Death Valley National Park (East) from Pahrump Nevada

ahschneid
Nov 30
10 min read

On Monday 24 November 2025, we drove to Pahrump Nevada to stay at Pair-a-Dice SKP Park for a week. We spent Thanksgiving there with other Escapees. Our drive from Lone Pine California to Pahrump Nevada was through Death Valley National Park for much of the trip, so we stopped inside the park to have our lunch.

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our lunch spot...

Death Valley National Park - 24 November 2025

Our drive from Lone Pine CA to Pahrump NV

Pahrump Nevada - 24 November 2025

Sunset the day we arrived in Pahrump...

Pahrump Nevada - 24 November 2025

Sunset the day we arrived in Pahrump...

Tuesday 25 November, we had a couple of repairs to take care of and with the grace of God and YouTube videos we managed to do the repairs ourselves for only $4.23. I should say Steve fixed everything. We learned on YouTube to check the fuse in our microwave that had died a few days before. It turned out that replacing the fuse fixed it right up. Much better than buying a new microwave! Our self-leveling had malfunctioned when we arrived on Monday, so we had manually leveled our rig for the night and then dealt with it that morning. Again, YouTube showed how to reset it using the app on your phone. Steve had the app and was able to reset the auto level system and auto level our rig. We were excited to get these things fixed without a major purchase or having to bring our rig in for a repair or replacement. Since half the day was taken with these repairs, we hung around the campground and got laundry done that day to free up the rest of the week for site-seeing.

Wednesday 26 November, we drove about 55 miles to see Death Valley National Park from the East Entrance. We had a beautiful day for our travels. Our first destination inside the park was Dante’s View. That was absolutely beautiful! We hiked out to one of the peaks and were just awed by the massiveness and other worldly views. Anita was curious about who Dante was. According to AI's response to the question about who Dante's View is named after, "Dante's View is named after Dante Alighieri, the 14th-century Italian poet famous for writing the Divine Comedy. The name was given to the overlook in 1926 by a businessman from the Pacific Coast Borax Company, who felt the spectacular view was worthy of a name from a great literary work".

Next, we drove to Zabriskie Point and did another short hike. This is the back side of Golden Canyon which we had seen and hiked a few days ago. We then drove to the 20 Mule Team Canyon, but the road to that trailhead was closed. We decided to do the Harmony Borax Works site, which is a ¼ mile paved walk around old equipment. Steve wanted to find a hot spring for a soak. He found one in Tecopa Hot Springs. He enjoyed a soak for about an hour. Our last destination for the day was China Ranch Date Farm which was supposed to be about 2 miles from the Tecopa Hot Springs, but it took us a few minutes to find a most circuitous path to the China Ranch. The last mile before reaching the ranch is narrow and windy through a canyon. Once there we were amazed that there are many hiking trails right from the parking lot, but it was about 45 minutes before sunset by the time we arrived, so we opted to have one of their famous date shakes and head home.