LutzP's photos with the keyword: Death Valley

Death Valley National Park, back then National Monument

Racetrack - Death Valley National Park, March 1980 The mystery of wandering rocks: Racetrack

Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 United States, is only 84.6 miles (136 km) to the WNW. The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of "bad water" next to the road in a sink; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail. Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes. The pool is not the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point (which is only slightly lower) is several miles to the west and varies in position, depending on rainfall and evaporation patterns. The salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so the sign marking the low point is at the pool instead. The basin was considered the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere until the discovery of Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −344 ft (−105 m) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Badwater ist eine Senke im Death Valley in Kalifornien und der tiefste Punkt Nordamerikas mit einer Höhe von 85,5 Meter unter dem Meeresspiegel. Badwater ist ein Überbleibsel des vorzeitlichen Sees Lake Manly. In der Senke gibt es ein quellengespeistes Becken neben der Straße; das umgebende Salz macht das Wasser ungenießbar – daher stammt der Name Badwater (engl.: „schlechtes Wasser“). Im Becken leben Tiere und Pflanzen, wie z. B. Queller, Wasserinsekten und die Badwater-Schnecke. In der Umgebung des Beckens, die nicht ständig von Wasser bedeckt ist, bildet die Kruste des Bodens sechseckige Strukturen aus. Das Becken ist zurzeit nicht der tiefste Punkt der Senke: Er liegt mehrere Kilometer westlich und verändert seine Position. Die Salztonebenen zu durchqueren ist gefährlich, oft ist die Salzkruste über dem Schlamm nur dünn und nicht tragfähig. from / aus Wikipedia

80 miles dirt road. In times when cell phones were still beyond imagination, this trip was a small adventure. This shot was taken close to the summit at almost 2.200m / 7.200 ft. On our way down on the other side, we met a park ranger with a 4x4 who asked us where we came from. He would not believe that we came over Hunter Mountain with our Toyota Celica Supra. "Can't be done with a car like yours". Well, in retrospect I think he was right since this was by far not the worst part of the road, but on the other hand, we were young and brave! ;-)

Compiled from 2 negatives