Up and down

 12/11- Death Valley CA

   Whoops I’ve been getting my dates mixed up again. It’s hard to remember what day of the week it is especially when we keep hopping across time zones. I think I’ve got it figured. Today is Saturday right?

    I’m thinking I might know where my Needles recollection came from. I think it’s from Hunter Thompson’s book, Fear and Loathing.  It feels like we followed his path on one of his trips to Las Vegas. I think we may have been considerably more sober. The road we took went from LA to Vegas. Fortunately we turned off before we were tempted to gamble away the family fortune. 

   We started out today at 500 feet then went up to around 4000 feet above sea level only to end up at 280 feet below sea level. That’s quite a ride. We went from 4000 ft to 200 below in the space of 20 miles. Again quite the ride. 

    The scenery was positively breathtaking. There aren’t enough adequate words to describe this. We got down and got our campsite and then we drove to Badwater Pond. We walked out onto the salt flats which is like walking on snow except it’s all salt. 

   This is the lowest spot in the entire western hemisphere. We have been to the southern most point in the continental US and the lowest point. I have little desire to go to the highest and most northern points. 

   We then hiked up this canyon which made me feel like I was in a western movie. It wound through the various colored rocks with only a small piece of the sky visible. I am more impressed with this place than the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon is staggeringly immense but once you see it it’s hard to get another perspective. Death Valley on the other hand changes around every corner. I would hope to get back here someday to see more of it. 

    The weather is finally warming up a bit. 60’s during the days and only 40’s at night. The last place we stayed had a pool that was open. Ha ha not yet!

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