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The Shoshine Inn and Motel.jpg

The Shoshone Inn Motel

 We stayed at the Shoshone Inn Motel for our visit - about two hours easy driving from Death Valley and two from Las Vegas. This "bestlodgings.com" website will show you pictures of the "Old Timers Inn" bedrooms. These are the superior ones to the rear of the main building! Our room was in the main motel fronting the Main Street. Despite very noisy air-conditioning (though it is being renovated) this little Motel is delightful, reasonably priced,  and the only accommodation for 50 miles in any direction. Shoshone is a tiny quiet green oasis with a fantastic spring fed swimming pool (open to motel guests) and a shop, Post Office, gas station, restaurant and a small museum and trailer park. We were surprised to see the modern Death Valley High School on our walk to the pool, and the strangely-named Death Valley Health Centre!
Main Street Shoshone.jpg
     Main Street Shoshone		 We had a good evening meal in the Crowbar Café across the road from the motel. The general  store at the gas station has basic grocery supplies and some local souvenirs and rocks on sale. We recommend this location to anyone visiting Death Valley.
We want the pictures on the next page to do the talking but here are some comments on our visit. A colleague in the UK had told me there was "nothing to see in Death Valley". This is nonsense! From our point of view it has to be one of the most beautiful and strange places on earth. But be prepared to feel uneasy about the heat. In the National Park Newspaper we read about a German man who had died a month earlier from heat and dehydration trying to walk the 3 miles from Golden Canyon to Zabriski Point with only two litres of water with him.  In the summer the temperature is still over 100o F at dusk.

 
With just one day in the Valley we had planned our visit with care. Although we did not need it for the car we travelled with a full 20 litre water container on board. The Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction has an interesting plaque. First stop at about 10.00 am was Dante's View 6,000 feet above the valley floor; a crystal clear sky provided breathtaking views with Telescope Peak at 11,000 feet opposite looking as if it could be to touched - a slow trickle of visitors here. We turned off the air-conditioning on the way up as the engine temperature went up considerably. 20 Mule Canyon on a good dirt road loop on the left before Zabriski Point is a fascinating detour - we saw one other car. One just has to stop at Zabriski Point even if the world does (with coaches with noisy engines running in the coach park) as the rock colours are amazing.

In the Valley proper after Zabriski Point  we saw Furnace Creek Inn, then via the superb National Park visitor centre, where we bought our National Parks pass, to Stovepipe Wells Village, the Sand Dunes and the clearly hardly-visited Stovepipe Monument. This is a fascinating place and is testament to the resourcefulness of the Native Americans who knew where to find the water and where the explorers planted the Stovepipe to mark the spot. There is a permanent settlement of Native Americans at Furnace Creek.

Our lunch stop was in the shade at Furnace Creek Ranch by the stream - amazing to see the little fishes; we had to put towels on the metal picnic table seats before we could sit down, even in the shade. Then on to Badwater via the Mesquite Groves (which bear witness to the existence of water at great depth) and the Devil's Golf Course, which is an unreal plain of viciously sharp salt crystal deposits - an eerie and remote place. 

At Badwater the hazy cloud was a welcome relief as the temperature reached 116o F and we wished we had had time to walk out onto the dazzling white salt flat. A detour up the Artist's Drive on a good and almost deserted dirt road was fascinating as one crosses several deep washes on the way to the multi-coloured rocks at Artist's Palette, and then we just had time for a solitary short and quite scary  walk up Golden Canyon before an amazing sunset at 7.30pm. Incredible to think that cars were driven up here in the 1930's (in winter we presume)! 

We were glad that we had not underestimated the amount of water we needed to drink as walking only a short way from the car seemed fairly dangerous. Apart from the organised coach tours which visit Zabriski Point,  Furnace Creek and the Visitor Centre we were entranced by the peace, stillness and tranquility of the Valley. As the day progresses the light changes and the rock colours change with it.

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