My apologies for last night. I wanted to take it easy for a day in the mountains and was going to type about the day, but other things happened. I guess "taking it easy" meant drinking a bunch of Bacardi and trying to roast hot dogs. Well the hot dogs were never were cooked. I made it to my tent and woke up covered in a small layer of ice on my sleeping bag and tent. Also a squirrel ate my hot dog buns. Plus... I acquired some cold or cough through the freezing night. So I guess I just decided the mountains were not where I needed to be with the gear I had. I packed everything in the car and drove to Death Valley. So I am here now, but I won't be able to pitch my tent as it requires stakes in ground and this ground is like concrete. It's okay though, I still have my car. I always wanted to come here to see the sand dunes (plan for tomorrow). Dropping into the valley was amazing. I came through on the Western end and am at Panamint Springs. I went through several old mining ghost towns along the way and this place is literally just spooky. I wish I could have made it earlier so I could explore. When I drove in I almost ran into a wild burro... Yes... Like a wild donkey. It's all sort of dreamy and hazy now since there is really nothing at all out here and miles of desert to hike in. Hopefully this cold goes away in the next day so I can get out on a good hike. There is a small restaraunt across from the campground so I'll give it a shot and see what the people are like. Word of advice.... If you ever travel to Death Valley don't wait to fuel up before the park. Most cities surrounding are dry on gas or run completely off diesel. Once you get in the park there may be gas but it is 50 percent more then what you paid before. Also take the time to visit all the spotted random ghost towns. They are not hard to find as most of them are right off of the road. It's a rough life obviously in this area. A lot of the ghost towns look like they were built even in the 1950's. Amazing some people still live in these places in make shift shelters out of old scrap wood or half to quarter of what used to be a trailer. It looks as if when there is a heavy rain most of the towns are ripped apart and just scrapped back together. I stayed in a place that was similar to this in Alaska which will be posted on my blog when I return home and organize all of my notes.