Death Valley?

We're on the road again!

We flew into San Francisco. I have to give a shout out to that airport. It's beautiful, it's clean, it's QUIET,(oops, I mean, it's quiet). It is a "quiet airport".  No announcement blasting over the speakers, no music blaring to try and cover the ambient noise, just signs saying it is a quiet airport and to please use earbuds to respect everyone's privacy. My blood pressure dropped the minute I left the plane and I continued to zen out as we went in search of our luggage. I don't mean to keep going on, but they even have a mini-museum, and the exhibit celebrates opera and costume design honoring the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Opera Company. Of course I made Martin walk through it, and to his long suffering angst of having to put up with my whims, that always make us late …(he went along with fairly good grace). The exhibit was incredible. These amazing costumes worn by true geniuses of the operatic stage! It was all I could do not to drool. 😂 And this was just an airport. I know we could and probably should have a debate about whether the money spent on that airport should have been put to better use, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, healthcare for those without. No doubt it should have, but the quiet part, that could be adopted by most if not all airports and would make travel so much less stressful. ❤️

The car and camper were fine, no damage from the atmospheric rivers of relentless rain and we headed south, desert bound. As we drove we saw evidence of flooding. High rivers, flooded fields, areas along the highway that looked like they could be drainage ditches, until you saw a car with water halfway up its windows (!) and then there was the water just kissing the bottoms of bridges.(That did not look "normal" 😬 But we were fine, only a spot or two with a bit of water ON the road, mostly just lots BESIDE the road and signs of where it HAD been on the road.

Now some interesting science about how and why this area of our country is  … a desert.  The western side of North America is filled with a series of north to south mountain ranges with valleys in between.  As you move further from the coast, the mountains and valleys get progressively drier.  Weather (moving west to east), i.e. clouds,  hit the western side of the first mountain range dropping their precipitation, and if there’s any left, they drop it on the next range, etc, so needless to say, by the time you're a couple of valleys in, there is no rain left.

How were these parallel mountain ranges and valleys created?  🤔

Good question.  The geography is so different in the west than it is in the east. That has to do with “expansion”. At some point (millions of years ago, I might add) after the two tectonic plates ran into each other and created a giant mountain range, it started pulling apart. I had some trouble visualizing how pulling apart would create parallel mountains and valleys, but those national park visitor centers are the best. They suggested thinking of it like dominoes stacked closely together in a line, then knocking them over, and then pulling them apart about halfway. What you get is a series of parallel ridges and steep valleys. (Ok, you have to use some imagination, but work with me here.)  Over time the sharp valley bottoms filled in with erosion from the mountains and became flat valleys.  This geography generally goes from the coast to the rocky mountains and from Canada into Mexico. 

I mean, who knew about all this stuff?

The pass through the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, one of the aforementioned mountain ranges.

Enough science, lets get on with the trip! I mean, are we even going to make it to the desert??

Oh, yes, we made it.

That is "Bad Water basin", the lowest elevation in North America and towering behind it is the Panamint range, with the tallest peak at over 11,000 ft. And the stuff that looks like water, it isn't. It's a dried up salt flat.

Death Valley.  Let's consider this.  Is it really ‘death valley’ or ‘nothing living valley’? So, truth be told, as we arrived I was a bit grumpy. I like wildlife, animals, birds, plants, flowers, even bugs. As far as I could see, nothing was going on in Death Valley. But I have to say, it won me over.

The colors, the landscape, the canyons were really beautiful in that dramatic stark way that November is beautiful. The science geek in me got interested in the geology and then my imagination took hold, went a little crazy and before you know it, I started seeing giants sitting on a mountaintop throwing volcanic boulders like shot puts, maybe a competition of sorts (?) which is why the volcanic boulders are randomly strewn across the landscape. 😂

Hum, back to reality, Death Valley is the owner of a number of superlatives. 

• It has the hottest recorded temp on the planet!!! Yes, I said PLANET! 134°F. Now I'm just sayin', dry heat or not, that is too dang hot.  

• It also has the lowest point in North America, 182 ft below sea level.  

• Elevation gain of more than 2 miles from the base at Badwater Basin (-184ft) to Telescope Peak (1,1049 ft) in the Panamint Range.

• Less than 2" of rain/ year. 

• Evaporation rate 150" of rain/year.

And I have to change my descriptor from 'nothing living valley' to 'few things living valley'. We saw a coyote, ravens, brittle bushes, creosote bushes, dessert holly (with berries) , pinyon pines and a few more signs of life.

We hiked some gorgeous trails up fascinating canyons, biked around some colorful areas like, Mustard Canyon and Artists Drive to Artist's Palette and drove to some vistas that were so beautiful they are indescribable.

By the time we left, Death Valley or, as I prefer, Tumpisakka, the native name meaning 'place of the ochre rock',  had won me over. It isn't a place I could stay for a long time, the barrenness and rubble and browns of the desert would  affect my sense of equilibrium. I need more life, more green.  But it is stunning and I'm so glad we got a chance to spend some time and explore.

That tiny ribbon of a road goes through the valley and up the mountains to cross over into the valley on the other side … still part of Death Valley NP.

The next pics are from the remains of the Harmony 20 Mule Team Borax Works.

…And a bike ride down Mustard Canyon.

The view from our campsite.

Some lovely sunsets including a view from the Inn.  (I believe that's where the movie stars stay). No concern about the use of water there 🙄

Mosaic Canyon hike. I'm doing my best Vanna impression to show you the mosaics the canyon is named for. Pieces of "marble like" stone are broken up and imbedded in the sandstone to make this interesting and beautiful natural mosaic.

Farther up the canyon widens. Note, Martin is hiking in his "boot". He received a lot of comments as the hike continued. There are some "obstacles" ahead…

I found the rocks to be stunning.

This is the end, a dry waterfall. See how Martin's shirt blends in with the different colored rock over the falls. 😂

More rock ❤️

And now for some of the "obstacles" …

The pics are just of us going down, but we had to go up them too (remember Martin and his boot???) but as for me going down, nothing wrong with a good "buttslide"! 😂

"I'm on top of the world"

The color and magnitude of this place are awe inspiring (That little ant person in the next couple of pics is Martin.)

More mosaics.

It was a fabulous hike. So amazing.

And now we're back at Badwater basin. This looks like a desert!

Note how thick the layer of salt is.

Some beautiful views of the desert and Golden Canyon hike

Artist's palette

Living things!

Creosote bushes

Desert Holly 

Cactus

Ravens

Coyote 

More creosote bushes

Peace and serenity

The oasis of the Inn 

Zabriski's Point…the shapes, the colors, the movement 

Dante's viewpoint. Magnificent. Awe-inspiring. Really, no words can approach the feeling. (This view includes both Badwater Basin and Telescope peak)

And as the sun sets, a promise of more to explore, more adventures to be had, more to see tomorrow. ♥️

Next stop: Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.