We left our comfy motel in Bakersfield and headed east into the dry hills and mountains that lead to Valley known as Death. In our usual attempt to avoid big, fast freeways, we took the path-less-travelled, up over the ranges that led first to a Lake Isabella. The signs of California’s long drought are all around us now. The Lake, which is a major reservoir for the area, and was once a large recreational waterway, has shrunk to 5% of it’s total capacity. You can clearly see the high water marks way up the valley, and compare it to the puddle of lake that now remains.
Our journey that day took us through some of the most stunning vistas and stark landscapes I have yet known. Of course, this is but a warm up for the big show of Death Valley, but it is all amazing, harsh and beyond anything I’ve seen before. On our way 
down from Lake Isabella we started to see the funniest looking stout trees … or are they cacti? Turns out there are known as Joshua Trees and are type of yucca plant. Named by Mormons after some bible guy, these are yet another bizarre addition to the strange and disturbingly alluring landscape we are now passing through. That night we ended our journey in the town of Ridgecrest.
The next morning we truly began our climb up, and then down, down, down into the lowest place in North America. Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level at its lowest point. But to get there we had to drive up and over a mountain pass that topped out at over 
5,000 feet! It was a long steep and chilly climb up, and then a fun and fast drive down to the bottom of the world.
Our first stop was Stovepipe Wells, which is little more than a gas station and gift shop. Great place to refuel the bikes and ourselves though. It was bizarre to see the altitude signs drop from 2,000 feet to 1,000 to Sea Level, and then beyond. After a lunch of bread and Tillamook cheese we headed off for our final destination of Furnace Creek. Along the road there we passed by strangely coloured cliffs, sand dunes, and a bizarre landscape shaped by wind and flash floods. We arrived at the Furnace Creek Ranch and took up residence in the only oasis of this huge valley. 
