Silly as it may seem, I wanted to go deep into the desert. Our first stop was Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge where we view the famous Pup Fish. The tiny pup fish are on the endangered species list. There are thirty seeps and springs on the refuge that bring "fossil" water to the surface. The water entered the groundwater entered the system thousands of years ago. It is part of the Mojave Desert and hot, 104 degrees. We got pictures of the fish, lizard and the water hole that is spewing the cool water in the hot desert. We also have pictures of coyote and bobcat scat. Lucky us!
Our next stop was Death Valley. I don't know how many of you out there remember the televising show, Death Valley Days, sponsored by 20 mule team Borax, but we do. Death Valley is where they mined the Borax and it is a land of great extremes. Extremes in temperature, which was 115 degrees yesterday and did not cool off even when the sun went down. At 7pm is went down to 111. The extremes in elevation with mountains over 12,000 ft and the valley at -282 ft. below sea level. There are over 1,000 native plant species, (desert holly) and harbor fish, snails and other aquatic animals found nowhere else. We would have loved to hike but the heat was debilitating.
The area alternates mountains and valleys and is called the Basin & Range geologically. The earths crust has been uplifted, stretched and cracked to form fault lines that trend north to south. There is tilting and rotating of two blocks between faults the create the Badwater Basin , the lowest part of the valley.
We intend to go back when it is cooler.
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