I was super excited about Death Valley because it is where most of the Tatooine scenes from Star Wars were filmed. Our original plan was to camp in the park, but even in October, the temperatures are up in the 100s and only come down to lows around the 80s at night (which would’ve made for a very toasty camping experience), so we just did a day trip from Las Vegas. Only having a day meant that we weren’t able to see some of the more remote parts of the park (like Racetrack Playa which is a 1+ hour drive from the park entrance), but regardless we were satisfied with our day in Tatooine.
Dante’s View
This was our first stop of the day and was about a 30 min drive one way just to get out to this viewpoint. There isn’t much of a hike, mostly just a walk from the parking lot but it was worth getting the view from above Badwater Basin (which is the lowest point in North America and which we will visit later)
Twenty Mule Team Canyon
This hike might not otherwise have been that exciting for the average person, but I was super excited to do this because many scenes from Star Wars were filmed here.
Check out our photos versus a scene from A New Hope:
R2 and C3PO in Star Wars: A New Hope
Zabriskie Point
This is probably the most visited point in the whole park. The views were cool, but it probably only took us 10-15 minutes to park, walk up the paved path, and look around. There are some hikes around here but we didn’t do them because we thought they were similar to the ones in Twenty Mule Team Canyon.
Devils Golf Course
We took a quick stop at Devils Golf Course on the drive out to Badwater Basin. It’s basically a huge expanse of salt crystals that have formed into cool formations. Willy licked the crystals – they’re salty, but sharp, and probably would be painful if we fell on them!
Badwater Basin
The lowest point in the United States & North America at ~300 ft below sea level! This is basically a huge salt flat and looks super cool (but it was SO HOT we could only manage to walk around for a few minutes before escaping back to our air conditioned car)
Artist’s Drive & Artist’s Palette
This was another fun drive and relatively short hike up to Artist’s Palette which features these cool, colorful rock formations. This area was also used in a couple scenes in Star Wars:
R2-D2 in Star Wars: A New Hope
Mesquite Sand Dunes
I didn’t really realize there were sand dunes in Death Valley, but this was a cool stop because in the middle of all these vast rock formations and salt flats, there’s just a huge mass of sand. Here are Willy and I trying to be R2 and C3PO:
That’s a wrap!
Cheers to a fun (and hot) day in Tatooine, er, Death Valley!
