death valley

Death Valley
Stovepipe Wells at sea level
Pupfish at Salt Creek

Salt Creek

Badwater Basin 282 feet below sea level

Devils Golf Course

Artists Palette

Tuesday 18th March
Last night we went to Sizzler in Bishop, the meal was really good be we ate way too much of the salad bar and felt sick. The cheap motel we stayed in was really nice too. Got going today after breakfast and filled up with gas (petrol) and set off for Death Valley. We got to the turn off and started to head for the mountains, the road was very windey and hilly. Once we got to Panamint Springs we stopped and bought a drink. We had travelled down into Panamint Valley and the view was fantastic. We still had to head for Stovepipe Wells which was back up out of Panamint Valley to about 5000ft and back down into Stovepipe Wells which is at sea level. We stopped and had lunch at Stovepipe Wells and took some photos and then headed to Furnace Creek Visitor Centre which is 190 feet below sea level. On the way to Furnace Creek we stopped at Salt Creek where there was a creek (funny about that), which is hard to believe as you appear to be in the desert. In the creek which is salt water live the only fish that are able to live there called Pupfish. These Pupfish can live in water five times more salty than sea water, and water that is up to 90 degrees F in temp. There was only a bit of a trickle of water but there was thousands of fish. We managed to get a couple of photos of the fish. Got to the visitor centre and collected our free map and set off for Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in western America at 282 feet below sea level. The salt plains were cool to look at and you were able to walk out onto the salt for a better view. It kind of looked like you were on the moon. From there we went to Devils Golf Course which had more salt crust coming from the ground in large sharp clumps, they too looked very strange. From there we went to Artists Palette which kind of speaks for it's self in the photos. It's hard to believe there are so many different colours in the earth all in such a close proximity. From there we made our way to Beatty, Nevada where we found another cheap good motel and checked in for the night. Probably will go to the casino for dinner tonight and use their wifi for the Internet as this motel does not have connection. At the moment we are only just over 100 ks from Las Vegas again, we have done a big circle and made our way all the way back. Anyway hungry now and we need to have dinner. See you tomorrow! Also forgot to mention the temp hit 31 today which is 36 degrees more than just a couple of days ago, heat wave!