The Many Sides of Death Valley

Don’t get me wrong.  Death Valley is aptly named.  It is hot.  Like crazy hot.  Like 95 degrees at 7am, hot.  And it is desolate.  Like, LITERAL MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, desolate.  Not a soul in site for miles and miles.  And of course the signs everywhere warning you of heat stroke and death and the need for water.  I get why they call it Death Valley.  And quite a lot of the park looks like this.

 

But even in this desolate, barren waste land, I still found such beauty.  I mean I wouldn’t want to live here.  But, I found beauty in the variety of barren ness.  And in the colors.  This was called Artist’s Pallette.

 

And this was part of the section Scott dubbed as “Mars.”   There was a lot of this.

 

 

We all decided the movie “The Martian” could have easily been filmed at this park.

This was called Devil’s Golf Course.

 

Look closely at those salt formations. Can you imagine trying to cross this?  One slip, one cut and you would literally have salt in your wound.

And they're not small, these are serious tripping hazards.  Death Valley for sure.

Speaking of salt, these are the salt flats… yet another portion of the park.

 

The lowest spot in North America! (when you’re not on the platform )

 

This is the water in Badwater Basin. Actual standing water way too salty to drink.

 

 

 

But, I kind of got a head of my self… the day actually started with an amazing  7 am hike in Golden Canyon.

Our 6 year old spotted this little guy on our hike. Hard to imagine anything surviving in this climate, but there is life here.  You gotta look carefully to find it. 

It was like walking in another world.

 

I am glad we got up early so we could spend some time exploring the formations up close.  It was a fun start to our day and I highly recommend this hike.