Death Valley National Park with the Green Tortoise Bus
December 17th - 21st 2004
Inside Golden Canyon, on the way to Red Cathedral
Check out other photos from the trip HERE
Twenty eight of us (plus the multitalented Bill & Carlo who multitasked as drivers, cooks, musicians) departed onboard the Green Tortoise Bus from San Francisco Friday night for an overnight drive to Death Valley National Park. The group was a mini United Nations because besides the Americans and the Czechs, there were travelers from France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Indonesia,*!* Canada, Wales, Ireland, and England aboard.
The Green Tortoise was founded in 1974. The bus converts to accommodate up to 38 people - with bunks hanging from the ceiling. The only (small) disappointment for us was that we had hoped we would be going on one of the old funky green GT buses. Instead, a shiny new coach was to be our home away from home for the next few days. Suggestion to GT: to continue the tradition, paint a little green tortoise somewhere on the outside of the bus.
Located in the heart of the Mojave, DVNP is the lowest, driest, and hottest place in America. More than 10, 000 years ago a vast freshwater lake filled Death Valley to a depth of 600 feet. Today only salt flats remain of the lake. The long and narrow park is the largest National Park of the US (except for national parks in Alaska) and we drove almost the entire 140 miles from one (southern)end to the other(northern end). The park is about the size of the state of Connecticut. The points of interest of this trip: Badwater and the salt flats, Golden Canyon with Red Cathedral, Zabriskie Point, Mosaic Canyon and Ubehebe Crater and the Death Valley Dunes.
Has anyone heard from Daewi? She was scheduled to go back to Indonesia right after the trip. The tsunami hit on the 26th - if anyone has heard from her, please let us know.
Learn more about the Green Tortoise