January 11, 2016 - Tanya's Trip to Death Valley National Park - Day 3

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 3 DAYS

Death Valley and what I thought...

During our visit to Death Valley National Park we stayed at Furnace Creek.

Furnace Creek
In 1927, a borax company at Furnace Creek Ranch turned its crew quarters into lodging that would soon become the Furnace Creek Inn. Surrounded by the Panamint and Funeral Mountains, there's a saloon,  general store, Borax Museum, spring-fed swimming pool, golf course, a stables and much more...However as you can imagine - they are only open seasonally!

Our second full day in Death Valley started at the -Borax Museum
Elisa has all the SCOOP on the Borax Museum and History in her column --->>>--->>>

(C) Travelin Cousins

(C) Travelin Cousins

(C) Travelin Cousins

We then headed toward Badwater Basin, stopping at Devil's Golf Course on the way.

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Devil's Golf Course
The floor of Death Valley is a vast evaporating dish covering more than 200 square miles. It is crusted over with a variety of salts, and nowhere is this more apparent than at Devil's Golf Course. The lumpy salt pinnacles are the residue of Death Valley's last significant lake, which evaporated 2,000 years ago.

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The next stop was one of my most anticipated ones...Badwater Basin. I made it to the lowest point in North Anerica -282' below sea level!

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Badwater Basin
A surreal landscape of vast salt flats. With the Black Mountains in the background, there is a shimmering expanse of nearly pure white table salt in Badwater Basin; at 282 feet below sea level, it is the lowest point in North America. 

However, I walked and walked in search of what I thought it should look like (from the pictures that I've seen), I even sat disappointed and pondered.

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What a bunch of scoundrels. I felt deceived. 

But...then I learned that passing rainstorms wash off windblown dust and generate a fresh layer of blinding white salt and floods (which they recently had) create temporary lakes that dissolve salts back to solution, starting the process all over again.
So apparently - I came at the wrong time to see the conditions that I wanted to see!

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(C) Travelin Cousins

Is it snow or is it salt? (C) Travelin Cousins

I also learned Earth’s Lowest Elevations

Dead Sea (Jordan/Israel) -1360 feet (-414 m)
Lake Assal (Djibouti, Africa) -509 feet (-155 m)
Turpan Pendi (China) -505 feet (-154 m)
Qattara Depression (Egypt) -435 feet (-133 m)
Vpadina Kaundy (Kazakstan) -433 ft (-132 m)
Denakil (Ethiopia) -410 ft (-125 m)
Laguna del Carbón (Argentina) -344 ft (-105 m)
Death Valley (United States) -282 ft (-86 m)
Vpadina Akchanaya (Turkmenistan) -266 ft (-81 m)
Salton Sea (California) -227 ft (-69 m)
Sebkhet Tah (Morroco) -180 ft (-55 m)
Sabkhat Ghuzayyil (Libya) -154 ft (-47 m)
Lago Enriquillo (Dominican Republic) -151 ft (-46 m)
Salinas Chicas (Argentina) -131 ft (-40 m)
Caspian Sea (Central Asia) -92 ft (-28 m)
Lake Eyre (Australia) -49 ft (-15 m)

Holy crap I had no idea that the Dead Sea was -1360 below sea level! YIKES!

Next up was Artists Drive & Artist Palette, which was quite lovely and very interesting.

Windy Roads (C) Travelin Cousins

Artist's Drive
A scenic loop drive through multi-hued volcanic and sedimentary hills. Here you'll find a striking array of colors which are brilliant!

Dry and Crackly Earth (C) Travelin Cousins

Life always find a way (C) Travelin Cousins

Artist's Palette (C) Travelin Cousins

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The remainder of our day was spent at the Furnace Creek Inn, the Visitors Center, and Stovepipe Wells Village.

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(C) Travelin Cousins

Then on the drive home I fought to keep my eyes open. I am just the worst passenger - but I managed.

Now here are my:
6 thoughts about my visit to Death Valley National Park 

1.  It was quite picturesque. 
2. Not as boring as was expected. Not at all boring.
3. Thought this would be my first and last visit to this park. I was wrong. I plan on returning!
4. Nothing was as expected - 4A. The sliding rocks at Racetrack Playa were quite a bit smaller than expected.      4B. The "golf balls" on Devils Golf Course were quite a bit larger than expected.                 4C. Badwater Basin looked nothing - not a thing like I expected.                        4D. Sunrise and Sunset came later & earlier than posted - screws up your sunrise and sunset shots...especially sunset.   4E. I surprisingly got cellular signal AT&T) a few random times within the park.
5. I went into each and every single gift shop / general store looking for a women's cut tee shirt that had park facts on it - Hottest/Driest/Lowest place in America and could not find anything of the sort. I found men's and kids, but none for women. I got a keychain! Lmao (and some other stuff - but nothing else with the "facts").
6. The most amazing nights sky EVER!

Now I'm back home, but not for long - I have 2 days to pack and take care of a ton of things before we are off again. So as you can imagine today is a go go go type of day. And I'll tell ya all about it tomorrow! 

I'm off,
​-T

Elisa's Daily Scoop

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A Closer Look at Death Valley - 20 Mule Teams & Borax Museum

Hello!! Welcome to the beginning of the week on Travelin' Cousins!!

Boy, was I glad to wake up to sunshine today!  Nothing worse than a rainy Monday when you have to get up and at 'em.

Yesterday was totally mellow. Gianna and I just hung out at home, catching up on chores and then a bit of relaxing. (Kelsey was with her dad out east for the weekend)

My little baker (Gianna) baked a dee-licious "Blue Velvet" cake.  What a gorgeous job she did on decorating this yummy dessert!

Today, I'll be doing some errands, cleaning up my backyard - still need to cover the outdoor furniture, take in the cushions and clip back the plants.  I know, it's late!  But, with the warm weather, I let these jobs get away from me.

Oh well, no time like the present to get things done!!

(credit: desertusa.com)

Moving on...more about Death Valley National Park and the Twenty Mule Teams...

I'm sure you have heard the expression "twenty mule team" - well, do you know where that expression came from? It actually has its roots in  Death Valley.

Twenty-mule teams were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons. 

Back in 1883 through 1889 (six years), these "big teams" hauled borax from the Harmony Borax Works near Furnace Creek to the railhead near Mojave - a grueling 165 mile - ten day trip across undeveloped roads.  

Twenty mules were able to pull approximately 40 tons. Each wagon measured 16 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet deep and weighed 7800 pounds empty and when loaded with ore, the total weight of the mule train was 73,200 pounds.

To put the size in perspective - the back wheels were about 7 feet tall, front ones is 5 feet and each one weighed 1000 pounds each.

The twenty mule team has become an everlasting symbol of the Old West, primarily due to two factors.  The advertising campaign in         promoting 20-Mule-Team Borax Soap and the long-running Death Valley Days radio and television program.

Today, the last remaining wagons in Death Valley can be seen in in front of Furnace Creek Ranch and at Harmony Borax Works.

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Borax is a valuable mineral known since ancient times, used for centuries as a stain-resistant porcelain glaze and in modern times, used in the preparation of medicated bandages, antiseptic solutions, cosmetics, enamel and as a cleansing agent.

Borax’s history in Death Valley goes back seven million years. From a combination of volcanic activity and flash flooding, the ash formed thick layers within the formed lakes, and these deposits contained boron - the principal element in borate crystals.

Over time, evaporation concentrated what had been lakes into a salty solution from which Death Valley's borate deposits crystallized. Industrialists from the late 1880's invested in these mines and the equipment to refine the borate crystals and developed the Borax industry in Death Valley. 
 

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The Borax Museum is the oldest structure in Death Valley and contains many mining artifacts from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

It also houses an extensive mineral collection, and has many outdoor exhibits located on the museum grounds.  ​​

Tanya continued her way through the park yesterday, with more to tell you about today - wish I was traveling with her :-(

Catch ya back here tomorrow!!!

-E
​xoxo