Tag:death valley
Today’s photos is from Cottonball Basin, Death Valley, California. It’s a shot I took around sunset while visiting the valley recently.
I’d heard of Darwin Falls in Death Valley but never been there on previous visits so decided this was the time.
This wadi had obviously seen some reliable moister over the years judging by the palm tree. There’s also some scrubby bushes around. The surface also looks ‘caked’ rather than sandy or gravelly.
The traditional definition of a desert is based on a (lack of) rainfall figure – less than 250 mm (10 in.) rainfall per year. An alternative definition is a place that lacks sufficient vegetation to support human population. the English word desert comes from the Latin ‘desertum’ meaning an abandoned place.
Arguably the best viewpoint in the Death Valley National Park is Dante’s View. Although only about a mile east-south-east from Badwater, it’s more than a mile vertically above it in elevation! It’s a 40 mile round trip from Badwater, the last 5 miles being restricted to vehicles less than 25ft long. It’s a paved road but there are some switch-backs and tight bends, hence the ‘no large RV or trailers’ rule. (Doesn’t mean you don’t find yourself trapped, crawling along […]
