Scotty's Castle and a Hike in Golden Canyon

In an effort to catch up, this post covers two of our days in Death Valley. 

On Tuesday we went to Scotty's Castle, a one time private "winter get away" with an interesting origin.  

Scotty was a con-man ... 

Well, you just have to go there yourself to learn the rest of the story. The ranger-guided tour of the house, basement, and tunnels were well worth the ticket price.   

Every castle has to have at least one tower!

The beams were hand carved on site.

It is difficult to pick which detail picture to include.  I loved this spread and headboard. Everywhere you looked there were priceless pieces of furniture and art.

The only negative about the day was the temperature. Because Scotty's Castle is at 3000 feet altitude it was much colder there than on the valley floor.  It was COLD!

On Wednesday we did a fairly easy six mile hike. We started up Golden Canyon, went up to Zabriskie Point, and came back by way of Gower Gulch. 

The day was perfect.  Warm in the sunshine, and cool in the shade.  The clouds varied almost as much as the rock formations.  

It seemed that every time you turned or looked in a different direction a new type or color of stone presented itself.

Colors!  Most were soft earth tones, but from time to time you could see violet, pink, green, ocher, and sienna all at once.

I did not expect Death Valley to be like this. 

I love it.