Death Valley

Man, was Death Valley hot!  Keep in mind that I wasn't even there during the summertime. It was 100 degrees when I visited in mid October.  I thought it was one of the more interesting parks I've visited so far, but you could not get me to go back in July.

One reason that I like Death Valley so much was because there are so many different spheres of interest to examine.  It's not just all desert, like I thought. 

I took a tour of Scotty's Castle, which is not really a castle. What it is is a really awesome ranch house built in the 920's in the middle of the desert.  It has so many cool features, I would consider it a luxury house even by today's standards. Hand carved redwood beams, specially designed wrought iron fixtures and even a pipe organ.  It's amazing to look at, even more so when you consider that everything in the house had to be shipped in by train and mule.

There was actual desert, of course, but I liked the salt flats better.

They call this salt flats area Badwater Basin.  Looks like sand, but it's really a salt crust that seeps from the ground. It really is salty though, I tasted it.  Just like table salt.

It's also the lowest point in the United States.  Way, way lower than sea level.  In the photo below I am standing on the salt flats, and the tiny white sign on the rock wall denotes sea level.  282 above where I'm standing.

There are also mountains surrounding all of the low areas, so you can get in some pretty good hikes. And everywhere that there was an oasis has been turned into a visitors center or resort.  I stayed at the Furnace Creek Resort, which is built around a natural spring.  I will confess that the whole reason I wanted to stay there is because they use this natural spring to feed a swimming pool.

Just to give everyone an idea of how hot and dry it is there, after swimming I took a shower.  Before I got back to the car, maybe a 5 minute walk, my hair was completely dry.  Crazy.