Death Valley

Death Valley is an awesome place.  The geological variation is just amazing,  It also has some unique history.  It was really hot, but not nearly as hot as it can be.  It was 85 to 90 in the valley, though it was cooler at higher elevations.  This was one of my favorite parks so far.

A view of the valley from Dante's View at 5475 feet.

There is actually water in Death Valley.  This is Salt Creek, which as its name suggests, is salty.

Salt Creek is home to the pupfish, Cyprinodon salinus.  These rare fish live in water which is quite salty.  They can survive temperatures just above freezing to 100 degrees.

Heading out Titus Canyon

The folded hills of Titus Canyon.

There are hundreds of mines through out Death Valley.  Silver, gold, copper, and lead were all mined in the mountains and canyons.

Leadfield was one of several ghost towns that can still be seen.

Some remains of Leadfield.

Gold, silver, and lead were mined around Leadfield.

Chuchwallas are still popular residents of Leadfield.

More Leadfield.

Layered hills.

Titus Canyon

Scotty's Castle was built by gold from "Death Valley Scotty"s" mine, or so he claimed.

In reality, Scotty's gold claim was a bust, but he was able to swindle investors into giving him money. One investor, an east coast banker, actually went to see the claim for himself.  When he realized that Scotty was conning him he used the land to build a vacation home.  He and Scotty became good friends, possibly due to their swindling similarities.

Ubehebe Crater.  This volcano erupted a few hundred years ago.  

It was pretty deep.

Another smaller crater.

Remains of the Harmony Borax Works.  This was the refining plant, where the borax was separated from the other salts before it was hauled from the valley.

The borax was hauled out with Twenty Mule Teams

Borax wagon and water tank.

Mule Train Wagons

This area is called Devil's Golf Course.

Rock Salt

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the U.S. at -282 feet below sea level.

The salt flats of Badwater Basin.

Salt flats.

There are a lot of cool salt crystal formations.

Large block of salt.

Volcanic and sedimentary hills of Artist's Drive.

Multi-hued hills.

The end of Golden Canyon.

Big Trees

We made a quick stop in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  These two parks are connected and managed together.  I still haven’t completely figured out why they are separate parks though.  Much of the parks are still closed, so we didn't see much of Kings Canyon.  We did get a good look at the Sequoias though, which was what I wanted to do anyway.  Must be the forestry degree showing. 

Sequoias are very large trees.  Though they are not the tallest trees, they are the largest by volume.  The trunks are quite impressive.  The parks are home to five of the six largest trees in the world.  These massive trees are extremely hardy and can withstand fire, insects, and even lightning.  Hence, they live a long time.  What does eventually get them is toppling.  They have a shallow root system and no taproot.  Most root systems grow no deeper than five feet below the surface and they are susceptible to insect and fungal damage.

The Sequoias are big enough to drive under.

Still a little snow at 6000 feet.

Walking on a fallen tree.

Incredibly shallow root system for such a big tree.

Some people even used them as cabins.

Inside of Tharp's Tree.

You can disappear inside.

Really, I am in there.

We went on a dangerous hike to the top of Moro Rock.

Over three hundred steps to the top.

View from the top. It was a bit cloudy.

General Sherman from a distance.

General Sherman is the largest living tree by volume.  It is about 2200 years old.  It has a diameter of 36.5 feet. Although it is only 275 feet tall, it weighs an estimated 1385 tons.

Information on General Sherman.

A stand of trees, 

Sequoia Seedlings.

Sugar Pine cones.  They are about a foot long.

A group of sequoias.

General Grant.

General Grant is the world’s third largest tree. It does have the largest base diameter of 40.3 feet.  It actually tapers quickly and thus, has less volume than General Sherman.  It is a young’un at only 1700 years.

This gives a better perspective of the size of the trees.