Death Valley lies at the transition between the arid Great Basin Desert and the Mojave Desert, protecting the northwestern corner of the Mojave and its remarkably diverse landscapes of salt flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It is the hottest, driest, and lowest national park in the United States. At its lowest point, Badwater Basin lies 282 feet (86 m) below sea level—the lowest elevation in the country—while Mount Whitney, just 85 miles (137 km) to the west, rises to 14,505 feet (4,421 m), the highest peak in the contiguous United States. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several short-lived boom towns emerged as miners sought gold and silver. The only consistently profitable mineral, however, was borax, which was famously hauled out of the valley by twenty-mule teams.
The Devil's Golf Course
Amy checking things out
Artist’s Palette is one of the most striking and colorful geological features in Death Valley. This gently sloping hillside looks as if it has been painted with broad strokes of color—soft pinks, lavenders, mint greens, yellows, rust reds, and purples. The colors come from oxidized metals in the volcanic rocks. Iron compounds create reds, pinks, and yellows Manganese produces purples Chlorite contributes green hues
The remains of a once working Borax mine
Each team consisted of 18 mules and 2 horses, hitched in pairs to pull two massive wagons loaded with borax ore and a third wagon carrying water. The wagons were enormous—often more than 30 feet long—and the total load could exceed 36 tons. Despite extreme heat, rough desert trails, and steep mountain passes, the teams traveled up to 165 miles from Death Valley to the nearest railroad.
