Day 9: Death Valley and Sequoia Forest

Loooooong day today.. I had to drive for 8,5 hours straight with just a three 2-minute stops and one 10-minute stop. It was long, especially in Sequoia Forest.. Nothing but steep, short, VERY sharp hairpin and u-turns where you constantly had to step hard on the pedal to even get up or constantly brake to avoid crashing into the rock wall (which started where the road stopped, so had to be careful not to hit it) or going off the edge (same deal as with the rock wall) and into the forest abyss.

But, first things first.. Death Valley National Park. This place was so damn hot.. At one point, Christophe's watch read the temperature as 54 degrees Celsius. We made 2 short stops for photo moments and 1 stop at the Visitor Center. After the first short stop already, barely outside for a few minutes and we were both already parched, sweating and feet cooking in our shoes (my feet really felt as if they were burning, it became unbearable after walking in the sand dunes later). We couldn't wait to get back to the car fast enough and breathe in the airco and drink some water. The wind out there feels like a furnace blasting into your face.. The name Furnace Creek was very appriopriate for the Visitor Center. Not to mention the golf course smack in the middle of Death Valley... Yes, there is a golf course in Death Valley. It's called Devil's Golf of course. There is a lot of Devil things in there.. Anyway, driving through it became even more of a hell when we saw a sign that said "Turn off airco for the next 20 miles" (that's 32 km) and the next parts brought us from below sea-level to up all the way in the mountains, which went slow going uphill. It was hot but quite an experience.
We also saw some dust devils and tumbleweeds. All in all, it was fun to do, for just once... Not again, thank you very much.

Enjoy a few pictures:

Of course you know by now I don't want just regular pictures. So I had to walk into the desert for a little bit for a better shot. Yes, that little dot in the middle is me having walked into the desert (damn it was hot!). Click on the picture for a larger view.

After somehow making it out of Death Valley alive (strangely enough, doesn't matter if you're 80 meters below sea level or more than a kilometer above it, in Death Valley the heat always kills) and finally cooling back down with the airco back on, we moved on to Sequoia National Forest for a visit.

Sequoia National Forest... Such steep uphill roads and short turns. You can only crawl up and down those roads and be VERY careful. On one end, steep cliff wall and falling rocks if you're not careful, almost driving against the wall. On the other end, sheer drop down deep into forest as there's no fence or rail to stop you. Small mountain roads, paying a lot of attention and driving very carefully... But beautiful sights though!

Such a long drive eventually, it's really tiring when you haven't eaten anything all day. But it was good. Here's a couple pictures of our Sequoia stops.

We're in Three Rivers (near Visalia) now, and will be visiting Yosemite National Park tomorrow before driving on to Modesto (last stop before San Francisco).