Western States (3)
Some views from Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, Mojave Desert, California...
A little story about Death Valley...
In 1849, a wagon train wandered into Death Valley. They ran out of food and couldn't get out. Two men, John Rogers and William Manly, walked nearly 600 miles in 26 days to bring back food and supplies.
To give you some idea of how hot and dry it is in the valley. Your body temperature is 98.8F, the temperature in the valley usually gets up to 130F. The highest temperature recorded here was 136F.
The average rainfall is 1.9" per year. However, it's so hot and dry here that water will evaporate at 190" per year. The area the 49's got trapped in is called the Lake Manly after William Manly. The last time there was a proper lake here was around 12,000 years ago. Before it evaporated the lake was 90 miles long and 600ft deep. all that's left of it is a layer of salt 3 to 5 ft thick.
When we got down to the valley it was quite cool at only 110F!
Lake Manly
To give you some idea of the scale of this place. The two photos of Lake Manly were taken from a place called Dante's View which is 5,500ft above sea level. The salt flats are 280ft below sea sea level. To the bottom left of the above photo is almost a sheer drop of a mile to the valley floor. The valley is 100 miles long and the salt flat is 5 miles in width.
To the left of the photo across the valley, is Telescope Peak. It is 11,000ft above sea level - a mile higher than Dante's View where the photo was taken. The distance between Dante's View and Telescope Peak is 21 miles.
Mike at Lake Manly
Don't you wish sometimes that every other maniac on the road would just disappear. Come to sunny Death Valley...
View from the front of the car
View from the rear of the car
Top down, arm resting on the door. Forearm blistered 'cos you let it touch the side of the car. Peeling, sunburned upper arm skin flapping in the breeze - now that's the way to travel.
Devil's Golf Course
Bloody 'ell - there's another car here. Where are we going to park?
Devil's Golf Course
Yes, this really is all salt. I picked up a bit and tried it. My lips, tongue, gums and tonsils all dried up and shriveled!
This page created 30th August 2011, last modified 31st August 2011
