Death Valley Day 2

After the conference ended, Lorraine and I had two open days. We used both days hiking in Death Valley, California.

The temperatures on day 2 were up in the low 90s. I cannot imagine hiking this area during the summer months when the temperatures exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

I have some great images to share over the next week. I can’t do much with them here as I am running on a small netbook. However, I did take a jpeg shot of Lorraine and myself at Badwater Basin.

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft below sea level.

With repeated freeze-thaw and evaporation cycles the thin salt crust is gradually pushed into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.

We spent most of our time hiking the dunes. To give you some sense of scale, here is a shot from Lorraine’s camera. You can see a picture of me down in the dunes. Death Valley is a huge park and two days was not enough time to shoot.