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I had a really bad night sleep because of two things - I was freezing cold with only one blanked on the bed, and my poxy USA mobile phone reset its time to 2 hours earlier than actual time. I wonder if it had something to do with crossing into Nevada, but not sure.
I had a coffee, filled the tank with petrol & set off back into National Park. I basically drove nearly every tarred road that I could without doing too much of what I had done the day before. I went up to Scotty's Castle which is at the top entrance to the park. Here there were a group of Harley Davidson bikers all resplendant in their leathers, bushy beards & funky bikes (also had the obligatory fat women either on the back of their bikes, or on their own bikes).
I went passed the Devils Cornfields which was these weird plants growing singly above ground, but there were millions of them in this 'field'.
I went to the sand dunes which were pretty impressive & seemed to stretch for miles.
I also went to the Ubehebe Crater which was definitely worth the visit. The landscape was dark soil/stones & the crater was massive. You could walk around it, which I did (a little, but it was just too windy), or you could walk down into it via this steep path. This I did not do as could not face the walk back up.
I went to the Golden Canyon to walk through & see the red cathedral. There was so many little off-shoots from the main canyon & I followed one a little way, but it would have been too easy to get lost so I returned to main path.
Later in the afteroon, I went up to Dante's View. This was a massively steep & windy road - the sign said the gradient is 15 degrees which was the steepest I had seen. The view was spectacular, but it was freezing & windy up there.
The drive back to Beatty was not great as it was pitch black with the odd 4x4 speeding up to overtake me. It also started to rain & go progressively heavier the nearer the exit I got. Good time to leave the area if they are expecting rain.
I have to say that I would not advise visiting this area in the summer months. The heat would be oppressive & I am sure you would not even feel like getting out of the car to walk any of the trails, or even to take photos.
Last night in Beatty, with dinner at the Stagecoach again. I decided to give the cheap beers at the Saloon a miss though.
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