Yes a disclaimer. Death Valley (Furnace Creek) is the location with the hottest recorded temperature on Earth: 134F (56.7C) on July 10, 2013. (World Meteorological Organization) To standardize temperature reading, weather centers measure and report temperature in shade, almost 2 meters off the ground. Satellite infrared temperature readings (using spectroradiometers) from NASA state that 29.9N 59.1E in the Lut Desert of Iran is the "hottest" place on Earth. (Hottest Place on Earth, MinuteEarth)
Temps at Death Valley reached the 129F mark in 1960, 1998, 2005, 2007.
So guess where I was on the 4th of July, 2013? Yup, trying to keep cool in Furnace Creek, Badwater Basin, and Stovepipe Wells - in Death Valley. It was a scorching 125F. The drive down into the valley was brutal. Why? Well, because driving over the hills before arriving on the valley floor, cars are not allowed to use their air conditioner for the fear of cars overheating. With the windows down, the breeze was hot. Yes, it felt like being in a furnace. By keeping our Camelbak iced in the cooler, we drank so much water just to be hydrated.
What did we do in Death Valley? I was really excited to head down to Death Valley when we were initially planning this trip (in January). I was reading about the new research about the famous sailing stones (huge rocks that carved irregular trails on the dried lakebeds). This is what I wanted to see! Unfortunately, this place and more were only accessible through off-road vehicles. (Much like my trip to Moab, Utah in 2011.)
We arrived to the valley floor, at our hotel in Stovepipe Wells, around lunchtime. It was a scorcher! We attempted to have lunch, but we just craved cold drinks. I was too exhausted, and wanted to take a nap in the hotel room (with adequate AC for the desert). Meanwhile, the rest of our group tried to go for a swim in the pool. The water was uncomfortably warm - like bath water. Then a sudden thunderstorm blew through. For at least 30 minutes it was torrential, with the wind carrying it sideways. There were flash floods, since the ground was so hard it would not absorb the moisture, and mounds of dirt was pushed into the road.
Later, we had dinner in Furnace Creek - where the "fancy" hotel was. They even had a golf course (which is very active in the winter season). We had our meal, with plenty of water, and waited for sunset. We took a drive around Dante's Point, weaving between cool rock formations along the edges of the valley. The sun went down, and it was still 118F. Our last stop was Badwater Basin, to visit the lowest place in North America. During the rainy season, it is a salt water lake. When we went it was dry with a thick layer of salt.
When we returned to our hotel, it was another dip in the pool, and some star gazing a few minutes away from the hotel. There were SO many stars. You could see the Milky Way. There were so many stars, including some of the more minor/fainter stars that it was hard to distinguish the constellations.
We go up before sunrise to try to fit in some hiking before it got hot. It was 115F at 5am. Adrian and I went to the sand dunes. From the road they looked pretty small. Once we got on the dunes, we realized that it was huge, and there were more dunes - as far as we could see. We hike for a bit, always within visual distance of our parked car. You don't want to get lost out there. We did not see any animal, but we did see lots of snake tracks.
Now why were we in Death Valley in the first place? Almost a year ago our friends V&D told us that they were finally taking a vacation to visit us. They were moving to Geneva from Dublin, and were finally going to live together now that their jobs didn't keep them separated. They created this master plan to visit National Parks and California. They say that in France, it is referred to as the California Tour. LA > SF > Yosemite > Death Valley (detouring to LV and the Grand Canyon) > LA. Since they were only in the states for two weeks, we could not change the time of year to visit these places.