Day 35 - Death Valley National Park

Bishop is a very nice small town and the starting point for outdoor activities east of the Sierra Nevada.

In the hostel, mountaineering equipment hangs on the walls and I grab a climbing magazine (tsts, I know...). There is a poster with all the routes on El Capitan.

I don't stay (unfortunately) and continue on through the dreaded Death Valley, in the worst season - summer.

(Now I'm basically entering the desert and won't come out until I drive to San Diego on the coast).

I fill up with extra gas beforehand and bring plenty of water.

In Death Valley, it is so hot because it is very low - in general, the rule here in the desert is the deeper, the hotter, and vice versa.

Death Valley is also a national park, so you have to pay an entrance fee and there are campsites (I don't seriously come up with the idea of setting up my tent without shade in 40 degrees - no one does, there are some RVs standing around, but they must have an extra air conditioning, otherwise no one can stand it, despite good climate intentions. Except maybe the locals).

I drive through the valley from west to east, so the short version. The long version would be north-south.

When I get out of the car, the hot dry air burns in my eyes and it stings like sulfur - the name says it all (other deserts are full of life, not here, maybe a few bushes).

I visit a sand dune.

In the evening I arrive in Las Vegas and fall dead into bed (haha, death valley..). The change from hot to cold is quite exhausting.

However, the name is overrated - in other regions of the USA it is just as hot, for example Las Vegas.