Our 10’000 foot drop in height from Yosemite to Death Valley National Park

Our first drive into Yosemite National Park was less impressive than the one in Yellowstone, since we didn’t get to see Wildlife on our way to the campground. Once again we arrived at the campground pretty late and were lucky to find a free spot at dawn.

After a cold but good night of sleep we headed toward Glacier point from where we enjoyed a breathtaking view over Yosemite Valley, the Monoliths and the famous Half Dome. We soaked up as much from this scenery as we could and drove down into Yosemite Valley while the rain was beginning to fall. Inside this Cliff surrounded Valley we took a short hike under the rain to the dried up Mirror Lake from where Anselm Adams took some of his famous shots of Yosemite. We got back to our tent and gathered wood before returning to Glacier Point to witness a beautiful sunset on the Half Dome and the Valley. The next morning we were horrified to hear from the ranger that a very young French girl had gone missing outside the campground while she and her brother played in the forest. A rescue team was on its way and as we left the campground we scrutinized the roadside for this girl. We hope they found her before the night rolled in.

Yosemite is a big park too such that it took us several hours to get from our campground to the east exit at the almost 10’000 foot (3030 m) high Tioga Pass. A beautiful ride of course. From Tioga pass our road to Death Valley was almost constantly descending. We stopped at a delicious Dutch Bakkery in a “shoot-yourself” town on the road.

Then we begun to see Joshua trees and the landscape turned into a boiling hot desert. Unexpectedly a valley opened up inside the valley we already were. And behind this valley was an even deeper one, Death Valley. We had to turn off the AC in order to avoid overheating as we speeded across the valley at 280 feet below sea level. There were many dark clouds in the sky, which gave the valley even more character as their shadows run across the dunes and rocks. It was past 4pm and the sunrays lit the red rocks and shimmered on the sand dunes through the clouds. That’s when the first signs to Las Vegas appeared.