Twenty Mule Team Canyon - Death Valley National Park (Part 29)

At the end of November last year (2012), I took a trip to Death Valley National Park. This is the second trip there in my life. The 1st time I went, I was still a little kid, and I didn't start taking photos yet. This time, I have a pro camera and I am ready to shoot the scenery. Death Valley National Park is known for its "out of this world" scenery, UFO sightings, and many other things. The desert is a very mysterious and beautiful place. In this chain of blog posts, I will be showing you mainly photos of Death Valley National Park, but also photos from surrounding areas like The Mojave Desert, Alabama Hills, and Rhyolite Ghost Town. I have picked out over 400 photos from my trip to show you guys and I will be dividing them into many blog posts. Unlike blog  post chains before, I obviously can't put a link of ever blog post on every single blog post, so instead, I will do the same thing I did for my Yellowstone National Park photos before, by sticking a link of the Next and Previous post on each blog post instead.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best work from Death Valley National Park, use this link. To see all of the photos from my Death Valley National Park trip use this link.

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Today I will have a few photos from my drive down from Dante's View and photos from Twenty Mule Team Canyon. If you want an introduction and tips for Dante's View, please read about it on my previous post. Today I want to tell you about Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Before, when the mine was active, the borax was mined in Twenty Mule Team Canyon and was then processed at Harmony Borax Works (photos here). To view the canyon down below in detail, there is a one way unpaved road that you have to drive on (4WD Recommended). The road was fairly flat with the exception there was 1 down incline that you have to drive on. It is about 100 feet long and a 60° incline (not as scary as it sounds actually). The view was spectacular through the canyon! Also, there are signs that tell you not to go off the road (hiking included), but I've seen photos online where people actually went into the mine, but do know it is illegal and dangerous not to mention you can get lost easily... Anyways here are the photos I took, will be splitting them into 2 parts so I will finish next time.

Driving down from Dante's View. 

Entering Twenty Mule Team Canyon.

Car ahead of me kicked up a lot of dust. 

These are the unpaved roads in Twenty Mule Team Canyon. It is pretty easy to drive on but still recommend 4WD car. 

More landscapes

Unpaved road.

Another shot of the unpaved road. 

Panorama in the canyon.

These are all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will continue with the photos from Twenty Mule Team Canyon and some photos from the beginning of the road into Hole in the Wall. I didn't head into Hole in the Wall because the road was too bumpy for my car and I was afraid I was going to get a flat tire. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Billie Mine/Dante's View - Death Valley National Park (Part 28)

At the end of November last year (2012), I took a trip to Death Valley National Park. This is the second trip there in my life. The 1st time I went, I was still a little kid, and I didn't start taking photos yet. This time, I have a pro camera and I am ready to shoot the scenery. Death Valley National Park is known for its "out of this world" scenery, UFO sightings, and many other things. The desert is a very mysterious and beautiful place. In this chain of blog posts, I will be showing you mainly photos of Death Valley National Park, but also photos from surrounding areas like The Mojave Desert, Alabama Hills, and Rhyolite Ghost Town. I have picked out over 400 photos from my trip to show you guys and I will be dividing them into many blog posts. Unlike blog  post chains before, I obviously can't put a link of ever blog post on every single blog post, so instead, I will do the same thing I did for my Yellowstone National Park photos before, by sticking a link of the Next and Previous post on each blog post instead.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best work from Death Valley National Park, use this link. To see all of the photos from my Death Valley National Park trip use this link.

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So continuing my previous post, I have more photos from my drive up to Dante's View (including a few photos from the Billie Mine) and photos from Dante's View itself. If you didn't read my intro from my previous post, here it is again. If you visit Death Valley National Park, you should definitely go see Dante's View. Just make sure you have a good enough car that can drive up there! The road is paved, but when I got to near the peak, I was driving on a 60°-70° incline! It scared the shit out of me partially because I am a beginner driver (my dad insisted) and partially because it was high up and I got a really bad fear of heights. The road itself was actually not that narrow but I borrowed the other lane (opposite moving traffic) anyways. Just make sure no cars are coming down before you do that. It isn't too scary. The incline portion is only like 2000 feet and you arrive at the parking lot immediately after you get over that. The funny thing is that when you are coming down and you get down the incline, there is a turnout and a Porta Potty. XD How convenient. LOL Anyways, let's get to the photos for today.

Ruins of the Billie Mine on the drive up to Dante's View.

Machinery at Billie Mine. 

A photo from my drive up to Dante's View.

A sign at Dante's View

Landscape shot of Dante's View

Panorama at Dante's View

Dante's View from a different angle. 

These are all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will have a few photos from my drive down from Dante's View and photos from Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Furnace Creek Visitor Center & Museum - Death Valley National Park (Part 18)

At the end of November last year (2012), I took a trip to Death Valley National Park. This is the second trip there in my life. The 1st time I went, I was still a little kid, and I didn't start taking photos yet. This time, I have a pro camera and I am ready to shoot the scenery. Death Valley National Park is known for its "out of this world" scenery, UFO sightings, and many other things. The desert is a very mysterious and beautiful place. In this chain of blog posts, I will be showing you mainly photos of Death Valley National Park, but also photos from surrounding areas like The Mojave Desert, Alabama Hills, and Rhyolite Ghost Town. I have picked out over 400 photos from my trip to show you guys and I will be dividing them into many blog posts. Unlike blog  post chains before, I obviously can't put a link of ever blog post on every single blog post, so instead, I will do the same thing I did for my Yellowstone National Park photos before, by sticking a link of the Next and Previous post on each blog post instead.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best work from Death Valley National Park, use this link. To see all of the photos from my Death Valley National Park trip use this link.

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Today, I have photos from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Museum. The photos for today are pretty much artifacts on display in the museum. These will include taxidermy animals, historical Indian artifacts, historical mining tools, and historical borax products. For most of these photos (pretty much all of them except the first one), I used my Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT to add some light. You may see some hot spots on some of the photos from when I didn't aim the flash correctly.

Taxidermy Animals

I think these are historical Indian baskets.

More Indian Baskets

Remember Harmony Borax Works from the last post? The borax mined were made into these products.

Harmony Borax Works artifacts. 

Historical artifact of tools used during minding. 

These are all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I got photos of a coyote wondering on the road in Death Valley National Park. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Harmony Borax Works/Mustard Canyon - Death Valley National Park (Part 17)

At the end of November last year (2012), I took a trip to Death Valley National Park. This is the second trip there in my life. The 1st time I went, I was still a little kid, and I didn't start taking photos yet. This time, I have a pro camera and I am ready to shoot the scenery. Death Valley National Park is known for its "out of this world" scenery, UFO sightings, and many other things. The desert is a very mysterious and beautiful place. In this chain of blog posts, I will be showing you mainly photos of Death Valley National Park, but also photos from surrounding areas like The Mojave Desert, Alabama Hills, and Rhyolite Ghost Town. I have picked out over 400 photos from my trip to show you guys and I will be dividing them into many blog posts. Unlike blog  post chains before, I obviously can't put a link of ever blog post on every single blog post, so instead, I will do the same thing I did for my Yellowstone National Park photos before, by sticking a link of the Next and Previous post on each blog post instead.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best work from Death Valley National Park, use this link. To see all of the photos from my Death Valley National Park trip use this link.

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Message from the Photographer: So I have shown you all my San Francisco Chinese New Year parade photos. This means I will continue on with Death Valley National Park. I hope you enjoy viewing the photos. :)

Today, I have photos from Harmony Borax Works and Mustard Canyon. In history, this is where people mined borax and made them into products for the general public. It was a very booming business back then, but now it is just preserved ruins for everyone to see in Death Valley National Park. I hope you enjoy.

Far off in the distance is Mustard Canyon. I think it was given the name due to the yellow color. 

Harmony Borax Works. This is the ruins of the processing plant and horse drawn carriage. 

Here is a sign talking about borax being "White Gold". 

The view of the desert from Harmony Borax Works. Looks like there used to be a stream of water there. There are many water features like this in Death Valley National Park. Dry waterfalls, streams, and dried lake beds are commonly seen throughout the whole park. From the looks, Death Valley National Park used to be a giant lake, but due to changing climates, it is now desert.

The mule drawn carts. 

Sign talking about the Twenty Mule Teams. 

Ruins of the processing plant. 

Panorama with Mustard Canyon off in the distance.

Panorama with processing plant at the left and Mustard Canyon at the right. 

Another view of the desert. 

Ruins of the processing plant.

Now I begin the drive on the dirt road into Mustard Canyon. The silver thing you see on the bottom was the mirror on my car. 

Death Valley Travel Tip: If you do want to visit Mustard Canyon in Death Valley National Park, 4-wheel drive is recommended. The dirt road was okay, but there were a few steep parts. Also, high clearance Jeeps are available for rent at Furnace Creek. If you want to go to the Racetrack, or some other high clearance roads, you would definitely need one of those. Here at Mustard Canyon, the road conditions are okay, so it is only 4-wheel drive recommended (they tell you on the map). 

View of the desert and partially of the dirt road on the right. 

Inside Mustard Canyon on the dirt road. 

Another shot of Mustard Canyon. Not sure how this almost the same image got caught in the photos I was going to upload. Usually catch things like this on my 2nd look through. Anyways, here is another shot for you guys. 

HDR of Mustard Canyon

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time, I will have photos from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Museum! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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