Our next destination was Death Valley. We drove for several miles along the shore of Owens Lake, which was a completely dry salt bed, then up into the mountains. After a lot of driving we reached an overlook and saw that the road dropped into a deep and unfriendly looking valley with a salt pan at the bottom. Deciding that this must be Death Valley we drove along a dirt road to a lookout point and got out of the car to take a few photos. The wind blowing up out of the valley nearly knocked us off our feet. When we got back in the car and checked the map we realized that this must be the Panamint Valley. We still had to drive down into this valley then up the other side to get to Death Valley.

After a lot more driving we reached the ranger station in Death Valley and bought a guide map. Cindy planned out a day that would take us to some interesting places. Our first stop was at a sand dune field. We walked from the car over to the nearest small dune. The dunes got larger way off in the distance. I decided to take some photos of the sand dunes and walked out across the sand. Cindy sat on the first dune and kept an eye on me as I disappeared behind dunes, reappearing further away. I trekked for some time until I found some dunes where other walkers had not left their footprints. I got out my camera and took some pictures.

When I finally walked back to the car Cindy, who had been reading the guide book, told me that the dunes were resting on top of an old salt lake and that the bed of the lake was exposed between the dunes.