Death Valley sites

(Warning - lots of pictures!)
So Death Valley (or as we now call it Wow Valley) is supposed to be one of the driest places on earth. Why is it that the week we are here it rains nearly every day? Now they can use the rain in this area, don't get me wrong. In fact the rain lately has turned the brown desert into an amazing carpet of color. As I write this, over the past five days Las Vegas has received almost 1/3 of their annual rain total.

Thursday, March 12 we headed into the Valley. After bouncing Cheryl down the Titus Canyon road and scaring her on the narrow mountain roads I promised her a smoother trip and all paved. The forecast was for mostly sunny skies but it turns out it was mostly cloudy and by the time we got home the rain had started.

We headed west on Hwy 372/178 to Shoshone, then followed 178 into the heart of the Valley. The scenery is, of course, breathtaking.

We picked up the Badwater Road and headed north up through the Valley. Our first stop was the ruins of Ashford Mills. It seems that the promise of riches in Death Valley never materialized for nearly all ventures except tourism, and that is a much more modern phenomena. Ashford Mills was built to process gold ore from the gold mines in the eastern hills.

There was just enough water in this pond to make a beautiful reflection.

The salty basin near Badwater.

Our next stop was Badwater. This is the lowest point in the US at -282 feet (-86 m) below sea level.

That white mark high on the rock wall is Sea Level!

We carried on past the Natural Bridge hiking trail. We had a lot of ground to cover today and this one-mile hike would likely take a bit more time than we had (that's my excuse!). Next stop for us was a quick one at Devil's Golf Course. Due to the rainy weather the road was flooded so a quick photo from the road would have to do.

Further down the road was the turnoff to the Artist's Pallet drive. The colors in the rock are blue, yellow, green, red and other shades caused by the various elements in the rock. The colors vary with the lighting. Today was mostly cloudy so the light was fairly flat. Whatever the light the scenery is spectacular.

We followed the road back to the highway and then turned right toward Furnace Creek. Just north of the townsite is the Harmony Borax exhibit. Borax mining was another enterprise that had minimal success in Death Valley.

Wagons used to haul Borax. Pulled by as many as 20 mules

The boiler.

A drive through the borax fields.

Mustard Canyon

Harmony Borax operation.

We stopped to view the exhibits at the Visitor Center

Next stop was Zabriskie Point. What a gorgeous spot!

It had been a long day and the cloud cover was getting thicker with rain a distinct possibility but we had one more stop to make. We had heard about the incredible views from Dante's View. They were right! It was amazing. You could see for miles. The clouds were low but they didn't restrict the view.

What a day of sites we saw! It was a long day and we drove a lot of miles (about 200), but the scenery was fabulous. We definitely will be back in Death Valley.....or make that Wow Valley!

.....and that was Our View From Here!