Death Valley National Park: Behind the extremes

Death Valley…..does it really describe its name? Or does it show the other beauty of life we oftentimes neglect to see? 

 

The Mesquite Sand Dunes at Stovepipe Wells Village, Death Valley NP

Visitors of Death Valley National Park, the largest National Park in the contiguous US, were treated either with awe (from late fall to early spring) from its surreal beauty or with a sorry feeling of being there for being so hot as hell (summer).

 

  white desert holly on black volcanic sand with the naturally painted badlands, Death Valley NP

Behind these extremes: hottest (but only during summer), lowest and driest, Death Valley National Park offers unparalleled beauty and diversity of a desert. It is a geological wonderland of exposed multilayered colored rocks and layers of the earth.

 

 Artists’ Drive, Death Valley NP

Amidst scarce vegetation, the beauty of Death Valley does not speak of its name, but a deep peacefulness and solitude, and a beauty so surreal. Its contrasting topography, diverse geology and rugged beauty so immense, so peaceful, and so different is really something to see.

What I will be sharing here are some of our experiences that hopefully will help in making your visit to Death Valley a very memorable one:

I. Best time to visit – November to March.  We visited Death Valley late November where the temperature is more comfortable for hiking even at mid-day. The highest temperature when we were there was only in the 70s.  I was glad to leave the park filled with hopes, hopes for a promise of a beautiful life after passing the harshests tests of time.

Father Crowley Point, Death Valley NP. A great resting place of the spirit.….. 

The  peak visitation in Death Valley is late Ferbruary to March, because of the magnificient wildflower bloom. I still have to experience the wildflower bloom in Death Valley. Hopefully, this spring of 2008, I may be able to experience what I missed last spring of 2005.  Please click on this link ( http://www.wildnatureimages.com/panamint_range_photos.htm ) to see pictures of wonderful showcase of wildflowers by a respected professional photorapher. I missed the display last 2005 because I had not been awaken yet by the beautiful world in our backroads, but I am hoping to see this spring 2008. Only that, as a teacher, I could not pack and go at anytime. I hope that the peak of the wildflower bloom will also coincide with my spring break on the week of March 17.   

II. Places We Experienced:

1. Badwater Basin, found on Badwater Road- please visit http://california.today.com/2009/02/05/badwater-basin-death-valley-national-park/

2. Artist’s Palette on Artist’s Drive that starts and ends at Badwater Road:

 

” The colors in Artist’s Palette resulted from the oxidation of different metals. Red, pink and yellow is from iron salts, green is from decomposing tuffed-derived mica, and manganese produces the purple color. Called the Artist Drive Formation, the rock unit provides evidence for one of the Death Valley area’s most violently explosive volcanic periods. The Miocene-aged formation is made up of cemented gravel, playa deposits, and much volcanic debris, perhaps 5,000 feet (1500 m) thick. Chemical weathering and hydrothermal alteration are also responsible for the variety of colors displayed in the Artist Drive Formation and nearby exposures of the Furnace Creek Formation. ” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubehebe_Crater#Ubehebe_Crater

3. Devil’s Golf Course, still along Badwater Road.

The Devil’s Golf Course is still part of the Badwater Basin or the salt pan. However, it has rougher features because the brief rainstorms carved through the salt deposits.

4. Golden Canyon – still accessed from Badwater Road.

 

Golden Canyon trail is an easy 2-mile roundtrip hike with gradual slope to the colorful badlands. However, if you have ample time and up for some physical fitness, you can extend your hike up to Zabriskie Point. There are also plenty of narrow slot-like canyon trails that we climbed within the Golden Canyon. It is interesting to see the changing of colors of the rocks here.

5. Zabriskie Point-

 

The Zabriskie Point is part of the Amargosa Chaos, a complexly faulted and folded region. Even without formal trail, it is possible to climb up and enjoy these colorful mudhills and variegated dunes.

6. Harmony Borax Works – also along Badwater Road.

Some of the compounds deposited in the salt pan of the Badwater Basin include borate minerals such as borax. Borax is used in the manufacture of a variety of products such as soaps, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and even rocket fuels. Part of the history of Death Valley is the Borax Works, founded in 1881. The famed 20- mule teams were charged with the task of hauling borax 165 miles to Mojave, California. Today, mining in Death Valley proper has been stopped, but borates are still mined throughout the region.

6. Mesquite Sand Dunes

 

The beauty of the Mesquite Sand Dunes is the contrast between the soft and alluring curves of the dunes and the sharp and rocky features of the surrounding mountains .

 

What adds drama to this beautiful place is the starking contrast between the lightly colored sand and the multi-colored exposed layers of the earth in the nearby Funeral Mountains.

 

This is probably the place in Death Valley where we stayed the longest time, since once in the dune, it is hard to resist the temptation to play with the soft burrowing sand and to be on top of the tallest Mesquite Sand Dune.

 

7. Ubehebe Crater, Northern Region

 

Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater located in the Northern region of Death Valley NP. The crater is about half a mile in diamter and about 500 ft deep. Unlike most of the geologic features of Death Valley, the age of this crater is not measured in millions but only thousands of years. Ubehebe crater is about 2,000 years old only. Rising magma- hot, molten rock- turned groundwater into steam. Intense steam pressure built until the superheated combination of molten rock and steam exploded, creating a crater like Ubehebe. There are many volcanic craters around this area, but Ubehebe is the largest. One can walk around the crater, or hike to the well formed  Little Hebe crater,

 

or go down 500 ft to the bottom of the crater.

8. Mosaic Canyon, 2 miles west of Stovepipe Village

 

 up the slippery polished walls of a tilted strata in Mosaic Canyon

Hiking Mosaic Canyon, where polished walls of marble mix with colorful mosaic patches of agglomerated fragments, felt like walking into a museum.

You see people stopping and taking a close inspection of the type of rocks in the canyon’s walls or probably in the look-out for some faults or fossils, well, just like in the museum.

Inside the canyon, one experiences again the powerful force of flowing water that eroded massive amounts of marbled rocks and debris from the mountains.

 

Mosaic Canyon is an easy 2 to 4 miles round trip hike, depending on how much one would want to see. Some sections of the canyon require scrambling up a slippery polished rock. It is also difficult to resist the temptation to scramble up some tilted walls. Aside from marble, there are different types of rocks in the walls of the canyon that are very interesting to see.

9. Charcoal Kilns in Wildrose Canyon

 

The Charcoal Kilns were built in 1867 to reduce the local Pinon Pines and Juniper trees to charcoal by a process of slow controlled burning. The charcoal was then used to smelt gold and lead ore in the local mines. However, after just a few years of use, they were abandoned, one of the reason behind the longevity of these kilns.

10. Father Crowley Point, Panamint Valley

This very scenic viewpoint provides a great resting place for the tired travelers entering Death Valley National Park from the West. At the viewpoint, you can rest your eyes on the panoramic views of the northern end of Panamint Valley in Death Valley National Park. This place is named after Father John Crowley, the Padre of the Desert, 1891- 1940. From the snowy heights of the Sierras beyond the deep shadows of Death Valley, Father John Crowley, beloved and trusted by people of all faiths, led people toward life’s wider horizons.

In summary, the beauty of Death Valley is not so much on what is obvious, but what lies hidden. In Death Valley, one has to get to their feet and keep going to capture a stunning memory. Driving CA Higway 190, one is greeted with the desert’s vast emptiness as far as one’s eyes can see,

and of the mysterious alternating layers of mountains across a flat colorfull valley.

 

The drive, at first was clearly not as breath-taking and as scenic as other places I’ve been. Some  who simply saw Death Valley from the sides of the road probably wondered what is so special with this place that earned it the status of a National Park, and even considered one of the top ten wonders of the West. But leaving your car behind, getting to your feet to explore what is hidden, and then putting these jewel-like pieces of Death Valley together, suddenly your realize Death Valley is clearly a geological wonderland must see. You come to realize that it does not necessarily have to be green or to have lush vegetation to be considered pretty. It is a beauty that feels like out of this world or out of this planet. Almost surrounded by mountains, few places are as foreboding or as beautiful as Death Valley National Park. I hope you come and see the surreal beauty that is formed by this harsh and unforgiving land.