Ash Meadows, Nevada

Alphonse is supposed to join me to do a hike in Death Valley National Park, which by the way has Pahrump as its closest (unincorporated!) town. I was thinking what I should do and after a quick check of Google Maps I decided to go to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

This place is the true definition of oasis! You're walking in the middle of a desert and sun is shining on you and you're hot and all of a sudden there's a small pond of blue beautiful water, marsh, trees, shrubs, birds, you name it!

The beautiful blue water in the middle of desert help the wildlife to survive and at the same time makes the grow of lots of plants possible

Of course the earlier during the year, the greener the area but also hotter. According to the visitor center lady, the snow on the top of nearby mountains (there are many around Pahrump both at Nevada and California side) melts and reaches the middle of the desert through underground passages and basically emerges from the ground. I was expecting Alphonse to join me and besides that wasted about an hour or so on the road because of the stupid GPS so I was not able to spend a whole good time in there. In addition to that the temperature was too high as it's Nevada and close to Death Valley and I don't wear short sleeve shirts and shorts.

Sand Dunes are seen in this wildlife refuge

Therefore I was not very comfortable. Nevertheless it's a phenomenal place that you should definitely visit once you're in the area. The whole visit might take as long as two hours or even more because there different parts of the refuge you want to see. The good thing is it's close to Pahrump, only 45 minutes, I believe.
(Photo: Funeral Mountains in California are seen from the wildlife refuge. Parts of the land that the refuge is located at it is private property. A house is seen at the left side of the picture here. The interestingly shaped cloud reminded me of the discussions over Area 51 in this state)