Left Vegas for Death Valley, California. Wanted to beat the heat (only about 70 degrees high this time of year) . Death Valley is the hottest place in North America (once had temps as high as 147) and the lowest place (Badwater is 282 feet below sea level. It only gets 2 inches of rain a year, although it did sprinkle a little while we were there. The big flat basin was formed by a pulling apart of two geological plates, the Oceanic and the Continental. What is left at the bottom of dried out Manley Lake is salt (picture above), a lot of salt. The lowest point is Badwater (called that because the water is full of salt), which still has some little fish (pupfish) that survive today.
We were there during springtime blooming season; above a blooming cactus.
The geologic forces produced a churning of the rocks and minerals; above, an area known as the Artist's pallette, don't know if you can see the tourquoise and other colors in the rocks.
Do you remember "Death Valley Days" on tv, brought to you by 20 mule team borax? Well, Harmony Borax works mined borax here in the 1880s and shipped the loads via 20 mule team 165 miles away to the railroad depot. This was an actual wagon.
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