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Tag: Badwater Basin

15 March 2017

Death Valley National Park – Chasing the gold

March 7, 2017

At Death Valley National Park it’s easy to discover gold, even if it’s not a precious metal.  I found it hiking Golden Canyon and chasing the sunset.

Sunset Panamint Range Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaDeath Valley is often described as the hottest, driest, lowest, highest, and wildest of national parks.  Summer temperatures can exceed 115°F, average annual precipitation about 2.5 inches, Badwater Basin at –282 feet (below sea level), Telescope Peak at 11,040 feet, and 92% of the 3.1 million acres is designated wilderness.

After avoiding abduction in Area 51 I felt ready for the extremes of Death Valley National Park.  You know I love the desert, but this section of NV373 is pretty flat and boring with only a few scattered buildings in various states of disrepair.  Somebody’s dream that didn’t make it in the middle of nowhere.  A sign for the Knights of Columbus.  Is that like the Templers from days of old?  Can’t understand why any aliens would want to land here except maybe for the whores at the cathouse.

Sunset campground Death Valley National Park CaliforniaAcross the border, CA190 dips in washes but with good pavement is adequate for any rig.  I noted a boondocking area south of the highway and not far from the park entrance.  Yet I continued on and grabbed a site at Sunset campground, not because it’s pretty, but the view’s not bad and it’s centrally located near Furnace Creek visitor center and other services that I thankfully didn’t need at the inflated prices of anything.  (Diesel was almost $5/gal.)  But at $14/night—a twofer with the senior pass—this huge level gravel parking lot with painted lines does have intermittent internet signal, and allows generators.  I took it just for sleeping in the park two nights.

Next stop, visitor center for information, maps, papers, and Ranger advice.  Scotty’s Castle could be closed until 2018.  Several roads were closed because of snow or repairs.  Always a good idea to check on current conditions.  I’m always watching for wildlife along roads.  Because the National Park Service tends to focus visitors to “features” the speed limit between viewpoints and overlooks often fluctuates between 25-65 mph.  The later seems way too fast to me considering there’s so much to see along the way.  I spent the afternoon slowly exploring south on the Badwater Road headed for the Ranger recommended sunset at Mormon Point.

Golden Canyon trail map Death Valley National Park CaliforniaFirst stop, Golden Canyon, considered the most popular hike in the park.  A moderate 3 mile round trip trail with some easy rock scrambling ending at a canyon headwall.  Or make the hike longer on the Gower Gulch Loop or head to Zabriskie Point.

Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park California

Breccia layered sediments Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaNeedless to say, I didn’t make it that far being constantly distracted by the carved rock walls of sediments deposited over time,  tilted and not, filled with salt-grain to jeep-size rock washed down from the Amargosa Range.

 

 

 

Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park California

Amargosa Range Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaShapes, textures and colors demanded my time and inspection.  Ancient exposed muds provided a pallet for some idiots to carve their mark.  It may take a decade for nature to dissolve this vandalism.

Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaThe beginnings of side canyons formed by water speaks loudly for the power of water.

Road remains Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaOnce a road traveled up the canyon but now only remnants of asphalt remain looking rather out of place like a sidewalk across the Sahara.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moon Red Cathedral Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park California

Red Cathedral Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaI strolled about an hour up canyon, Red Cathedral within sight but not my destination.

Golden Canyon Death Valley National Park CaliforniaThen back in half the time yet seeing different forms and light.  With Artists Drive closed for repairs, I parked on the shoulder for a while to enjoy the calico colors at the base of the Amargosa Range.  Hard to believe the rocky fans below these magnificent mountains weren’t blanketed in yellow like last year for at super bloom.

Devils Golf Course Death Valley National Park California

Salt pinnacles Devils Golf Course Death Valley National Park CaliforniaNext stop, Devils Golf Course, note all the deathy names.  Deposited by ancient salt lakes and shaped by wind and rain, jagged crystallized salts constantly change by the forces of nature.  And also sadly by ignorant visitors who walk onto the fragile landscape.  The Death Valley salt-pan is one of the largest protected salt-pans in North America.  It is said that on a warm quiet day you may hear a metallic clicking sound as the salt pinnacles expand and contract.  All I heard was people talking.

Snowy Panamint Range Death Valley National Park CaliforniaHigh above this harsh dry environment towers the Panamint Range buried in snow that come spring melt will, hopefully, bring life giving waters to the valley floor.

Last light Amargosa Range Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaI continued following the twisty road past the crowded official Badwater parking to Mormon Point.  But it is way too far away from the campground for a dark return drive.

Sunset snowy Panamint Range Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park California

Sunset snowy Panamint Range Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaSo I returned to the Badwater area where the shoulder was full of telltale photographers and found an open piece of shoulder to see what unfolded.

Sunset Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park California

Sunset people Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaI still didn’t stay for the entire show. Yet some folks did.

Side mirror sunset Death Valley National Park California

Sunset Panamint Range Badwater Basin Road Death Valley National Park CaliforniaBut did take pics while driving back to camp.

Because I don’t particularly like to drive after dark, get out of bed before daylight, or stay up all night for stars, I place limitations on myself and the photography.  Yet the next morning I forced myself up early to get to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

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California, Death Valley National Park Badwater Basin, Devils Golf Course, Golden Canyon, sunset, Sunset campground 13 Comments
18 November 2009

Death Valley National Park Badwater Basin

“It was so hot that swallows in full flight fell to the earth dead and when I went out to read the thermometer with a wet Turkish towel on my head, it was dry before I returned.” –Oscar Denton, caretaker of the original Furnace Creek Ranch on the record hot day of 134F (56C) in July 1913.
Sea level sign on cliffs Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaSea Level sign, note red line
Death Valley National Park Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation point in the Western Hemisphere at -282 feet (-85.5 meters), only in Africa is it lower. A small spring-fed pool is the only remnant of ancient Lake Manly that once stretched across the valley floor 100 miles (160.9 km) in length and 6-11 miles (9.65 – 17.7 km) in width with an estimated depth of nearly 600 feet (182.88 meters).  This was our next stop after Natural Bridge Canyon.
Sea level sign on cliffs Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaSea level sign
Snow melt from mountains in central Nevada flow into underground aquifers gathering minerals along the way and emerges here along the fault line at the base of the Amargosa Range.
Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaView west over Badwater Basin
Here, at the lowest elevation, the water comes to rest forming temporary lakes then the water evaporates and only the minerals remain.
Pool on saltflats Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaPool on salt flats
Sodium chloride, or table salt, makes up the majority of minerals however calcite, gypsum, and of course borax are also found.
Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park CaliforniaView north over Badwater Basin
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when a surveyor couldn’t get his mule to drink. He wrote on his map “bad water” and the name stuck. But it’s not bad, just salty.
Saltflats Badwater Basin Death Valley NP CASalt Flats
Salt crystals expand, pushing the crust of salt into rough, chaotic forms constantly changing as newly formed crystals ooze between the mud cracks.
On the road to Artists Drive Death Valley National Park CaliforniaOn the road to Artists Drive
From Badwater we began driving back to camp, but there was another interesting side trip to be taken on the way.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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