Death Valley, California

Last weekend we ventured out to Death Valley National Park. It is located around 130 miles from Las Vegas in California. Death Valley is around 3.4 million acres big and offers some of the most dramatic visual landscapes in the United States. Telescope Peak rises 11,049 feet elevation and lies only 15 miles from the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level.

Spring time is the most popular time to visit the park. Besides being warm and sunny you can view beautiful wildflowers if the past winter brought rain. We were lucky to have gone the beginning of March when the flowers were in full bloom. Parts of the desert were literally covered with yellow and purple flowers. Remember - with all the pictures posted on the blog, you can click them to get a more detailed picture.

Badwater - Death Valley

Badwater is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Badwater Basin is a landscape of vast salt flats. The area got is name by a old miner going through the area. He stopped his donkey by the water to drink and the donkey refused. The miner put his hand into the water to taste it and said....bad water. The water is not actually bad, it is just salty.





This picture is opposite the salt flats. The mountain has a sign on it (look around half way up on the mountain). It says sea level. So you can get a perspective of how below sea level you really are.

Calico Basin Red Springs

Saturday was suppose to be a beautiful day in Las Vegas. For the past couple of months the weekends around here have been nasty; high winds and rain. So we thought we would take advantage of the day and have a picnic up at Calico Basin Red Springs, which is near Red Rock. Unfortunately by the time we got to the park the high winds picked up and the skies were overcast. We made the most of it and found a picnic table to enjoy our lunch. I wish I would have brought some warmer clothes.

Calico Basin is a colorful area tucked between the gray limestone La Madre Mountains to the north, the red sandstone Calico Hills to the west, and a desert ridge to the south. Three springs with permanent water emerge from the base of the red sandstone cliffs: Red Spring, Calico Spring, and Ash Spring. Water also runs in washes to the north and south of the springs during the winter months.



Many people come here to climb the rocks.




Our first sighting of flowers in the desert.