We finally arrived at Death Valley...had lunch at the Furnace Creek Hotel...and continued on to the "Bad Water Basin" a point which is 282 feet BELOW sea level. The lowest point in the United States.
There is a sign on the rocky hill which states "Sea Level" If you double click on the rocks, you can get an enlarged picture which shows the sign.
It's not hard to imagine (in pic#2 and #3) how the settlers thought they were arriving at "water." The shiny bits are just dried salt. What a disappointment. There's not much water...and the little bit of moisture there is on the ground is highly saturated with salt. Much like Utah's great salt lake (except that the great salt lake has a whole lot of water.)
There is a sign on the rocky hill which states "Sea Level" If you double click on the rocks, you can get an enlarged picture which shows the sign.
It's not hard to imagine (in pic#2 and #3) how the settlers thought they were arriving at "water." The shiny bits are just dried salt. What a disappointment. There's not much water...and the little bit of moisture there is on the ground is highly saturated with salt. Much like Utah's great salt lake (except that the great salt lake has a whole lot of water.)
We walked out about 1/2 mile into the shiny mirage...no water...just dried mud and salt.
The salt was like snow...the salt flats were miles wide. Such a hardship to cross that area. Average rainfall is 1.5 inches per year. Highest temp recorded was 134 degrees. Over 3.3 million acres in this desolate land.
The salt was like snow...the salt flats were miles wide. Such a hardship to cross that area. Average rainfall is 1.5 inches per year. Highest temp recorded was 134 degrees. Over 3.3 million acres in this desolate land.
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