Then we parked and walked across the Mike O'Callaghan and Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.
Then, Ralphie and I went over the actual Hoover Dam and took some pictures by the water.
From there, we stopped in Parumph to fill up with fuel.
This is where Monica and Terry live, and also where the Spring Mountain race track is. The red GT begged us to stop by. I was itching to take the GT out on the track, but they had a Corvette school going on and we couldn't just quietly slip onto the track, especially with a loud GT!
There was a podium for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. I went up on the 1st place stand for practice. (Monica, I hope you are practicing, because I am getting lots of practice on all these mountain roads and am looking forward to taking a car out there and stretching her legs.) :-)
Then we drove to Death Valley via 178 (the scenic way to get there from the south). On the way to Furnace Creek, we passed by a whole lot of...brown. At first, there were desert plants, but the further along we went, the plants became more and more scarce.
How does it get so hot? The desert sun heats the valley air. The valley's steep mountain walls trap rising hot air and recirculate it back down to the basin for further heating. This cycle results in extremely hot temperatures of 120+ during the day and about 100 at night.
The white is the sand from water that evaporated. We are in the valley part of Death Valley, which is below sea level.
Oscar Denton on a 134 degree day:
"It was so hot that swallows in full flight fell to the earth dead and when I went out to read the thermometer with my wet Turkish towel on my head, it was dry before I returned."
Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 ft below sea level. The lowest point in the world is the Dead Sea (by Jordan and Israel), which is 1360 ft below sea level!!
This water is very rare in Death Valley. In fact, this area got its name "Badwater" because the surveyor mapping the area tried to get his mule to drink the water and he wouldn't. It is very salty. The water is there year round. It comes from ancient Ice Age snow and rain that melted off of mountains hundreds of miles away in NV. The water seeped into the limestone bed and flowed underground in an aquifer. It emerges at Badwater by the faultline. Salt dissolves from old deposits and flows to the surface.
Driving along miles and miles of desert...
Death Valley is the driest place in North America. It gets less than 2 in of water a year. The reason is that the surrounding mountains capture the moisture from passing storms before it can reach the valley, creating a "rain shadow". The rare summer thunderstorms or the most powerful winter storms are the only source of water the valley gets. (Note to self... No hiking during the day!)
The red GT was getting pretty hot, so we took it up the mountain to Dante's View.
From there we went to Zabriski Point.
MJ was caught jogging a few times...
The GT was very happy here! :)
In order to get back to Bishop (the next place with fuel) we had to fill up in Death Valley. Not cheap!!!!
On the way to Scotty's Castle, we encountered a little sand storm. It was really cool, but the GT didn't like it so much.
We made it through the sand storm and found a little spot of green where there must be a small creek. A rare sight in Death Valley!
The sun was starting to set, changing the color of the desert.
We didn't have a lot of time to spend here as we wanted to get back over the 3 mountain passes before dark, but we only had a couple more places to go. The first is the Ubehebe Crater. There is a loop you can walk around, but I only went a short way since the sunset made any decent picture on the other side dark.
From there we went to Scotty's Castle. They were closed, but that didn't stop us from stepping over the gate and taking our own tour outside.
You can see that there is a natural spring by where the castle was built, which is why there is so much greenery. It's like a tropical island in a giant sea of dirt and rock.
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