I set my alarm for 5:00am and wake up in time to make it to Zabriskie Point by sunrise.   I have to hang around for almost an hour, as I did not figure on the sunrise over the mountain being so much later than the “true” sunrise.  It is so cool and pleasant…..like 65 degrees.   Just a gorgeous clear, cool morning, the kind that makes me wonder why I don’t get up for sunrise every day.

Sunrise over Manly Point from Zabriskie Overlook

I have several conversations with the people on the overlook, all of them European with heavy accents.  There are people here from Germany, France, Portugal, and the UK.   Seems I am the only USA representative foolish enough to leave the bed and air conditioner at 5:00am.

Once the sun has finished lighting up Zabriskie Point, I head straight to Badwater Basin, 17 miles down Badwater Road.  The basin is a small pool of spring water, made “bad” by the intense concentrations of salt on the basin floor.  As the lowest point on the continent at 282 feet below sea level, and also notoriously the hottest, it won’t be long before temperatures are soaring, making walking on the basin prohibitive.  So I need to get there fast.

Badwater Road

Badwater Basin

Tiny white dot up near “11 o’clock” is giant sign saying “SEA LEVEL”

Mimi the Photographer

I see two photographer ladies out on the basin that I met during sunset at Zabriskie Point the night before.  We walk a good way out into the salt flats, chatting and looking for “salt polygons” to photograph.  It still feels cool in the low morning light.
There are so many attractions along this 17 mile stretch of Badwater Road, so I want to try to see as many as I can before the heat becomes intolerable.  I am still feeling comfortable.  No worse than a Central Texas morning, so  I stop at the Natural Bridge trail head and do the short, uphill one mile hike to the Natural Bridge.    A man and woman walk by in what appears to be wedding attire – he in a bowtie Tee-shirt, and she in a flowing white cotton dress.   I meet a French couple along the way.  She teaches me how to tie a desert turban like a Berber.  With the rising heat and stark surroundings, the whole morning is starting to feel a bit like a Fellini film…

Next stop is the Devil’s Golf Course, down a long, bumpy gravel road.  Impossibly rugged, sharp, foreboding formations completely cover the salt pan up to a one foot depth.  The information board warns of cuts and broken bones should one try to go too far.   All alone on the salt pan now, I take a half a dozen steps out onto “the course,” and decide that is far enough.

The Tracker on the 18th Hole

Finally, I come to the turnout for the nine mile “Artist’s Drive.”   This is the part I have been waiting for.  Though notably I am here at the wrong time of day (the drive is best in evening light,) I am in a “catch it while you can” mode, as I don’t know how long I or the 20-year old Tracker will hold out in the mounting heat.

This one lane, one way, twisting, turning, dipping roller coaster of a road has me completely blown away!   There are glorious pastel shades painted into the mountain on both sides of me that rival the Chanel cosmetics spring line of eye shadows.  I know no camera I own will do it justice.

I haven’t seen anyone else on the road, so I have it all to myself    I am intoxicated by the beauty.  I drive up to the little pull-out where you can park and walk up to the Artists Palette, where all the colors are concentrated in one area.  I stand there all alone and yell, “I f*cking LOVE THIS PLACE!!”

To be continued…

“Artist’s Palette” along the 9 mile Artist Drive