We left Bakersfield on Thursday morning, heading east on Highway 178, through the flat central valley until we entered the lower Sierra Nevada mountains.

The scrubby, rocky folds of land were just as I had pictured them, with the peaks reaching ever higher as we wound our way along a road cut into a canyon through the hills, alongside a churning river. Climbing, we eventually reached Lake Isabella, a few thousand feet up in the mountains, before descending to the eastern side of the range. The land grew drier and more desert-like as we continued, until we reached the valley floor on the far side of the Sierras and headed north through the dry, dusty land dotted with low scrubby bushes, alongside a naval air weapons test facility.

Eventually we reached the turnoff to the 190 which would take us east into Death Valley. Continuing through the desert we began to climb through more rocky, barren hills before descending into one valley: wide, flat and very hot with salt flats on the ground, but still at 2,000 ft elevation. From there we climbed again into the Panamint mountain range, crossing through a pass at nearly 5,000 ft before beginning our descent into Death Valley, down the winding road cut through the hills.

Our first view of the expanse of Death Valley was impressive, with the flat, barren valley floor stretching miles in every direction, framed by rugged, rocky mountains on all sides. We continued down into the valley, the thermometer in the car rising constantly until we reached sea level, where the temperature was 91 degrees fahrenheit (around 33 celsius), not especially hot for this time of year.
Shortly after reaching the valley floor, we arrived at Stovepipe Wells Village, where we would be staying for the night. This small motel-like resort with shops and a restaurant was originally intended to be a glamourous and luxurious resort in the desert when it was built in the early 20th century, but due to underestimates of the cost by the chap building it, turned out as a series of bungalows with motel style rooms.

After checking in and dumping our bags in the room, we got back in the car to make the most of the afternoon remaining. We headed east across the valley floor, passing the windswept Mesquite Dunes and the Devil's Cornfield, where arroweed plants whose roots have been exposed by the wind grow in ordered formations, looking almost like a cultivated field.

We continued east, climbing through the hills on the far side of Death Valley until the road opened out into a dead straight line across a flat valley floor. Continuing, we crossed the border into Nevada until we reached our destination a few miles along the road, the ghost town of Rhyolite.

Established during the goldrush in the 1900s, the town boomed then busted just as quickly as the best of the gold ran out. With most of the streets now taken over by the desert, all that remains are a few tumbledown buildings, some foundations, and the openings to the mines in the hillsides surrounding the town. I wandered around taking some photos, watching my footing in the dusty scrubland as much to avoid the rusted debris scattered everywhere as the rattlesnakes warned about on the signs.

After checking out the town and the weird sculptures beside the museum/gift shop just outside the town, we got back on the road and continued east a few miles to the small desert town of Beatty, Nevada. Here, we just had a quick look around, filled up with cheap Nevada petrol and made our way back into Death Valley.

By the time we drove the 20-odd miles back, it was coming up for seven o'clock, and we knew the sun would be going down within the next hour. Instead of going back to our hotel we stopped at the Mesquite Dunes, a mile before Stovepipe Wells, parked the car and walked out into the dunes. After walking about a mile out into the dunes, finding a nice spot on a higher dune, we settled down and watched the sun set over the Panamint mountains to the west. The colours following the sunset were great, as the eastern hills were painted in amazing golds and pinks.

After sitting on the dunes for a while, we headed back to Stovepipe Wells where we had dinner in the restaurant. The food was nice, but expensive for what you got, which was to be expected really, being the only option for miles around.

After dinner it was fully dark so we decided to drive back out to the dunes, away from the lights of the resort, to watch the stars. We lay on the bonnet of the car for a while, a bit wary of wandering into the dunes in the middles of the night, finding constellations and watching satellites, before heading back and settling down for the night.

I decided to get up at 5 am and headed back to the Mesquite Dunes, leaving Lucy tucked up in bed, to watch the sun come up over the hills. It was great sitting out on the dunes watching the western hills slowly illuminate and feel the heat slowly increase until the sun popped up over the pointy peaks in the east. I headed back to the hotel and we got up, packed up and set off to explore more of Death Valley.

Our first stop was the Harmony Borax Works, the site of an old Borax refinery where Chinese labourers would refine borax scraped from the salt pans of the valley floor before packing them into wagons to be pulled 160 miles to rail depots by teams of up to 20 mules. It was hard to imagine working in the sweltering heat, at that point only somewhere in the mid 80s.

Next we made our way to Zabriskie Point, where you can climb a short rise to get an excellent view of the rippled badland canyons in the valley. The golden hills are furrowed with deep cuts where rainwater erodes channels on the odd occasions when it falls.

Next we drove further east before taking a turnoff and driving up a 13 mile road, climbing to Dante's View, at around 6,500 ft elevation. From here you are treated to the most incredible view right up the valley, with the bright white salt pans on the floor, the sparsely dotted greenery around the few springs, and the rugged, barren, red-brown mountains surrounding on every side. We climbed up a trail to a peak just above the car park where we were treated to an even more impressive view, including distant snow covered peaks in the Sierra Nevada.

After staying for some time to enjoy the incredible view, not to mention the cooler temperatures at the higher altitude, we drove back down the road and doubled back on ourselves to Furnace Creek, the main 'town' in the valley. Here, there is a fancy hotel as well as ranch style accommodation and cabins along with a store and some restaurants. We had another expensive lunch in a cafe before carrying on south, along the Badwater Road.

We detoured along the Artist Drive, a winding one-way road which took us through canyons with multi-coloured rocks thanks to the mineral deposits in the rocks. We also pulled off the road at the incredible Devils Golf Course, where the land is buckled into incredible formations and crusted with salt left behind when the rainwater washes minerals down into the valley then evaporates. Our final stop before making our way out of the valley was Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the US at 282 ft below sea level. Here, the bright white salt flats stretch out in every direction. We walked out half a mile or so in the baking 98 degree heat before heading back to the car for a much needed drink, then carried on our way.

We followed the Badwater Road out of Death Valley and continued east. I for some reason hadn't expected the incredible desert scenery to continue but it did, as we entered numerous huge flat valleys carpeted with scrub and always with impressive mountains on either side. The roads varied between miles-long, dead straight with the occasional dip to catch you out, or winding and steep through hilly passes.

The scenery never failed to impress me as we carried on on various highways until finally beginning our descent on Highway 160 into Las Vegas.