Southern Nevada and California Trip Log

I set off on a solo road trip to southern Nevada and California to explore the great outdoors. As I was taking the trip over the holidays and would be in some remote locations, I had a few factors to consider when planning the order of my trip. Not only would there be holiday traffic in these places, but the sheer fact that it wouldn't be boiling outside meant the increased chance for more visitors. The order I decided on was in large part impacted by campground availability, as camping was going to be the cheapest--and most convenient--option. The places on my list were Valley of Fire State Park, Red Rock Canyon, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, the Hoover Dam, and the Mojave National Preserve. I had listed the Alabama Hills as a maybe. With all the campgrounds I was going to be staying at, I did a lot of flipping back and forth between tabs to see when campgrounds were open for all the nights I needed. I started planning about two months in advance, which I normally don't do but that was when I decided I wanted to travel over Christmas.

I knew I needed to make a loop, so the question was just in which order. I decided to leave Valley of Fire and the Hoover Dam for last because I wanted something to do near Las Vegas before flying out. I didn't want to drive into the city and catch a flight out the next day, but that's personal preference. I packed hiking pants for the trip which worked very well as I didn't need to apply more sunscreen, and because of the temperatures. I had short-sleeved shirts, jackets, and a hiking hoodie for the torso. When it got warmer in the day, I could remove the heavier layers and wear just the hiking hoodie. Because of the sleeves and pants, I ended up only using face sunscreen, though I wish I had had it when I was in Red Rock Canyon. Unfortunately, it and my hoodie were in my delayed checked luggage. I recommend allotting a day in the city you fly into if you're camping in case luggage doesn't make it there. I wouldn't have been able to start car camping without it, another good reason for the hotel room that I realized in hindsight.

Arrival and Red Rock Canyon

Mountains in Red Rock

I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car. This was my first trip flying to within the States as opposed to driving, but it would have been a long drive from having only two weeks available. I chose to stay in a hotel because I wanted a good night's sleep after the flight. I did my shopping early in the morning and then in the evening the day after I arrived. My first stop was Red Rock Canyon. If you arrive before 8 am, you don't need a reservation to drive the road. Initially, I was thinking about doing this but then decided it would be better to buy groceries first, as I didn't have any food for lunch, and choose the earliest reservation. This worked out very well. By the time I shopped, ate breakfast, and drove to the park, I arrived at 8:30. The park was beautiful. I stopped at the visitor center first to buy my souvenirs, as once you pass it you can't return. I stopped at the viewpoints, climbed rocks and into some of the canyons, and did some hiking. I did most of the Turtlehead Peak trail but stopped at the base of the summit. This hike is probably the hardest in the park, with 2,000 ft of elevation gain in about 2 miles. If I had hiked other days previous to this one and had had more water, I may have made it up. Better safe than sorry, though. I did the Calico Tanks trail which was pretty cool, weaving through all the giant rocks. It also had the advantage of being shaded at that point in the day, whereas Turtlehead was completely exposed. I enjoyed the portion of the trail I did hike, as I had some good views and could see all over the park. After I finished hiking, I drove the rest of the road, stopping to do the walk to the petroglyphs and eat lunch.

Death Valley (2.5 days in the park)

Badwater Basin from Dante's View ft. lake

Death Valley is huge. Driving in, there was nothing to stop and do for a good hour. Aside from the opera house at the very edge of the park, there's nothing until you get to the road to turn for Dante's view. The drive from Las Vegas to Dante's View was about 3 hours. I made sure to fill up on gas before leaving Nevada so that I wouldn't have to spend as much money as gas in California. I chose to stay at the Panamint Resort's campground. While it was on the far west side of the park, there is more to do near there, making it, in my opinion, a more ideal location than driving in from Nevada. While there are campgrounds and lodgings in the center of the park, they were either outside of my price range or, when comparing the cost, I was getting more for less money at Panamint. As it rained heavily my last day there, I'm especially glad I wasn't down in the valley because part of the main road closed. For being the desert, I sure experienced a lot of rain on my trip. The availability was also greater than the more centrally-located campgrounds, though this may not always be the case. Also, make sure you check road closures on the national park site before going and while there. The park is heavily prone to flash flooding which causes roads to be shut down unexpectedly. While planning my trip, roads were shut down and reopened, leading me to make two sets of plans in case I couldn't access parts of the park.

Because the park is so big, my goal for the half a day I had was to see everything in the Furnace Creek area so I wouldn't have to drive back that far. The views driving into the park made my jaw drop. They were nothing like what I had expected, and the pictures I had seen online didn't do this park justice. My first stop was Dante's View. Due to rain from November, the lake in Badwater Basin had formed and was still there. It felt like a special addition to the trip getting to see an uncommon site. I did the short hike along the ridge. It was beautiful and windy.

Next was Zabriskie Point. I've read that it's a fabulous sunset spot, but with so much to do, I chose to see it in the middle of the day. It was still beautiful. I also drove the Twenty Mule Team Canyon road, which didn't take very long. This drive wasn't originally part of my plans, but when I found out part of Star Wars was filmed in the canyon, I threw it on my list; it didn't disappoint. From there I drove to the visitor center to buy my souvenirs and make my lunch. Then I was on a mission to drive Badwater Basin road and see all the sights. I started with the places on my right, giving me something to look forward to on the way back up. Devil's Golf Course was unworldly, having all that salt crystallized into structures. It was neat walking through it and hearing the crunch. I wanted to hit Badwater Basic next, but the traffic was crazy so I turned around and hiked to Natural Bridge first. Hiking on small rocks and sand, going uphill, definitely takes more effort than going uphill on packed dirt. When I returned to Badwater Basin, it was easier to drive around the cars parked on the road, and I successfully found a spot in the parking lot. I had officially visited the lowest point! I enjoyed walking out as far as was possible with the lake. On the way back up the road I drove Artist Drive to see Artists Palette. All the colors were so pretty. The greens and blues are the colors that surprised me the most to see (there had also been some on the way to Dante's View). I wanted to visit Desolation Canyon because Star Wars but was running out of daylight. I opted to visit Golden Canyon and do that hike up to Red Cathedral as opposed to the full Gower Gulch Loop. The sun descending was making the canyon look especially yellow. On my drive to camp, I stopped at Harmony Borax works. Yes, I had to see everything with a flashlight, but I knew if I didn't stop then, I wouldn't be driving out there again in my trip. I was fortunate that the campground had clear skies that night, even though other parts of the park didn't, so I was able to see the famous dark sky with all the stars shining.

My first full day in the park consisted of a lot of driving. If you visit Death Valley, expect to drive a lot. Because there was rain on the forecast for the next day and I'd heard about not wanting to be in canyons during rain, I switched up my plans. I started the day by leaving camp early when the sun started rising, eating breakfast at the trailhead, and then hiking Mosaic Canyon. Seeing all the different rocks fused together was so neat. I then drove to Ubehebe Crater. It's a distance from everything else, but I wanted to see it and it didn't disappoint. It's massive. I did the hike around it and Little Ubehebe, choosing to not hike down into it because that was going to be a STEEP hike out. I then went to the Mesquite Sand Dunes. While these are very popular, it's easy to get away from the people by hiking farther out. Having the dunes backed by the mountains was a beautiful sight. With the daylight I had left, I fought to squeeze in the hike to Darwin Falls. Personally, the hike through the canyon, where the road was, was better than then end of the hike. The sun was also lighting it up as it was descending. I liked seeing the oasis, but the end of the trail wasn't well marked. Then it was time to high-tail it out so didn't have to do most of it in the dark. I was so thankful to AllTrails because I could follow it back to the section of the road that I needed to end up at since there's not a trailhead there that ends in a parking lot. My advice: Don't end up on this trail in the dark.

The rain rolled in that night, meaning road closures in the park were imminent. I had wanted to hike Wildrose Peak, see the kilns, and visit a viewpoint, but this was the first road to be shut down. I had, thankfully, seen everything else I wanted to in the park so I didn't risk driving down and getting stuck. This weather left me with a predicament: I either had to contend with rain or snow by driving somewhere else outside the park if I wanted to be outside, and I wasn't prepared for snow. So I set off for the Alabama Hills. The worker at Panamint Springs and at Sequoia National Forest both warned that it could be muddy, as a lot of the roads were dirt. Luckily, most of the roads were in pretty good shape. I didn't drive the entire main road as about half-way down it was starting to become too muddy for my liking, but quite a few of the side spurs were drivable. The rain also wasn't as bad while I was there. I did a few short trails and admired the views and visited the Western Film Museum.

What surprised me about Death Valley was the speed limit. I'm used to the mountain parks where it's 35 mph, but Death Valley was 65 mph in some places. That's definitely nice when driving across a vast, semi-flat landscape. The other thing was that they weren't a lot of designated viewpoints. You can pull over almost anywhere you want as long as the vehicle is off the road. This idea makes sense, though, since viewpoints are more necessary where there's more limited space. I loved seeing all the different part of this park and how different they all were. When I hear "Death Valley", I'm no longer going to think of just dry, hot desert. I wanted to visit the Racetrack, but the best road to reach it is closed in winter and the other option I was in no way prepared to drive. I'll just have to visit in either spring or autumn if I get the chance to go again.

Joshua Tree (2 days in the park)

Sunset from campsite

All that rain had resulted in a lot of flooded roads. The road I was planning to drive from the park down to Joshua Tree was one of these. My friend gifted me a California Recreation Map, so I looked if there was anything to see on my alternate route and noted something called Fossil Falls. I like waterfalls. Not only were the mountains gorgeous driving down, with the green plants dotting the darker soil, but the falls themselves were so cool. It flows over lava rock through a canyon, and there's also a cinder cone nearby. 10/10.

I wanted to get to my campsite before dark so I picked a short hike called the Indian Cove Nature Trail. I knew I likely wouldn't visit this part of the park the other days as it's isolated from the rest of the roads. I stayed at Black Rock Canyon Campground. I liked that there were trails from there and that there was water and flushing toilets, unlike the other campsite that were more centrally located. Panorama Trail starts from there and was on my list but I ran out of time to hike it. I had beautiful sunrise and sunset views from the campground. Also having Joshua Trees surround my campsite was pretty cool. I was there at Christmas, so I called them my Christmas trees. At the time I was making my reservations, there were several campsites open. Saturday night most, if not all, of the spots were full.

My goal for the first full day was to hit all the tourist sites: Skull Rock, Heart Rock, the arch, Split Rock, etc. I got into the park early and did the Hidden Trail, Barker Dam, and Wall Mine hikes. I drove up to Key's View and was internally geeking out at seeing the San Andreas fault. Even though Cottonwood is very far from the rest of the attractions, there was a hike there I wanted to do, and I wanted to experience the transition between the Mojave and Colorado deserts. On the way, I stopped at the Cholla Cactus garden (they're beautiful). I did the Mastodon Peak hike and had fun scrambling the rocks to the top of the peak. Then I began the 1.5 hour drive back, stopping at the rocks along the way. I power-ran the Split Rock loop trail and added on the Face Rock spur to that. Split Rock wasn't worth it to me, but I did enjoy seeing the other rocks, especially Tulip Rock.

My second day in the park began with climbing Ryan Mountain. Again, early is the name of the game when it comes to Joshua Tree. I got the to trail at about 8:30 and there were many spots already taken. It's listed as a hard hike but I didn't struggle much with the elevation given the short distance. The end was rewarding. The next hike I did was the Maze Loop. I enjoyed scrambling up rocks. Rock climbing is one of the main features of the park, and this was the closest I was getting on this trip. I chose to not add on any of the other loops and connecting trails. Since I didn't have time for another, longer hike, I settled on the West Side Short Loop from Black Canyon.

I loved reading all the signs the park had listed about the different plants and their uses. In the past, I probably would have skimmed them or only read half of them but I chose to take my time reading all of them, and I learned quite a few interesting facts.

If you plan on visiting Joshua Tree, note that there are two entrances. Yes, the Twenty-nine Palms entrance is likely farther to get to, but I saw a line of traffic miles long. Some of those people would have had better luck if they had just driven down the road. The Joshua Tree entrance has two entrance lanes and Twenty-nine Palms has one. It's not like Yellowstone where they have four to five lanes to speed up traffic.

Mojave National Preserve

This was a place I planned to visit but wasn't quite sure at the time how to make it work. I knew it would make a good pit stop on my way back to Las Vegas, but depending where I chose to visit in the preserve would impact my route. I really wanted to visit the lava tube but didn't feel comfortable taking my rental car down the rough road. I opted for the Hole-in-the-Wall hike instead. It's a hike through a canyon full of holes, and part of it involves using metal rings to pull yourself up. It's a short hike but so much fun.

I also ended up on part of Route 66 on my way back to Vegas since I was visiting the southern half of the preserve. Even though it was only for short time and I didn't stop anywhere, the notion of being on such an iconic road was thrilling.

Valley of Fire (2 days in the park)

Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada has been a bucket list item for me. Thankfully, the park has changed their camping system so it's reservation and no longer first-come first-serve since it's such a popular place. For those who can't get a spot in the park, BLM land is right outside of it. Being in-between Christmas and New Year's, the campgrounds were full. The park shuts down at sunset, so whereas national parks let you roam after dark, that's not an option here. Before the sun set, I saw Arch Rock and Atlatl Rock.

I quickly discovered that most people there don't hike the longer trails. Everyone was packed around the viewpoints and the shorter trails. Because I knew the Fire Wave trail was very popular, I made sure to get there early on my first day. I tend had been waking up early my entire trip, so this wasn't difficult for me to do. I did the Fire Wave, Seven Wonders, and White Domes in a giant loop. It was spectacular, seeing all the colors and all the formations and briefly hiking through canyons. I spent the rest of the day doing the other short trails (Rainbow Vista, Mouse Tank, Balancing Rock) and driving to sites (Silica Dome, the cabins, the beehives). I also did the Pinnacles Trail. The park refers to this as a backcountry trail and claims that it's unmarked and unmaintained. There were poles for markers, but it's not cleared like a normal trail. Half is through a wash, then it goes through the red pinnacles, back briefly through a wash, and then through plants. Chunky cacti were spotted. I recommend having navigation for this trail solely because it's easy to miss the marker telling you when to turn if you're doing the loop clockwise. I had to backtrack to find it once I pulled up the map. I passed one couple on this hike, so if you're looking for shorter, as it's about 4.5 miles, and empty, this is a good option. Most of it is pretty flat, too.

My second day I hiked Prospect Trail. This is one of the longest trails in the park if done as an out and back. It can be done as point-to-point, but you'll need two cars or someone to pick you up. This is another backcountry trail. There were markers and they were fairly easy to follow, but it gave me peace of mind having AllTrails up since there were a few times I was unsure of where I was going. I started from the main road. The hike takes you up through the red rock before dropping you into a wash between the rocks. The farther I hiked, the more diverse the rocks became. It started with just red, then became red and white striations, and eventually white with other colors mixed in. The hike also take you through some cool canyons and lets you scramble up and down the rocks. Once in the wash, there's not a lot of elevation change, so what makes this hike harder is the distance, walking over river rocks, and then rock scrambles for those who find them challenging. I thoroughly enjoyed the hike. Earlier that day I did the elephant rock loop. None of the other hikes in the park interested me, so I returned to my campsite to relax.

Nevada has a passport book for the state parks. These can be picked up at the visitor center. I found it very fitting that my first state park in Nevada was the first one established in the state.

I don't think the pictures I took do some of the rock coloring justice, as it appeared more vibrant, and drastic in some cases, in person.

Hoover Dam and Old Mormon Fort

Hoover Dam is an hour and a half from Valley of Fire. When I was planning my trip, I was debating whether to do this my first day or Red Rock. I'm glad I chose this, as it gave me something interesting but low-energy to do on my last day. I drove through Lake Mead Recreation Area on my way to the dam. Lake Mead is a man-made lake that formed when the dam went up. 

Tours of the dam must be booked in advance. The benefit is that you only need to reserve a day, not a time slot. I showed up at about 10 am and had reserved the Power Plant Tour (the basic one) and chose not to upgrade. My tour guide was fantastic and I loved getting to see the different parts of the dam and learn about the construction and history. If you don't want to do a tour, you can pay to park on the Nevada side and spend time walking across the dam. I did this after I was done with the tour and museum. It was insane to see the old waterline and see where the river sits now. The dam straddles the state line between Nevada and Arizona; by walking over the dam, one can cross into another state--and time zone. Visiting took a couple of hours, leaving me plenty of time.

Fuel isn't allowed on planes, so I dropped it and my lighter off at Basecamp Outdoors. I wasn't going to be camping that night so I no longer had a need, and I didn't want to get up even earlier the next day than I already needed to. I still had some time to spare until check-in, so I decided to pop over to Old Mormon Fort Las Vegas, the birthplace of the city. For being a last-minute decision, it was fascinating to learn how much one area shaped the city that now exists today.

This trip took about twelve days to complete, and it easily could have become longer with how much there is to do directly near Las Vegas or for a day trip from the city.

Car Camping

This wasn't my first time car camping, but it was my first time doing it for multiple days. My first time I did it for one night. Hence, I needed a lot more supplies. I bought a backpacking stove since it would go on a plane easier, and, being one person, I didn't need a lot. I checked a cooler with my camping gear in there. I recommend this video on what gear can go in a carry-on and what has to be checked, as it helped me with my packing decisions. When I arrived, I bought a compactible car shade and kitchen sink, and they easily fit into my luggage on my return flight so now I have them for future uses. I rented a compact SUV as it was the length I needed to be able to sleep in the back. However, I often ended up sleeping across the back seats instead of placing them down.

When looking for campsites, I wanted to be able to shower at least some of the time. Panamint Springs and Valley of Fire had showers (and hot water at that). All of my campgrounds had water available, though I still bought some cases to keep in the car and for tasks like filling up water bottles. Panamint and Valley of Fire also had electrical outlets in their bathrooms which was amazing for charging my phone. I didn't have a large power bank and charging it in the car only worked to a certain extent.

I had bought all the groceries I needed before leaving Vegas, so the only thing I needed to replenish was ice for the cooler. This meant I could spend more time exploring, but it also meant I ended up with little variety in my food at some point, especially as I neared the end of the trip and didn't want to buy any more produce in addition that what I had left.

It took a few days to adjust to camping with the car and to figure out my system, but once I did, it was pretty seamless. The hardest part for me was how cold it got at night; it was near freezing some nights. I had packed thermals to wear, and my sleeping bag was designed for those temperatures, but it made it very hard to want to change or move some mornings, despite the fact that I was already awake and didn't want to waste daylight, a very precious commodity in the winter.

Books

Book read: The Odyssey by Homer. Just like Odysseus is on a journey, I was on a journey of my own, though very thankfully, not as heart-wrenching as his. I didn't finish the book on the trip, but I did get through most of it. I was hooked from the beginning and wasn't expecting it to start off with Telemachus instead of Odysseus' journey home, but I appreciated that I also wasn't going to be put through nineteen years worth of turmoil.

Book that would fit the trip: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan. The group stops at the Hoover Dam. They're headed out west. It was this book that inspired me to want to see the Hoover Dam; when I realized it was near Las Vegas, I knew I had to add a stop there. My Percy Jackson fangirl also kicked in upon remembering that the Winged Figures of the Republic were important to the scenes at the Hoover Dam.