I took a week-long trip to Death Valley in the winter of 2001 with The Sierra Club. The route was south on I-5 to Bakersfield, then on Hwy 58 through Tehachapi pass. I then went north on Hwy 14 near Mojave and stopped in Ridgecrest for the night before taking Hwy 395 north to 190 east, which goes through the Panamint Mountains and into Death Valley (There's a map online).
A big Pacific storm had just come in the day before, and the sky was cloudy. The weather cleared over the weekend, though.
We camped near Furnace Creek at a picturesque group site. The elevation here is not very far above sea level.
I went on a couple of hikes over the weekend, descriptions of which can be found on the following pages :
By Monday, I packed up and headed up to camp at Mesquite Springs, which is near Scotty's Castle at an elevation of 2200'. The weather had turned overcast, cold, and windy. Nevertheless, I hiked around Ubehebe Crater, a remnant of ancient volcanism.
It's actually possible to hike down into the crater, but the hike back up is quite steep.
Tuesday I headed out of the Valley, and back west into the Panamints, towards home. However, near Panamint Springs I stopped and hiked the gravel road up into the canyon containing Darwin Falls, a year-round waterfall in the desert.