On The Road Again....: March 2018

Saturday, June 10, 2017

We left the hotel at 7:05 am and the temperature was 68 degrees. While we ate breakfast and studied the map, we discovered that the mountain peak we saw right across the street was Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in California, as well as the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada - with an elevation of 14, 505 feet. It was such a beautiful day and we couldn't get enough of the mountains.

Mt Whitney on the left

Beautiful view from the hotel

I would love this view for breakfast every morning!

We had to get on our way since we have a long day ahead of us. Our destination for the day is Death Valley.

Death Valley's formation began about 3 million years ago when forces within the Earth broke the crust into blocks. Some of these blocks tilted and rotated, creating the alternating mountain and valley pattern. Death Valley is unique because it contains the lowest, hottest, driest location in North America. Nearly 550 square miles of its area lie below sea level. Death Valley is officially the hottest place on Earth. It holds the world record for the hottest air temperature of 134 degrees in 1913. Death Valley is also the driest place in the U.S. It gets that distinction by having the lowest annual rainfall of any place in the country - less than 2" per year. Some years there is no rain here at all.

Proof we were here!

Father Crowley Vista Point

This is what the road looks like on the GPS.

Death Valley

Stovepipe Wells

Gas was expensive out here - $4.48 a gallon

for regular!

Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes

Devils Cornfield (arrowweed bushes)

Death Valley

Though steeped in legend, the frenzied search for gold and other metals in Death Valley produced few fortunes, Borax, the "White Gold of the Desert," ranks as the valley's most profitable mineral. Harmony Borax Works was one of Death Valley's first borax operations. It operated from 1883-1888. We were here a little before 11:00 a.m. and the temperature was 96 degrees.

Harmony Borax Works

The rear wagon wheels were 7' high and the entire unit with mules was more than 100' long.

Conrad at Harmony Borax Works

Our next stop was at Furnace Creek Visitor Center. There was a small museum here with a few exhibits.

Death Valley

Furnace Creek - Death Valley

Then we were off to Zabriskie Point. Zabriskie Point is the most famous viewpoint in the park. Overlooking the golden colored badlands of the Furnace Creek formation, you get a beautiful view. We had to hike up a hill to see the view. You could see the mudstone hills riddled with rills and gullies from the occasional, but intense, times when water rushes down these bone-dry slopes.

On the road to Zabriskie Point

Conrad at Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point

From here we decided to drive the Twenty Mule Team Canyon road. It wasn't paved but said that cars shouldn't have a problem if it wasn't wet. This was an interesting 2.7 mile drive.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Since it was hot and no place to picnic,

we fixed a plate and ate as we were

driving.

Death Valley

The floor of Death Valley is a vast evaporating dish covering more than 200 square miles. It is crusted over with a variety of salts, and nowhere is this more apparent than at Devil's Golf Course. Here, gnarled crystalline salt spires dot the landscape and look like a coral reef run amock. The lumpy salt pinnacles are the residue of Death Valley's last significant lake, which evaporated 2,000 years ago.

Devil's Golf Course

Next is Dante's View. Dante's View, a popular unworldly lookout point, offers a striking example of the distinctive basin and range topography that extends from Eastern California to central Utah. The steep, elongated mountain ranges alternate with flat, dry desert valleys - the result of an intense stretching of the crust that has resulted in a series of north-south faults. These faults separate the basins from the ranges. Dante's View is more than 5,000 feet above the valley floor; at this high altitude in the dry desert air you can see across most of 110-mile-long Death Valley. The white salt flats far below make up Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level.

From Dante's View

Dante's View - the guy in the chair is

flying a drone over the area.

It's on to our last stop of the day - Badwater Basin. With the Black Mountains in the background, visitors can stroll through a shimmering expanse of nearly pure while table salt here in Badwater Basin; at 282 feet below sea level, it is the lowest point in North America. Two to four thousand years ago the basin was the site of a 30-foot-deep lake that evaporated and left a one-to-five foot layer of salt in its wake. A briny pond, four times saltier than the ocean still remains in the basin during the winter, but during the hot summer months, it shrinks to little more than a puddle. You are asked to stay on the boardwalk to avoid crushing the tiny Badwater snails, a species that lives under the salt crust and feeds on algae.

Conrad at Badwater Basin

Badwater Basin

From the parking lot, you can look across the road and see the sign that marks sea level. I had an awful time trying to zoom in to get a picture but ended up finally getting it.

The sea level marker is about in the

middle, just above what looks like a cave.

Sea level sign

Death Valley

Nevada - State #9 (Again)

It's been a long day, and once again, we had to change our route. We originally planned to exit the park at the south end and go to Baker on I-15 and spend the night there. We couldn't find any hotels so we went out one of the east side exits and found a hotel in Pahrump, Nevada, because we liked the name! We stayed at Best Western Pahrump Oasis. The cost was $87.83 including tax. We ate in their bar/restaurant and had beer and pizza.

As I said earlier, gas in the park was high. Even in Shoshone, CA, just outside the park on Highway 178 it was $4.50. We gassed up in Pahrump, Nevada for $2.33.

We drove 260 miles and walked 5,584 steps and 8 flights of stairs.

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Death Valley