Hot, hotter, the hottest ... no, this is not Death Valley ...

So, now comes the last "highlight" of our two-month trip through the states of the USA: Death Valley, often called the "hottest spot" on Earth. Read on to find out what we experienced 😉:

From Ridgecrest, we have a journey of about 500 km through the Sierra Nevada as our last tour before reaching Las Vegas. But a stop in Death Valley is in between. Let's see what's "baking" here today ... Well, actually we already knew, because we were here in 2015 😉

Our drive from Ridgecrest initially takes us through the loneliest area we have driven so far (well, the route through the Mojave Desert was also lonely ...) We don't encounter or overtake any cars for several miles. We are repeatedly captivated by the vastness that the country offers us from time to time. Roads whose end cannot be seen despite the clear view.

On the way to Furnace Creek, the central point of Death Valley, we pass by the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. They are not comparable to the Great Dunes we have already seen here in Alamosa, but at least they are located here in the rocky desert. How these dunes were formed ...? We don't know that either! 😊

But what we do know is that the Visitor Center of the national park is located in Furnace Creek. And here we wanted to reach the official temperature measurement point for Death Valley. But also to buy the last of our magnets for this tour through the USA.

We got the magnet. But the expected highest temperature in Death Valley, unfortunately not. It was a disappointing 111 degrees Fahrenheit, which equals 44 degrees Celsius (and that at 10 o'clock in the morning!!! - 114 degrees were expected at noon). In the previous days, we had actually endured similar high temperatures.

The media-hyped hottest place did not meet the media-created "expectations" ... supposedly hordes of tourists should drive to Death Valley to experience the hottest place on Earth ... Oh my God, that was not true ... The streams of visitors were very manageable ... Who actually researches such reports???? And the people/tourists who were here certainly didn't come primarily because of the temperature but because of the breathtaking nature!!!

But anyway, we're not here to get upset about journalism ...

Next stop is Devils Golf Course. A place a little further from the "main road", which offers a fantastic view of this large area with salt crystals lying around in large chunks ... We hop along a gravel road until we reach the endpoint.

The view over the field, which - who knows why - is called "Devils Golf Course", is enormous. When you look closely at the chunks, you can see the crystal structure well. This area here in the Badwater Basin, to which the golf course belongs, used to be Lake Manly during the Ice Age. The lake eventually dried up and left behind the salts that still exist today, as the groundwater rises and evaporates through the salts (mainly ordinary table salt with a few additional minerals). So the basin is still a magnet for many tourists.

In the Badwater Basin with the "catwalk" to the large white salt desert, we dared to take a few quick photos, because even 44 degrees are too hot to stay in there for long.

The Badwater Basin is about 90 meters below sea level, making it the lowest point in North America.

As a next step, we took a detour from the main road to Artists Drive. This is 13 miles long and passes by colored rock formations. The rocks show themselves in red, green, red, and shades of brown. Really like on a color palette.

Another photogenic point is Zabriskies Point, which is only a few miles away. Interesting formations and color divisions of the rocks make the camera's trigger run hot ... and Thorsten has to hurry, because his phone quickly gives up and groans under the heat. Between the stops, the car's air conditioning has to cool down the phone again ...

As the very last point before heading directly to Las Vegas without interruption, we visit "Dantes View". A viewing point at about 1700 meters (Badwater is 90 meters below zero!) and 16 miles away from Badwater. From here you have a fantastic view over the entire Death Valley and you can see the enormous size of the former salt lake.

After a two and a half hour drive, we reached Las Vegas. And here - believe it or not - the thermometer showed 114 degrees. The same temperature as at noon in Death Valley ... And what do we learn from this??? ...