(all pictures below are "clickable" for larger version)
Largest, lowest, hottest and driest
Death Valley National Park at 3 million acres is the largest National Park in the United States lower 48. It also holds the record for being the second lowest place in the world at 282 feet below sea level. It is the hottest place on Earth with the highest temperature ever recorded on the planet of 134 degrees Fahrenheit and is also the driest place with time between rainfalls measured in years. The National Park Service, caretaker of these desolate, barren and harsh lands even advises that the best time to visit Death Valley is in the Winter months. Why then would anybody want to visit there, let alone in the hottest month of the year, July?
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| Park Service warning |
Simply put, the park is a land of exquisite beauty. Never before have I seen such geological diversity, with an incomparable palette of colors and sheer majesty in every direction. From childhood I had always envisioned Death Valley as a large sandy desert devoid of any other geographic features. Reality is the land is incredibly rugged from low salt flats to soaring peaks in every color of the rainbow. We saw rock formations of pure black, brilliant turquoise, yellow, brown, white, red and green. Sometimes all these colors were in the same hillside. The other reason for visiting, the reason for the summer time, July no less, visit was curiosity. Death Valley is always mentioned in one way or another when extreme summer temperatures are mentioned on various weather services. I wondered what it would feel like to actually experience air temperatures of 120 to 130 degrees?
The answer is hot, darned hot. We got to Furnace Creek inside the park and the air temperature was 124 today. It was 125 yesterday. The wind across the desert blowing at 124 degrees Fahrenheit burns with an intense heat. Libbie likened it to blowing a hair dryer in your face. Only in this case, there is no escape and no "off" switch. The heat is blistering and intense and envelopes your body with a constant encompassing oven like feeling. I have never felt so hot before and I thrive in the NC near 100 summertime temperatures. I normally relish good warm temps in the 90s.
While Libbie was photographing the Death Valley sign I noticed her face turning red from the intense heat of the wind blowing at her. I saw this same reddened look on tourists of all kinds.
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| Intense hot wind reddens Libbie's face |
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| Red facial color of European tourist (click on photo) from extreme heat |
Furnace Creek Ranch
Our hotel for the Death Valley stay is the Furnace Creek Ranch Inn. Contrary to popular belief, Death Valley is not devoid of water. It just never rains there. This may seem like a conflicting dichotomy but there is a simple explanation. The mountain ranges of Death Valley soar to 11,000 feet. These high mountains capture rain in the form of thunderstorms. The runoff from these storms serves to supply underground streams and springs. Furnace Creek is built around one such natural spring. A few cottonwood trees, mesquite trees, pines and other heat tolerant varieties naturally thrive in the Furnace Creek area.
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| Sign for our hotel at Furnace Creek |
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| It actually was 124 F |
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| Today's temperature forecast posted on chalk board. I learned the next morning that the actual overnight low was 104. |
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| Bathroom sink has hot water and hotter water |
The water tap in the bathroom is interesting. I wanted to refill my water bottle but discovered the "cold" water comes out near 100 degrees. This is because the surface of the ground at Furnace Creek is almost 200 degrees. The hotel has a pool that is naturally heated by the 200 degree ground. (I have to love the French women walking around in their tiny little bikinis.)
I'm quite surprised to see an outdoor vending machine. The cooling system in this thing has to be heavy duty in this environment or it dispenses warm soda. I primarily drink water so i didn't get to sample the vending machine.
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| Post Office, Death Valley with outdoor vending machine |
Heat!
I learned an early lesson about the heat in Death Valley. My car has never wavered in engine temperature from exactly in the middle of the temperature gauge. No matter if I was stuck in traffic or just sitting waiting in a parking lot with the engine idling to run the A/C, the temperature never wavered. I attributed this fact to an efficient electric fan which is thermostatically controlled to keep the radiator heat dissipated. In the old days when radiator fans were driven by an engine belt it was important to keep the car moving so the engine could run at a higher RPM to achieve cooling. This is why cars don't overheat anymore in traffic jams. They have electric fans independent of the speed of the engine.
At our first lookout we left the car with the engine idling and the A/C running. I wanted to keep the passenger compartment comfortable for when we returned. Upon returning after hiking for no more than 10 minutes, I saw the engine temperature gauge was in the red zone or "H" indicating HOT. I quickly got the car moving to assist the cooling fan with moving air. No luck. The gauge lowered slightly but remained dangerously near H. The engine can't idle indefinitely in a 124 degree F environment without an assist from air movement of a moving vehicle. From then on I always shut the engine off when we left the car for even the briefest time and fortunately didn't have any additional temperature scares. Lesson learned.
The car has an outside temperature display on the instrument panel. It was fun to see it climb into the 120's. I wasn't sure if it could display 124 or was it one of those things where all the digits would display 999 because some internal limit had been reached? It displayed 124. The record for Death Valley is 134. The year of the record temperature the temperature went over 129 five consecutive days in a row before maxing out at 134.
Incredible Beauty
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| Unbelievable palette of hillside colors, even on Libbie's face |
The following sequence of 8 pictures is an example of the incomparable beauty of Death Valley. I tried not to get too jaded by the environment. One can easily accept the fact that the hill over there is blue and pink or that one is orange and yellow or that one is pure white with a few red streaks. The beauty of this place is unfathomable for me and no matter how long I was exposed to it, I kept staring in awe, wonderment and disbelief. How could mountains be so splendid and delightful?
(you need to click on each of these to enlarge them for a greater appreciation of the splendor)
Our hotel in Furnace Creek is at a remarkable 178 feet below sea level. I came across this US Geodetic survey marker on the hotel property with the elevation engraved in the brass.
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| -178 feet or 178 feet below sea level |
Badwater Basin Salt Flats (altitude -282 feet)
A short distance down the road from the Furnace Creek ranch is the salt bed of Badwater Basin.
Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. To have exposed land below sea level an extremely dry climate is necessary. In wet climates, low places fill with water and overflow to the sea. A dry climate evaporates water and leaves behind salt flats. Here at Badwater Basin the landscape is a gigantic dry salt flat.
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| Badwater Basin looks like a refreshing lake |
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| Salt Flats of Badwater Basin |
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| Lowest Point in Western Hemisphere 282 feet below sea level |
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| Libbie on the Badwater Basin Salt flat |
The surface of the salt flat is crisp and mottled from the evaporation of water in the years that a rain occurs. If you quietly listen you can hear the surface of the slat flat cracking and checking in the unrelenting sun and heat as if it's alive. The ground surface temperature is 200.
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| Salt flat surface mottled with the effects of drying |
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| Mottled cracked salt surface |
Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes
Death Valley has a wide range of diverse geological features. A short distance from the salt flats are blowing and drifting sand dunes. Only about 1% of the desert surface is covered by sand dunes. For dunes to exist there must be a source of sand, prevailing winds to move the sand, and a place for the sand to collect. The eroded canyons and washes provide plenty of sand, the wind seems to always blow, but there are only a few areas in the park where the sand is "trapped" by geographic features such as mountains.
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| Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley |
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| the wind is constantly changing the shape of the dunes |
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| surface of the blowing sand |
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| The tallest dunes at Mesquite Flats are over 100 feet high |
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| Wind blown sand patterns |
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| Sand dunes are prominent in the barren valley |
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| Opposite the sand dunes are these rugged looking mountains in black |
Mosaic Canyon
A 2.4 mile hike into the mountains reveals a canyon with walls of polished marble.
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| Smooth Marble walled canyon |
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| Marble everywhere, Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley |
Harmony Borax Works
Borax was discovered in Death Valley in 1881. Borate was deposited in the the salt pan of the ancient lake bed and recrystallized as a borate ore. W.T. Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works to gather the ore and extract the borax. The famous "20 Mule Teams" transported the ore to the railroad. The remains of the Harmony Borax Works are now a historic site in the Death Valley Park.
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| Remains of the Harmony Borax Works |
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| Borax crystals on the desert floor |
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| 130 year old 20 Mule Team wagon |
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| 20 Mule Team wood spoke wheel from 1885 |
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| Historic 20 Mule Team Borax train |
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| Remains of 1882 Harmony Borax Works, Death Valley |
Solar Powered Visitors Center
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| Four arrays of panels, 56 panels per array |
Most people go into the Visitors Center to cool off, use the restrooms and get cold water. I stayed outside soaking in the 124 degree air and wandered around the back of the building. I spotted the arrays of solar cells while turning into the parking lot and I knew a closer inspection was in order. I now marveled in awe over the arrays of solar panels powering the place (yes I know I'm weird).
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| Panels are bolted and wired together |
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| Label on each panel indicates 90 watts |
From the label we can see each panel generates 90 watts. Each of 4 rows by 9 columns of round circles is a panel as can be seen in the picture. There are 7 panels high and 8 panels wide making up one of these arrays for 7 x 8 x 90 watts = 5,000 watts per array.
There are 4 arrays so the total power being generated here is 5,000 x 4 = 20,0000 watts.
While I was wandering around underneath the panels a guy came out of the building wearing a ranger type uniform. I knew that someone would see me and investigate what I was up to. Busted! He was pretty friendly and also knowledgeable about these panels. The panels supply an excess of the energy needed to run the building. I suspected as much since 20,000 watts is a lot of power. The electric meter runs backwards meaning it is supplying power to the grid instead of consuming it. This is pretty impressive in my view since all the building lights, the swamp cooling and any computers in the gift shop and offices are being powered by the sun. Death Valley has plenty of sun!
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| 20,000 watts from sunshine |
