We set off from the RV and went straight to the sand dunes in the middle of Death Valley. There was a photography society in our camp the night before and we had got the idea that the dunes would look great first thing in the morning. They were brilliant but a little out of place. There is only a small section of them and they appear no where else. Sandy desert is not typical around here but for some reason there is this one little section in the middle. We got some great photos and saw loads of animal tracks over the dunes. You have to come and look at night if you want to see any wildlife around here.
We then set off for Mosaic Canyon which was only about 10 minutes away from the bottom of the valley. Here the erosion of the stream and the elements has created a canyon that is lined with marble. So cut out of the jagged rock is this meandering pathway of smooth mosiaced marble. Quite extraordinary.
This and the sand dunes took us most of the morning so we had lunch in the RV overlooking Death Valley and then set off to travel north. I wanted to follow the route I had taken 30 years previously when on one July 4th Independence Day (co-incidentally also the day one, or even the first, shuttles landed in the desert not far away after it's first or second flight) we had driven up from the floor of Death Valley and climbed up some 9,000 feet and watched people skiing. Only in America.
We only got as far as a place called Bishop and called it quits there.
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