Dantes View

My first stop in Death Valley was at Dantes View in the Black Mountains to the east of the valley.  There is a sweeping view to the valley floor more than a mile below.

Water can't flow out of Death Valley; it collects at the low point and evaporates, leaving behind salt deposits like this one.

Here we are looking down on an aluvial fan, a pile of debre that has washed down from a mountain and spread into the valley floor in a fan-like formation.   The black line around the edge of the fan is a 2 lane highway.

This is Dantes View as seen from an adjacent peak.  You can see my truck parked in the lot.

This is the last section of the road going up to Dantes View.  It is narrow and crooked - not a good place to be bringing a large trailer.

So I left my trailer in a parking lot 6 miles down the road.  After visiting Dantes View, I spent my first night in Death Valley here in this parking lot.