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| The first of todays sights is 13 miles from Furnace Creek along The Badwater Road and a dirt road to The Devils Golf Course....the floor of Death Valley is a 200 square mile evaporating dish crusted with a variety of salts.....here the lumpy salt pinnacles look to us like a ploughed field on a frosty English morning, we couldn't work out why it is likened to a golf course even after reading the information boards..... |
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| The English ploughed field !..... |
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| Next stop 5 miles farther along the road to Badwater Basin and the lowest point in Death Valley and North America... 282 feet below sea level... |
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| This pond is 4 times saltier than the sea and shrinks in summer to a puddle but is home to tiny snails.... |
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| And here we are on the lowest point of North America standing on nearly pure table salt.... |
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| We lucked out and had the quarter mile walk on the salt almost to ourselves.....we did have a good chat with a geology student from San Francisco..... |
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| A 1.5 mile gravel road brings us to the Natural Bridge Canyon trailhead....... |
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| This was a mile uphill hike to the dry marble waterfall......we were singing at this point "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" this is our song for the next 2 days.... |
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| The natural bridge..... |
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| The Valley from Natural Bridge Canyon.... |
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| Our final sightseeing for today is the 9 mile drive along Artists Drive a dipping and curving one-way paved road that weaved through striking ravines and colourful rock formations....this and next few pics.... |
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| Lots of stopping places on route...we did also have one short but of course uphill hike to a view point ... |
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| We've had a really good day out and about in Death Valley and another day to come tomorrow.....boy are we going to need our thermals when we get back to Blighty !!! |
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