Death Valley Days!

Not the TV show, nor the 20 Mule Team brand of borax that sponsored it, but we'll tie that in soon enough.

I got two and a half days of recent spring vacation time crammed into Death Valley. It was the first time I had been there in a decade. That trip, I think, had just two days even. And, before that, although some part of my mind says I had a brief visit, photo albums show the last visit before that was three days in 2006.

It was time. It was more than time.

Dayum, I shot a LOT of photos there and created a LOT of small albums. 

And, I shot a decent amount of video, too.

I think I finally really realized how much I had missed not being there for a full decade on Day 3 of my visit, when I got to Keane Wonder Mine and saw a pair of chuckwallas getting ready to do the "muskrat love." I'd seen chuckwallas, or a lone male, once before, 20 years ago — at Keane Wonder Mine.

Oh, my god. 

With that, let's dig in, with albums in general order, and a pullout picture from some of them to whet your appetite.

Badwater Day 1. I came in from Pahrump, Nevada, in part to squeeze in every molecule I could of Nevada-priced gas. The side benefit was coming in to Badwater quicker this way, with one of the lovely shots that I like shooting where a highway invites you into the scene. 

I had no idea that the reincarnation of the prehistoric Lake Manly was still in place, but there it was. Heaven or nearly so; one of those "I've seen this and can die in peace moments" while embracing the heat, at about 105.5°F, or 41.5°C at 3:30-4 p.m., as the massive heat wave that had started a week earlier was not dissipating yet.

I was reminded of ice floes at salt crystals emerged from the drying, evaporating lake. The stylized photo shows that.

This feeling increased a day later. 

For a narrative overview, here's a brief video: 

And here's the album.

From there, it was off to the Furnace Creek visitor center, seeing what the official temperature was. "Only" 105.

Then, I got out to Zabriskie Point at sunset. What many people think is Zabriskie Point is actually Manly Beacon. Here it is.

Zabriskie Point is either, on details, where you're actually standing when you walk up from the parking lot, or land to the south. Here THAT is: 

I also shot the second of several Death Valley videos here. (In many case, much more highly compressed versions are in photo albums.)

And, the album is here. 

And thus endeth Day 1.

Day 2 started in Mosaic Canyon. I got there early in the morning to get strong colors when the sun was still largely below the canyon rim. One close-up photo in the album will show the actual mosaic nature.

But let's give you a good, wide color photo.

Album is here. 

After that? 

Salt Creek to see desert pupfish. Here's one of those critters:

While dodging deerfly-like biting flies, I also saw a birding lifer, a pipit. Photos of it and the contrast of Salt Creek, saltier than the ocean, with the bits of green that grow along it, are in the album. 

Next on the agenda? Harmony Borax Works, complete with "20 mule team" wagons and the borax refining ruins. The photo shows it with part of Mustard Canyon's colors in the background. 

 In the album, I've got two descriptor signs giving you the lay of the land. 

If that's not enough, here's a narrative video:

And, after that? It was off to the West Side Road, on the west side of Badwater Basin. 

It's amazing how the various salts can color the water, like various chemical compounds can color the rocks and sand in "painted desert" fashion. Here's the album. 

Then, back to Badwater itself, looking for different angles than Day 1. Here's the results.

It was even hotter than the day before?

"How hot was it?" per old Tonight Show joke? 

This:

At the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, official National Weather Service measurement, 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. 

To cool off? Climb to nearly 6,000 feet, or 1,800 meters, of elevation, to Dante's View, where I had never been before. I got a very good sunset — not quite great, because of lack of clouds — with a high-level view of Lake Manly:

And, it was 30 degrees F cooler. And windy, windy, as the video will attest.

Here's the album: 

Day 3?

Getting into the spirit of desert photography, I decided to start the morning going out to the original well at Death Valley once enough Anglos started setting there. The well was eventually marked with a stovepipe, so travelers would find it and it wouldn't be hidden by blowing sand. Stovepipe well? Yes, that's now Stovepipe Wells village.

And, here's a sample of that creativity:

And, here's the rest of the album. (Lepidopterist types will love the painted lady on desert sand.)  

Next, after some putzing around in the area around the Hells Gate highway intersection, it was off to the Keene Wonder Mine. God, what a blast. Second time in my life to see chuckwallas. First time? Solo male 20 years ago, right on this spot, after hiking up the mountainside to the top of the ore tramway. I think at this point I was realizing just how much I'd missed Death Valley in not being here in a decade.

And, here's a male-female pair getting ready to do the muskrat love:

Here's a brief narrative video of the site:

And here's the full album. 

Then, off to Titus Canyon. To hike, not drive through by car. This semi-slot canyon is an iconic place within Death Valley. One photo will show you why:

A brief video will let you hike with me: 

Full album is here:  

We're not quite done yet!

From here, it's a mad dash back out of the park to the east, to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

Why? Well, the possibility of seeking spring migratory waterfowl, though birding there, even with allowances for cramming in just 90 minutes or a little more of pre-sunset time, wasn't that good.

But, also to see this:

As in, a very, very rare Amargosa pupfish. Given low light conditions and other things, not bad.

The full album has information and links on the nuttery that led to this becoming an NWR. 

==

How did I deal with the heat, some may wonder? That's especially since I'm not 21 or even 41 any more.

First, on my first and second days, I did shorter hiking, especially from noon-5 pm, than on Day 3. Titus Canyon, especially in the shade, was probably 2.5 miles/4 km or a bit more round trip. And, after 5 p.m. day 3, at the wildlife refuge, I did at least that much.

I did feel a touch slightly woozy, to be honest, late afternoon of Day 2; that was when hiking the Natural Bridge trail, if but briefly, then getting out and doing short hiking for better photo angles in a brief album of Artists Palette. It was as much sitting in a vehicle (even with air conditioning generally turned off) but then getting up from a sitting position, getting outside into that heat, and starting to move. (I still at times, at a height of 6-5 or 1.95 meters, have postural hypotension and the heat surely aggravates that whenever I have it.) So, I would stop for a minute and take an extra slug of water before moving on. Ten years ago, and certainly 20, I might have tried to do more — while presumably having some sense of pacing still.

Now, I'll use the climate of Death Valley to transition into a bit about its natural history and geology.

Other than the evaporative humidity of Lake Manly, especially at these temperatures, Death Valley is not just dry, it's VERY dry. In addition to fame for often being the hottest point on the planet, and containing the lowest spot in North America, it's there with the Atacama Desert, Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter and a couple of other spots for driest place, going by relative humidity. (As Lake Manly shows, it does get a full 2 inches/50 mm of rain per year on average even at Badwater.)

The love of Death Valley is in large part the love of geology. And, Death Valley is one of the best places in the world to look at so many different gnarly metamorphic rocks!

That geology is also why it's so dry. Four mountain ranges in all stand between the actual valley and the Pacific Ocean to the west. In the main Sierra Nevada, Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet, or 4418 meters, is about 55 miles or so due west of Badwater. The Panamint Mountains, the easternmost of the four? Telescope Peak (still snowcapped at top in photo and video from Badwater Day 2) is 11,043 feet, or 3366 meters, and only 15 miles, or 25 km, west of Badwater Basin.

On the mountains? The highest ones on the east side, like that Dante's View or higher, can get up to 6500 feet or 2000 meters. So, a pressure system that would come in from the east can't bring much rain either.

On the geology, it's an extreme example of the entire "Basin and Range province," all slip-strike type faulting, then collapses on fault lines, in the period between the formation of the Rocky Mountains and that of the Sierra Nevada. Beyond embracing the general existential nature, it's just a fascinating place to stare at rocks in all sorts of different light levels.

So, on an unseasonable 110F in late March, or a semi-normal 125F in July? Your relative humidity will not just be below 20 percent. It will probably be below 15 percent, and maybe down to a flat 10 percent.

And that, combined with no shade from no trees, is how an extreme desert can kill. You lose water not just from perspiration, but respiration out your lungs.

It's also why the third wagon on the borax train was a water wagon. Even with mules' conservativism with water versus horses, you needed to haul that much for them, plus the people driving the wagon.

As for the ruggedness of the rock in general, California has some other good sites for that, like Point Reyes, but nothing compares overall to Death Valley. Big Bend here in Texas is the one other larger-scale landscape that's halfway in the same ballpark.