With the holidays finally over, I needed to get away from everything and take a weekend trip and touch nature. The destination was Death Valley but a friend suggested I go check out Trona Pinnacles. It was on the way to my destination so I figured why not.

It’s a dirt road once you leave the main highway. Our car made it there but it’s highly recommended to have a 4×4. Some parts looked a little rough to pass through. If it rained, we were screwed. Luckily no rain was in the forecast.

I felt like I stepped into a different planet or a sci-fi film. My friend said it’s a popular spot for films and TV shows. Besides that, the view of the night sky is stunning. I did a little research and come to find out the tall rocks are actually tufa formations as old as 100,000 years old. The tufa towers were formed long ago when the place use to be a lake.

Being close to the tufa formations was unreal. They’re sort of soft to the touch. With enough pressure, you can take out a piece. They felt fragile.

There isn’t much to see but it’s a unique place to check out. I loved that you can camp anywhere you want, no reservations required. It’s the desert but in January, the weather high is 60s and the low was about 45. I would have liked to stay until it got dark to check out the night view but we still had a long drive to our Airbnb. I also didn’t want to risk getting somewhat stuck heading back to the main road.

Its stops like these that convince me more and more to upgrade the car. I think this might be the year we do. Our RAV4 hasn’t failed us but we have been close to sticky situations in the past. It’s an adventure and a fun memory to tell.