So Barren, So Foreboding.....Yet So Beautiful

 

Mid October 2024

With training done we have a few days before the official opening day of the campground, October 15th.  With it still being uncomfortably hot we're just enjoying some downtime (inside under the A/C) and setting up things like our post office box, scoping out the General Store, giving the ice cream parlor a try and sampling the buffet that park employees have access to as well as a deep discount off the $29 rate.

I know I bored everyone with my multiple postings about all the maintenance work that I was having to do but I'm going to have to chronicle some more.  We have been fighting toilet floor flange leak for weeks now, essentially ever since we left North Carolina in September.  We came across a Camping World in Tucson, AZ and I bought a new floor flange seal with the intention of replacing the old one as soon as we got to Death Valley.  Dreading this work mightily I finally got myself pumped up enough to do the job.  But like many of my projects this one was not going to be straight-forward.  As I went to take the nuts off the floor flange bolts I discovered that things may have been wet a lot longer than we knew about.  The nuts were completely corroded as were the threads on the bolts.  The flats on the nuts were gone and the bolts had swelled with corrosion to about half again their normal diameter.

Dremel time!  After a couple hours with an abrasive cutting wheel and folded up like pretzel over and around the toilet I was able to separate the pedestal from its hold-down bolts.  Although I had a new floor flange seal that had the exact matching part number for my toilet, it didn't look the same as what I was taking off.  I mean, the old seal was severely degraded but not so much that I couldn't tell that they weren't the same.  But it was all I had and it said it was specifically for my toilet model number.  Only it wasn't.  I got it in place and everything back together and gave it a couple of flushes.  Ugh, water started seeping out.  Okay, I'm going to have to cogitate on this a bit now.

While cogitating we're going to do a little sightseeing.  First up, Zabrisky Point.

From the parking lot is a paved foot path to the point.
Notice the long shadows on the people, the sun had only 
just come up.

Looking over a tuff formation to the valley floor below.

More tuff, massive amounts of volcanic ash from
eruptions millions of years ago.

Tuff up close, lots of color if you look close.

Next up, Badwater Basin.  It's warming up but we're going to make the half-hour drive to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America.  The drive is pretty much downhill all the way.  It's a gentle slope but on average downhill.  We've been to many places that are vast but nowhere but Death Valley have we been able to see the vastness because there is no vegetation to interrupt the view.  Just check out my headliner photo.

More mountains of tuff and volcanic rock (above).  The layers of color are easy to see in early morning light but fade as the sun reaches its scorching apex.  Only to return again at sunset.  These views are your companion on your drive to anywhere in the park.

Badwater Basin access point is a parking lot, fairly small, adjacent to Badwater Road.  The road and the parking lot are slightly elevated above the valley floor with a brick and concrete stairs down to a small boardwalk.  Then the vastness kicks in again.  Stepping off the boardwalk onto the salt flats you get an idea of the enormity of this place as you walk and walk but can't really tell you've gotten anywhere.

The short boardwalk leading out to the vast basin.

From the parking lot a plaque can be seen high up on the cliffside.

On closer inspection it can be seen
that it is a marker for sea level!

Cyndee opted to be kind to her knees and stayed at the boardwalk while I ventured out onto the the salt flat.  I was hoping to find some of what they call "salt pans".  Salt crystals that grow in geometric shapes of multi-sided circles, octagons, pentagons, etc.  But it was not to be.  A summer flood had passed through the basin, even creating a shallow lake for a short while, and erasing any salt structures there may have been.

However I did see salt crystals growing back into tiny little columns.  I guess they eventually form the salt pans.

Tiny little salt crystals growing on a thousand square miles 
of salt flats.

Just a tiny portion of the basin/valley floor

On the way back we're going to do a canyon drive through what is known as Artist's Drive which takes you into the part of the canyon they call Artist's Palette.  There should be lots of good color but the sun is getting high and intense.

It's nine miles, one way, through Artist's Drive.  Lots of scenery leading up to Artist's Palette but we were left a little wanting for the colors we had been hearing about.  The drive was spectacular on its own, it must really be something else when the color is evident.  We're going to try coming back at a different time of day to see if it is any better.

Artist's Palette

Just before the exit of Artist's Drive we began seeing lots of green.  Not from vegetation but from mica-rich ash deposits.

Green, mica-rich ash

Last stop for the day is Harmony Borax Mine.  Everything we have done today so far has been all natural.  Now we'll be seeing 100% human made.  The mine is barely a half mile from our campground and like Zabrisky Point, it has a paved foot path.  It's a very short walk but it has gotten so hot, easily above 100 deg, that it doesn't feel like a short walk.  This is one of the mines that are linked to the famous 20-mule team wagons.

Harmony Borax Mine works, on left.

The sign says the wagon wheels are 7 feet tall.  I'm 7 inches 
shy of 7 feet and I'm taller than they are.

Okay, time to head for the air conditioners.  We'll pick up sightseeing after the heat breaks later this month.