Well, Death Valley has been on my list of parks to see, but I’m not sure why. I guess it just sounded cool. I didn’t really do any research on it, and never realized why it was called Death Valley. Reason? It’s dead. It looks like a huge gravel pit. I arrived late in the day, and the first 2 campgrounds I stopped at were literally gravel parking lots. The only thing that distinguished sites from each other were cement curbs. I lucked out at the 3rd campground and got a really nice campsite under some trees. It had been reserved, but nobody had showed up to claim it. Given more time, I hear there are some very interesting sites within the park. The picture of the cactus below was taken on the north side of the park this afternoon. Tonight I’m staying in Big Pine, CA on Forest Service land. My next destination is Eureka, and then up to Redwoods N.P. It will likely take me 2 days to get that far.