{"id":6988,"date":"2023-10-16T20:22:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=6988"},"modified":"2024-02-14T11:05:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T15:05:39","slug":"october-16-2023-trip-12-day-15-death-valley-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=6988","title":{"rendered":"October 16, 2023 : Trip 12, Day 15 – Death Valley National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we went to Death Valley National Park. The park reopened yesterday after serious damage from Tropical Storm Hillary. Since it had only been about eight weeks since the storm, we had limited access to the park because repairs and restoration are still underway for a large portion of the park. It was an interesting drive because of on going work on the main road in the park. For about 20 miles of our drive to the park, we were following a pickup truck through a construction area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even after we entered the park, there were additional construction zones. The scenery was still amazing. We drove over two separate mountain passes on our way to Death Valley. We saw much more color in the plant life and in the mountains than we expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We drove toward Badwater Basin after we cleared the road construction areas. There were sand dunes in many locations, but there was also a lot of plant life. Perhaps the water from the tropical storm gave us a chance to see more green than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Badwater Basin is a salt flat. It is also the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. Unlike Bonneville Salt Flat in Utah, the ground is quite rough. Because we arrived within two months of the tropical storm, we got to see a lake in Badwater Basin. It was quite wide, but not very deep. The wind was calm, so we saw some unique reflections in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We tried to get a few pictures to show how large Badwater Basin is. Normally, the lake in the first picture would be dry and the basin almost entirely salt. The mountains rise up from the salt flat very quickly. These photos also show how rough the salt is. The white marker on the mountain in the last picture indicates where sea level is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a wider view of Badwater Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This 360 degree view of Badwater Basin gives a little more depth to the previous photo. You can control the rotation and depth of the frame with your mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n