Trona to Death Valley!!

The original plan was to take I-15 to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, there was a vehicle crash involving a semi that forced a hard closure of northbound. Rather than going all the way back down to barstow then to Needles via I-40, I opted to take the route through Death Valley. I checked the weather and left early enough to beat the heat. But, along the way, a couple of pix of Trona, just because. As you can see, the traffic was bumper to bumper!

The road to Death Valley National Park was, as you might expect, very desolate. Because I left early in the morning, the temperatures never got above 103. The high for that day around noon was supposed to be 117!!

The highlight of my trip was crossing over the Panamint range. Thank goodness there was not much traffic because it took a minute to climb. The excitement started on the descent. I did not know it was a long eight percent grade. I activated the 'tow/haul' on my truck...downshifted where I could..feathered the brakes.

About halfway down, I got the violent steering wheel shudders everytime I hit the brakes. Once I made it down, I stopped at this rest area kind of spot and a couple things were present: First, I could not get out of my seat quickly. Had to take a breath and let the seat fabric release from my tightened buttocks; Second, and more serious, my front brakes were literally smoking!! Ugh. So, I let them cool down and we proceeded forward.

Looking at the pictures and video, hope you enjoy deserty view. Actually, really spectacular. I wanted to stop at a few places but.....lots of people!! Next time.