We
traveled from Pahrump to Death Valley National Park along CA-190
to Furnace Creek. Because of information from our friend
Roy, we were able to avoid some road closures that would have
caused us to backtrack. The rains in October caused plenty
of damage in the park and Jubilee Pass was closed for repairs.
The photos below are what we saw.
Near 20
Mule Team Drive we spotted interesting mud hills.
Our first
stop was Zabriske Point that gave us a nice view of the mud
hills and upturned bedding associated with the fault zone.
Zabriske Point is near the right of the photo above and the
Panamint Range is in the distance. Death Valley is in the
valley between the point and the Panamints.
To the
south of Zabriske Point is an exposed volcanic dike resulting in
a well-defined wall through the mud hills.
Kathleen
posed wearing her earrings made from hard drive spacers.
The
overcast made for lots of glare demanding sunglasses or
squinting.
From
Zabriske Point, we went to Furnace Creek junction and then
headed south. The road closures resulted in double the traffic,
but it was not excessive. We went south to Badwater and
stopped to enjoy the view. Telescope Peak, the highest
point in the Panamint Range, was to our west. The open
water in the foreground of the photo above is heavily
mineralized and not drinkable by man nor beast. In fact,
very few plants are capable of tolerating the salinity of the
water resulting in the barren lake shores. The dried salt
surface of the lake is visible on the horizon.
While
shooting a few photos we heard many foreign languages.
Death Valley is popular with European visitors. For
whatever reason, they choose to walk to the center of the lake
nearly disapearing in the distance.
We
continued south toward Jubilee Pass. The road was closed,
but we could go part of the way which allowed us to see some of
the wild flower bloom areas. Most of the alluvial fans
acted as conduits for the rains and retained sufficient moisture
to promote a copious bed of flowers. Sadly for us, we were
about a week late in our arrival, but we did the best we could
give our schedules.
A number
of the alluvial fans were lush with flowers.
As the
fans neared the edge of the dry lake, the flower density reduced
leaving only a yellowish cast to the ground. Telescope
Peak (11,043 feet) is visible in the distance.
The
alluvial fans are the flow-down from the mouth of the
canyons. The upper reaches of the fans are closest to the
mouth, have the thickest sand, contain the most moisture and
therefore have the densest concentration of flowers.
Death
Valley has curious outcroppings of light colored material amidst
darker volcanic rock.
The
blooming areas extended all the way down to the salt zones next
to the dry lake. The terrain here is very harsh and
unforgiving -- boulders, gravel and sand but no real soil.
Wild
flowers bloom for a short window. During this window,
pollen is exchanged and the seeds are fertilized. Once
fertilized, the blooms wither and fade providing protection for
the maturing seeds. When fully mature, the seed pods open
and spill the seeds into the surrounding areas. In the
photo above, the seeds are in the fuzzy white pod.
It seems
that a number of species of plants bloom during the same interval.
I assume this is to exploit the insect population and its
ability to provide pollination services. The purple blooms
above are just starting to open.
Most of
the flowers visible were yellow with a few purple ones
interspersed. We did also find isolated patches of small
white flowers, although they were few and far between.
The
creosote bushes were also starting to bloom. With their
bright yellow flowers they turn an otherwise uninteresting bush
into a showcase.
The
heavy rains in October caused epic runoff volumes. Note
the alluvial fan in the center of the photo above. There
is at least 4 colors of material present in the flow producing a
nearly painted appearance.
The
interspersed materials that compose the cliff walls in Death
Valley produce rich colors.
On our return trip back to Pahrump we passed this butte with rich layering.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2016, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.