I have never met a National Park that I didn’t like but I will be honest, this wasn’t my favorite. One problem is the park is HUGE and if you are coming from the west side it takes over an hour to get to the first major attraction. Be warned the road getting in was super difficult with miles of steep grades and hairpin turns. Not bad in a car of course but after driving it we decided we would not take our RV in that way.
As you can see from the map the paved road largely goes across the middle of the park. There are numerous other entrances but they are all dirt roads and in most cases four wheel drive is recommended. We were really regretting not getting a jeep as we drove through the park, but after trying a couple of these dirt roads decided they were too risky for our little car. In short because we only had a standard vehicle we just saw the middle section and the drives between marked places were really long with nothing particularly interesting to look at. Even for Lee who loves the desert there was a sameness to the view throughout. That being said here’s what we saw.
Our first stop was a Vista point dedicated to Father John Crowley. This was actually outside of the fee area (a huge chunk of the park is) and really pretty. Jack was in heaven with the sniffing.
Next was the town of Stovepipe Wells with a general store, gas station, and a very stripped down RV park (shown above). It was crowded though when we got there and I will say the store was very nice. As you can see below we thought about doing a hike there, but every official stop had tons of cars and people. Strange since the park is so big but there are relatively few named things to do. What I mean by that is you can stop your car anywhere and start walking but the areas called out on the map had crowds and small parking lots.
Next up was an old Borax mining site which was pretty cool. Although dogs aren’t allowed on official trails we walked Jack up to the site which he enjoyed.
We finally made it into the fee areas and went to buy our National Park pass. We waited in line for that and then an even longer line to get a cup and a magnet, but I will say that the visitors center was well done.
Finally in the park our next stop was Artists Point. This was my favorite as the rocks had sections of pink, green, and purple. We got out and walked around with Jack for awhile and for me at least this one lane road (no RVs allowed) was the best part of the visit.
There was another town with gas we stopped at (same basic RV park but this one also had hotels) and some cool sand dunes we looked at but decided not to climb. I wouldn’t call this a dog friendly park, which I get because many of the National Parks really aren’t.
The next spot was also really cool and is called Devil’s Golf Course. Even though it is on a dirt road it was well maintained and I highly recommend this area. There is a huge salt flat that is really pretty and Jack was really into it. I tasted the ground and it was definitely salt and personally I have never seen anything quite like it.
Lastly we stopped at the basin which is the lowest spot in North America. This was the area Lee really wanted to see but the parking lot was completely full and the field had tons of people on it. We ended up driving past the parking lot and pulled over on the side of the road. Then we walked across to the basin and the crunchy ground was like walking on snow. When we got to the lowest point I accidently took this cool pic of Lee’s phone and although it was anti-climatic for both of us it was still a huge bucket list item checked for Lee.
Again I am glad we went, but I wouldn’t be in a huge rush to return. It is a long day of driving to see even the portions we saw and there are limited months in the year when the weather is bearable. Even in November the temperature rose 30 degrees in the park proper and I definitely recommend bringing some shorts with you. It’s one more National Park though in my quest to complete them all so I am excited about it!
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Camper Chronicles 
the park is definitely huge. We’ve been to every entrance either with our RV or pulling livestock trailers. We always made sure to do those steep drives very early or late at night when it’s cooler. It’s a park that you really need to make a few different times at the other entrances. Can you imagine trying to see all of Yellowstone in a couple days? The smaller campgrounds are the best. Entering from Beatty is fun and gets you to the quirky ghost town of Rhyolite. Hiking can get you back to some awesome sites as well. There have been a few times Badwater actually fills with enough water to kayak in! There is one entrance from the SE to the crater that keeps alluding us. Last time heavy rains took out some roads.
Great points!
It is a huge park, we visited when we were staying in Las Vegas and spent a night in Paramint Springs, 2 full days gave us time to see most of the park, enjoy a couple of hikes, etc. We actually saw a thunderstorm while we were there, somehow I never expected to see rain in a park like Death Valley. Artist Point was one of the highlights of the visit for us. As Deb mentioned, Rhyolite Ghost town is really a fun visit, if we go back we’ll visit there again. Great place to see wild donkeys.