Only in Death Valley

As you know, Death Valley is a land of extremes. It is officially the hottest place on earth, with a recorded temperature of 134˚. It has the lowest spot in North America, Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level. It is the driest place in the US, with an annual rainfall of less than 2 inches and some years there is no rain at all. And yet, it seems we managed to bring some of our Northwest wet with us. Lol.

Seattle drizzle in the desert. Yep, we did that! Lol. 

We left the coach Thursday, 4/19, under cloudy skies. By the time we reached Badwater Basin it was raining, not hard, but definitely a Seattle drizzle. It was hilarious to get pictures of folks with their umbrellas out in Death Valley.

Death Valley Bumpershoot!

Badwater Basin, the lowest spot in the valley, is a huge salt flat. The salty goodness oozes up through cracks in the mud forming strange patterns. Because of the drizzle, we even had a little salt slush to walk through.

Lowest of the low!

Salty patterns.

Salt outlines the cracks in the mud.

I mentioned before how surprised we were by the diversity here, but the features unique to Death Valley are also fascinating. A great example is the Devil’s Golf Course. Crystallized salts deposited by ancient salt lakes were shaped by winds and rain. The landscape is constantly changing as salt continues to be deposited. The formations look delicate, but the salt is rock hard and sharp. The footing is treacherous, this is not a place to take a tumble!

The Devil's Golf Course (aka Mar-a-Lago). 

Essentially rock salt... or salty rocks. :)

We loved the slot canyon hikes we did last year in Utah. So we were thrilled to find there were three slot canyons here we could explore – all in Sidewinder Canyon. It was a long mile-long slog up a loose gravel wash to the first slot, but totally worth it! We went in quite a way, scrambling over several dry falls and had a great time. 

Into the first slot...

A fun maze to navigate!

Love the slots!

Some scrambling required.

Steep walls and balanced rocks.

The rain is gone and we have blue skies above!

We found the second slot canyon about a quarter mile up the wash. We didn’t get as far into this one, we came to a spot where we’d need to belly crawl about 30 feet in the dark under a dry fall. Hmmmmm… belly crawl through a dark tunnel in “Sidewinder” Canyon? I don’t think so. Looked like a great spot to turn around and have some lunch. Lol!  Since we didn’t want to leave Riley alone too long in his air-conditioned comfort, we decided to save the third slot for a return visit.

Wildflower in the dry wash.

We found the entrance to the second slot canyon!

Going up!

We found an arch too.

Belly crawl... in the dark... in Sidewinder Canyon... nope!

The views as we exited the canyon were fabulous. 

According to our original plan we’d leave Death Valley tomorrow (Friday) and head further into the desert southwest. Rog has been keeping tabs on the weather and it looks like things are heating up. Here in Death Valley we’re looking at solid mid-90’s and up into triple digits. The areas we wanted to visit are the same. Finding a spot with hookups on a Friday afternoon would be like winning the lottery. Hmmmmm… what to do?

We have full hookups right now and we’ve been approached multiple times every day by people asking when we’re leaving because they’re hoping to snag our spot. We’re comfy. Riley’s comfy. There’s still lots we haven’t seen here. So we decide to hang tight for two more days. (Much to the disappointment of the folks trolling for hookups.) It should be easier to find a spot on a Sunday evening. (Lucky us, some people still have work and school on Monday. Lol).

We make Friday a camp day. Riley gets a bath and lots of Mommy-Daddy play time. I start drafting blog posts so I’m ready to post whenever we find decent wifi (Where’s Starbucks when you need them?!) or a better Verizon signal – 3G just doesn’t cut it to upload dozens of pictures.

Riley gets some play time.

Our last day we choose the Mosaic Canyon hike, known for its smooth marble and breccia (a conglomerate stone that looks like a mosaic). It was a beautiful hike with striking stone walls and enough rock scrambling to make it interesting. Trying to scramble up the polished marble waterways was a challenge, coming down was much easier – just sit and slide. 😊

Mosaic Canyon.

Mosaic Canyon is known for its distinct stone - Breccia (left) and Dolomite Marble (right)

The smooth marble waterways are slippery!

Met some of the locals on this hike.

Having fun!

End of the line. No scrambling over this!

Our final stop was to visit the Salt Creek pupfish. Thousands of years ago the floor of Death Valley was a huge freshwater lake. As time passed and the lake dried up most of its inhabitants died out, but the pupfish survived in isolated “islands” of water. The original species has evolved into ten different species and subspecies, each adapted to live in a specific environment. Several are endangered, but the Salt Creek Pupfish thrives in the briny water of Death Valley’s Salt Creek. Oh, and they’re called Pupfish because they waggle their tails and frolic like puppies! So darn cute.

Playful Pupfish!

These guys thrive in the briny water of Salt Creek.

Salt Creek levels fluctuate seasonally.
Much of the pupfish habitat will be gone by summer.

The pupfish are only an inch or so long and the water here is only a few inches deep.

The landscape is barren all around the creek.

Since we hit 101˚ on Saturday, it looks like staying put was a good choice. For now, our plan is to give up our cushy full hookup spot here at Furnace Creek on Sunday, 4/22, and head out of the park on Hwy 190 – but heading east, not the way we came in!!!  No repeat of that harrowing drive through Rainbow Canyon, thank you very much! Then south past Barstow and a leisurely saunter up Hwy 395 exploring as we go. We’ll see if wind and weather cooperate…