Death Valley NP

Death Valley is an amazing place. The name is quite attractive... what could move early explorer to call this place Death Valley?? Once you get there, you get it... lunar/martian landscapes with no signs of life except a few rattlesnakes, lizards, coyotes... and a few small flowers in spring. And temperatures that can rise up to 57 degrees centigrade in Summer (not kidding!).

This place made a great impact in me... It is so wild that it is utterly beautiful... and so unforgiving...

This is what the valley looks like from Dante's View, a viewpoint in the Black Mountains (yeah, every name here is kind of cool!).




This is the view from Zabriskie point. This landscape is so strange... it is hard to believe it is real!



This is Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and one of the hottest point on Earth. The ground is made of salt... water that comes out of the Earth's crust evaporates leaving only salt behind.




And the Devil's Golf Course, another famous landmark because of the strange salt formations on the ground.



And this is the Artist's Palette. Mountains take different colors because of the minerals they are make of. So beautiful under twilight!



And the Valley is so vast...



... the mountains so colorful...



... and canyons so spectacular!



Human exploitation of the valley was tried. The valley is rich in a mineral called Borax which is useful for many things. However, the climate is so harsh that borax works lasted for only 6 years and everybody left. The Valley inhabitants left some ruins and ghost towns behind.



The valley a small area where water comes out of the crust and does not evaporate immediately. There some tiny fish can strive.




Another interesting area is the big Sand Dunes in the Middle of the Valley, house to many lizards and some bushes.