vast salt flats of Badwater Basin ..
.. noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft [85.5 m] below sea level.
A desolate place indeed, especially in this heat .. and we’re still only in the month of March!Flatlands so white, you think it had been bleached white .. a sky so blue, you think it must have been dyed blue.
Back towards 190 and we divert off and around the curvy, one-way lane Artist's Drive to Artist’s Palette; a rainbow of mosaic colours - red, yellow, orange, green, violet, brown and black hues - swathed in the eroded clay deposits of ancient lakebed sediments produced by a process of oxidation. The colours are most pronounced at this time of day during the mid-late afternoon. Good timing again then, eh? 
Finally it’s time to leave the Park, and we do so by heading west - generally in the wrong direction! - to Scotty’s Castle. Along the way out I note to myself that it is good to see vast patched of the Valley’s floor in full bloom.
Not a sight that can be seen during the fierce heat and drought of the mid-summer months
You can find out more about the eccentric Scotty by visiting this Wikipedia webpage.
Pity the swimming pool was never finished – t’would have be good a good asset to have around hereabouts in this climate!
And so by later afternoon - by around 4:00pm – we head east back through the barren region and deserted roads of Nevada, onwards to tonight’s transit stopover city of Las Vegas. Can you believe it? - we’re actually on our way for our FIRST visit .. to Vegas!
