Death Valley 1

After another stint in the Palm Desert area visiting Diana's family, we headed north up to Death Valley. It was quite amazing. We spent a week there, over by Furnace Creek. Now, as many people assume, the Valley is a very desolate, hot, dry area. Too true, in summer, we were here in February, after more rain in a few weeks than is typical in a year. So, not so warm, and a lot of the roads were washed out and the salt flats were lakes. Still, the whole of it was quite amazing. We went to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, and if you look at the picture, the entire area, miles upon miles in all directions, are salt flats with the salt crystals you can see in another of the pictures. The salt is mostly Sodium Chloride (table salt) as it is not oceanic in origin, it just leaches out of the ground after the winter rains and crystallizes. We were also able to get to natural bridge on one of our hikes, and though you can not see in these photos, you can climb up and around and if you have the stones, over the bridge. We just did the up and around, must lack stones. The ranger talks each night were very informative and well done, it was obvious that the interpretive rangers knew their stuff and were quite passionate about their subjects. It is amazing that so many people worked and survived in this area. Of course, as the photo shows not all did, it -is- called Death Valley for a reason. One of the ancillary neat things about the abundant rain fall prior to our arrival was the crystal clear lakes that formed in the low areas and the snow on the peaks surrounding the Valley. It made for some interesting Juxtapositions with what Death Valley is known for. There was so much to see here in the Valley that there is going to be a follow up post after this one with more photos and descriptions. Stay tuned, because then we are off to the Mojave Desert National Preserve.