We are in Death Valley National Park on the last day of the year. With Jutta having been here a couple of other times, we decided to take her into a corner she hadn’t visited yet, nor had we.

To get to our surprise location, we had to head to the west side of the park and find the Emigrant Canyon Road turnoff.

Our route took us right into the snowline on this beautiful blue sky day.

We are at the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns that are now long out of use, but back in the late 1800s they were busy at work making charcoal for the miners in the area.

Our views were spectacular up here, affording Jutta sights of Death Valley that few take the time to see. From way up here, we needed to way back down there as Caroline needed to get to the visitors center before they closed so she could be sworn in for her newest Junior Ranger badge.

With a stroll down a boardwalk in Death Valley, we closed out 2013.