We left on a whim when we saw the news about a "Super Bloom" occurring in Death Valley National Park and it was worth it! During any given year scattered flowers will bloom in Death Valley, but when the right conditions exist, large areas of the park with erupt with flowers creating washes of color on the normally bare ground. With this only occurring once every decade or so, we decided to head west! We had never been to Death Valley before, so we had no idea what to expect. In addition to the beautiful flowers blooming everywhere, the scenery was breathtaking! Death Valley lies between two stunning mountain ranges. The valley that runs between them includes sand dunes, beautifully colored mountain sides, canyons with walls of marble, salt flats, and the lowest elevation in North America (282 ft below sea level). Death Valley is well worth a visit, even if there isn't a "Super Bloom". Since there are not any grocery stores nearby, be prepared with plenty of food and water before you enter the park. Now, on to the flowers! The majority of the flowers seemed to be flowers called Desert Gold or Desert Sunflowers, but there was a surprising amount of variety once we got out of the car to look at them closer. While I looked through a lot of websites and books to identify these flowers, I found a website called The American Southwest very helpful.
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To start our second day in Death Valley, we decided to take a different route through the park and, if we had time, go back to see one of the places that we had missed on the first day, an area known as Artist's Palette. Some areas along today's route had even more spectacular flower displays than yesterday's route and we stopped several times to take more pictures. Our next stop was the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. These dunes are completely different from the ones that we visited at White Sands National Monument, NM. The sand here is comprised of many different colors that are primarily quartz. The sand was warm, but if you stuck your finger down into it, you quickly felt the temperature drop. Next, we decided to head to Mosaic Canyon. This canyon is one of contradictions with one side being primarily comprised of smooth marble and the other of rough stream deposits. Additionally, the marble is much older than the cemented stream deposits that stand on the other side of the canyon. The drive up to the canyon is a bumpy one (although the road seemed well maintained). Once in the parking area, be sure to turn around to face the road you just travelled. The view is incredible and is lost in a picture. Once you enter the canyon you get your first glimpse of the marble...and it practically glows. The beginning of the trail requires some scrambling up the slippery marble and coming back down can be a challenge, too. We stopped after the first 1/4 mile so that we would have time to see Artist's Palette. After a quick stop at Stovepipe Wells Village, we headed towards Artist's Drive in order to see Artist's Palette, an area of the mountains that are colored with a variety of hues. These mountains are part of the Amargosa Range and were created by a combination of sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The colors are created by various iron oxides and minerals in the volcanic ash. This ended our final day in Death Valley National Park. We attempted to reach Dante's Peak before dark, but when it was clear that we wouldn't make it, we turned around to enjoy the sun setting on the blankets of flowers. Along the way there was still plenty of beautiful scenery. Death Valley National Park contained much more than we expected and was well worth a visit. We plan to return to see more of its unique features.
For more information, please visit the park's website. We also picked up a booklet at the Furnace Creek Visitor's Center that contained interesting information about the sights and suggested routes for two days. The book is called "Road Guide to Death Valley National Park" and was written by Robert and Barbara Decker with maps and drawings by Rick Hazlitt. We decided to head to Death Valley National Park because of the "Super Bloom". We had never been before and didn't know what to expect. While the flowers were incredible, there are plenty of other geological features within the park that make it well worth the trip even after the flowers have faded. Death Valley lies between the Panamint and Amargosa Mountain Ranges. The valley itself is 156 miles long and Badwater Basin within the valley claims the lowest elevation in North America at 282 ft below sea level. Within the park you can discover sand dunes, canyons lined with marble, brightly colored mountain sides, and expansive salt flats via car. Other famous locations, including the Racetrack Playa where rocks seemingly move on their own, are only accessible with an off road capable vehicle or by hiking. (To learn the mysterious circumstances behind how the rocks move, go here.) The hotels within the park were fully booked and too expensive for us anyway, but unless you choose to stay within the park, be prepared to drive an hour or more to get there. We decided to stay at the Motel 6 in Beatty, NV, which we enjoyed, but we also would have liked to have a few more restaurant options (Happy Burro Chili and Beer was very good and our best meal). We did not get to eat within the park. We tried to get indian fry bread at the small restaurant on the Timbisha Shoshone Indian Reservation within the park, but they had unfortunately run out of food. There are no grocery stores nearby, so be prepared with plenty of food and water before you head to the park. Besides the flowers, one of the first plants we came across within the park that made us stop was a strange looking bush covered with orange filament-like strings. It took some research when we got home to figure out what this plant was. Turns out, it is a parasite plant called Toothed Dodder. According to a Death Valley National Park post, it is in the Morning Glory family and related to the Sweet Potato. It does not kill it's host bush, but the tendrils reach out to find annual flowers and plants and it will kill them. As strange as this plant is, it is native to the Mojave Desert and just part of this ecosystem's normal lifecycle. After the flowers and beautiful scenery, the salt flats were our first stop. The salt flats in Death Valley are extensive and cover almost 200 square miles. The beginning of the salt flats (from our driving direction) was well before Badwater Basin and had surprising patchy areas of grasses/vegetation and streams of water! We had to walk a little ways to get to the salt flat and even with February temperatures (already in the low 90's), we were glad we took water. Once we got out to the salt flats, there was a nice variety of crystal structures as the water evaporated and the salt dried. In some of the muddy areas around the water we even found some small worms burrowing through the mud. Suddenly the placards at museums talking about fossilized worm trails and burrows made sense! After a couple more stops to look at flowers, one of my favorites was the Gravel Ghost, and a stop at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, we came to Badwater Basin. Badwater Basin is located in the salt flats of Death Valley and is the lowest point in North America at 282 ft below sea level. There is a label on the mountainside across the road from the parking area for Badwater Basin that marks sea level. While it is not impressively high in a picture, it certainly is when you are standing there! As we drove away from Badwater Basin at the end of our first day in the park, we came across a coyote trying to cross the road. Fortunately, everyone stopped in time, but I think the speed limits in the park are much too high. Please watch for wildlife and be cautious. After deciding not to continue crossing the road, the coyote practically sat down next to our car and gave us great looks! We pulled off the road and watched it from the car until sunset. A perfect end to our first day exploring Death Valley!
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September 2022
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