I think that I went to Death Valley National Park more to say that I had done it than because I really expected to like it much.  I was in for a bit of a surprise, because the variety that I found there was incredible, unlike any desert I’ve been in before.  The valley is also very accessible, with good roads running though the center, but plenty of off-roading opportunities too.

Interestingly, I at first missed the point that Death Valley is a valley.  The road in climbs up to an elevation of about 4,000 ft before descending to the valley floor, and the road out climbs another ridge of about the same elevation on the other side.  There are beautiful vistas everywhere, although they’re so panoramic that it’s difficult to capture them with a camera.

I stopped at the village of Furnace Creek to check out the visitor’s center, which was at an elevation of 198 ft (58 m) below sea level.  The lowest point in Death Valley, and in North America, is in Badwater Basin, at 282 ft (86 m) below sea level, which I also drove through.  Although the temperature was about 98 degrees °F when I was there, Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest recorded air temperature on Earth at 134 °F (56.7 °C) on July 10, 1913.  It was something to think that I was in one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places in the world.

The rangers informed me that many of the other campgrounds in the valley were still closed for the summer, and probably wouldn’t open for another month, so I opted to stay there in Furnace Creek for the night.  It was centrally located, and although I’m carrying plenty of water in a collapsible cube in the car, it was nice to know that there was also water available locally.  There were so few people there that I was luckily able to get one of the shadiest sites in the campground.  Many sites had no cover at all.

But still, it was hot when I was there in late afternoon.  I never liked the heat in Australia, but at least there I could generally get into some air conditioning.  I could have run the car, but decided to see how I would survive without the a/c, and I’m happy to say that, although I wasn’t entirely comfortable, I drank a lot of water and survived completely without cooling.

The night remained hot for a long time, unfortunately, making it difficult to sleep.  It was still 100 °F at midnight, although it did cool down to about 70 °F toward morning, when I got most of my sleep for the night, with all windows wide open to catch any breeze.

In the morning I explored the Harmony Borax Works mines in the area — apparently borax was the primary mineral produced in the valley.

But it wasn’t long before I was looking for 4wd tracks to take me off the paved path, and I found a great one not far away that took me through some winding hills and washes.

It wasn’t a difficult track in most places, but it was certainly pretty in the morning light.  I saw all variety of colors in the rocks there, from sandy yellows and lava reds, to subtle blues, stark dolomite white, and even delicate greens.  I’m sure that I could look up what minerals cause these colors to be apparent, but really I was content just to enjoy them.  It was like being in a watercolor painting of a desert, the hues just not quite believable — and yet I could clearly see that they were natural.

The variation of terrain in the valley was remarkable.  In some places it resembles a moonscape, harsh and aggressive.

While other areas were more sandy, and softened by the delicate yellowish green of plants that must be able to survive on almost no water, the average annual precipitation in the valley being only 2.36 inches (60 mm).

By the time I got to the sand dunes at Mesquite Flats, I was wanting to stretch my legs a bit, so went for a bit of a hike over to the largest dunes.

And you see, it worked, my legs were stretched!!  ;P

I also spent some time trying to figure out what little creatures had been scampering through the dunes leaving tracks in the early morning.  I’m guessing they were small lizards or large bugs, but really have no idea what makes little tank tracks like these.

I also took the 4wd track back to Mosaic Canyon, and hiked up it in the heat, trying to stay in the shade as much as possible.  I particularly liked an area called the narrows, that looked like it must have been carved out by water.  In places where I had to scramble up the rocks, they were polished so smooth that they were quite slippery.

The acoustics in the canyon were amazing as well.  I could hear other hikers coming for a long time before I met them, and yet there were so few people there that most of the time it was dead silent, not even the sound of birds or the wind to break the spell.  I lay down to rest a bit at the end of the trail, and to drink plenty of water, and may maybe possibly have dozed off for a while there.  Warm rocks again, you know.  This seems to be a theme with me..

This is the only spot of green that I saw in the whole canyon, and it still amazes me that a plant like this can manage to survive there.

There was a steep gradient to the road climbing out of the valley heading west again, and the terrain there seemed to be dominated by cinder cones and lava rocks.  I had wanted to visit the Racetrack Playa while I was in Death Valley, to see the sailing rocks, but unfortunately the track there was closed off.  Maybe I’ll have to come back sometime to see them.

As I got closer to my destination for the night of Lone Pine, I came across a huge salt pan named Owens Lake.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: “The lake is currently a large salt flat whose surface is made of a mixture of clay, sand, and a variety of minerals including halite, burkeite, mirabilite, thenardite, and trona. In wet years, these minerals form a chemical soup in the form of a small brine pond within the dry lake. When conditions are right, bright pink halophilic (salt-loving) archaea spread across the salty lakebed. Also, on especially hot summer days when ground temperatures exceed 150° F (66 °C), water is driven out of the hydrates on the lakebed creating a muddy brine. More commonly, periodic winds stir up noxious alkali dust storms that carry away as much as four million tons (3.6 million metric tons) of dust from the lakebed each year, causing respiratory problems in nearby residents. The dust includes carcinogens such as cadmium, nickel and arsenic.”

So.  Charming place.  And if you’ve heard of any of the minerals that it’s made of, you get the prize, I’ve never heard of any of them.  The Eastern Sierra Mountains behind it are lovely though, aren’t they?  Let’s concentrate on that.

I also found these gas pumps on the way into Lone Pine, and although they aren’t working, they look almost completely original, and completely cool.

Lone Pine is at the base of Mount Whitney in the Eastern Sierras, so of course I had to drive up to take a closer look when I got there.  Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States, at 14,505 ft (4,421 m).  It’s also one end of the John Muir Trail, which runs almost 212 mi (341 km) from here to the Yosemite Valley.

So Death Valley was overall really more varied and pretty than I expected it to be, although still in a severe way.  This should remind me about one of my goals for this trip… to keep an open mind and limit my expectations, take the world as I find it.  I’m finding it pretty amazing so far!