We pick up our car and spend the next 25 minutes trying to fit all our bags in the boot! Having achieved this near on miracle and feeling pretty damn happy with ourselves I jump in the drivers seat, set up our GPS and wave farewell to Sin City.
We had been warned that it would be hot in Death Valley. This 'hot' surpassed all expectations hitting a top heat of 125 degrees.
Our car (named digger) found it very tough keeping us cool and moving at the same time!
When reading the 'what to do in Death Valley' articles before leaving and seeing the suggestions range from the likes of 'do not hike it is too hot' and 'you will get out the car, take a photo and jump back in looking for relief from the intense heat' I probably underestimated the accuracy of these. I can honestly say now that these are spot on and August was probably not the best time to visit the place that has the hottest temperature on record in the world. Having said that the unique and vast land that we drove through and stopped intermittently to jump out take a photos of was beautiful. The names of said points were Badlands Basin, Devils golf course, artists palette and Zebriski .... I am happy to say I survived Death Valley and made it to our comfort inn in Bishop where we crashed out ready for our drive up to Yosemite National Park the next day.