death valley

this picture, directly above, is probably pretty close to what you think of when you think of death valley. am i right? well, it was taken there, so good job. don't get too comfortable, however--there is a whole lot more to this national park, scorpions aside. we drove down here from lee vining, outside of yosemite, and it was a beautiful drive down, through valleys surrounded by national forests. first off, this is the largest park in the lower 48: in fact, all of the other parks in california could fit inside of this one. it is also the hottest, dries, and lowest place in the western hemisphere. we entered the park from the west, so the first grouping of things we saw was around stovepipe wells, which is about in the middle of the park. of course to get there we had to cross a mountain range, so we promptly gained and then lost about 5000 feet in elevation. stovepipe is at 5 feet above sea level. near the tiny town is a grouping of sand dunes, pictured to the left. as some of you probably know, sand dunes aren't actually all that common in deserts, so these were pretty neat. also, there are tiny gold flakes in the sand. we also saw what is called the devils cornfield--a bunch of taller desert plants, which someone humorously named. we also went by the devils golf course, which is a salt flat covered with rocks, which are also pretty much made of limestone and salt residue.

from there we drove straight on through furnace creek, -190 feet, to the lowest point in the western hemisphere--badwater basin. badwater itselt is a tiny lake made mostly of ancient snow melt--at least the parts which haven't evaporated. you can actually walk out a bit, as you can see. however, you can't stray from the 'path' because they don't want you to walk on the salt flats, which is the crackly stuff in the background and the white swatches in a lot of the pictures. we took some pictures, but rather quickly got back in our car, tasting the salt from the wind on our lips. for real. also, i should note, that it was about 12:30 at this point, and was also about 113 degrees. it is in fact called death valley for a reason, and for this reason much of our time in the park was spent in our car. this felt a little like a cop out, but even at a negative feet below sea level, and no matter how much water you drink, you get dizzy when you spend too much time outside in 120 degree + heat.
while on the topic, here is proof of how hot it was--it actually peaked that afternoon at about 123. of course, this changes a lot depending on where you are--these temperatures were down in the valley. up 5000 feet above it, it was only 90 as well as windier. why is it so hot? it is bone dry, has a very low elevation, and is surrounded by mountains. these mountains essentially act as insulation, keeping the hot air in, meaning it is hot at night as well. in the summer it usually doesn't drop below 100 at night. the second highest recorded temp is from here--134--and is only two degrees lower than the highest ever, from libya and the sahara. it feels a lot like a dry sauna, except that you're outside and not in a box at the ymca. it is so hot you can literally see the heat rising as the sun goes down.

from badwater we headed down a scenic drive called artist's drive, most of which looked a lot like the picture above. it was beautiful! foothills to the taller mountains behind, in an array of colors. in fact, one section was called artist's palette and had these beautiful purples and teals--that's part of it to the right. we tried to get out and walk around a tiny bit here, but it really just wasn't possible. i will never complain of heat anywhere else ever again. these hills really were stunning, nonetheless. we just enjoyed them while sweating in our car instead of fainting outside.

after artist's drive we headed to the single spot i was most looking forward to--dante's view, so called because you can see both the lowest point in north america--badwater, -282--and the highest point in the lower 48--mt. whitney, 14, 505. it is also 5000 feet above badwater, and thus has a great view of the actual death valley, as well as the mountains all around it. it was absolutely breathtaking. and to think that this whole valley not only used to be a system of lakes, but is also formed and continues to be formed because the pacific tectonic plate, on which california sits, is pulling away from the north american plate. this pulling apart created the valley, and the next earthquake could deepen the valley even further (as well as possibly cause cali to fall into the ocean). it was also only 90 up here, so that made it much more enjoyable as well. while it is difficult to see in the picture, i am actually looking off at mt. whitney in the distance--it was above what looks like the far end of the valley.
after dante's view it was approaching six, so we headed back to furnace creek and the lodge/town there for dinner, which was almost as expensive as the gas-- $4.23 a gallon. almost twice what i paid in virginia. sigh. this picture of me with the sea level sign was taking facing east towards furnace creek--notice how the ground level continues to drop behind me?





following dinner we headed back up into the hills/mountains for our last scene of the day, a place called zabriske point, possible the most iconic of all of the scenic shots of death valley. at least it's on the cover of their information newspaper. we chose to come here last because it's supposed to be stunning at sunset. and while it was still about an hour and half before sunset, the longer shadows really showed off the spines of the mountains. it was a beautiful scene of painted mountains, in the thankfully cooling weather; of course, the setting sun helped with the heat as well.
on our way back to our lodge, in panamint springs, we got more gorgeous views of the sun setting on the mountains, dunes, and desert plants. we also got pictures of some of the signs in the park, such as this one. it is suggesting this because it's 5000 feet up and then back down the other side, but who would turn off their ac when it's 110 outside, i don't know. there are also about a dozen places where you can stop to fill up your radiator water. that's in addition to all of the signs telling you to park off the pavement. all of this makes me wonder how many cars break down from overheating each year. while theodore was running hot, he never ran the risk of overheating. but apparently some cars do. all in all, this picture below is pretty representative of the park as a whole. for the record, death valley also wins the nomenclature award: it has places like coffin peak, hells gate, deadman pass, in addition to devils cornfield and golf course and the others listed above. coming and doing all of this in one day--and that includes no real hiking--makes me want to come back in february when the wildflowers (yes, wildflowers) are in bloom and you can actually hike to the colorful canyons and to the top of telescope peak, at 11000+ feet. next time, gadget.