Little Trip, Day Two

I will start by saying that I am sorry for how long this is.

On the second day of our little trip, we saw lots of very  small flowers starting to bloom.  The little rain we had a week before our trip may have helped a little.  Of course, it is getting to be that time of year.

 

 

Some of the bushes were just starting to  blossom.

 You may have noticed that there was mostly rocks and sand on the ground.  You might also have noticed the varied colors of the rocks.  We also came across a small lake.

Do you have any ideas yet where we went on the second day?

As we started entering the area, we couldn't help but notice how the ground seemed to flow downward.

We also noticed the varied colors on the surrounding hills.

This might give you a clue as to where we were.  Note the Elevation.

 

Yes, we were in Death Valley.  Yes, the plants were blooming there and yes, there was some water in the lake bed.

This is while we are driving along the shore of the old lake.  Towards the southern end and looking across at a hillside,  we could see the shore line marks left as the water lowered.

Before we got down to the bottom, we stopped at what had been a stamp mill for a gold mine located in the hills behind the building.  This was one of the buildings that was left standing.  The walls appeared to have been made out of the local materials; probably  adobe.  The rocks in the walls were about like what was lying on the ground.

 

This rock, composed of many layers and colors, is an example of the hills.  The geology is very interesting.

This is what most of the lake looked like.  That is salt/borax.

Just another one of the old lake.

 

 
This is another area that we came across while driving along the bottom shore line.  The different layers of minerals, etc., makes it very pretty.

Bob hiked up a ways so that it can be seen how the washes form.  It would be something to see when the water is running, but I wouldn't want to be below.  Do you see him, white, in about the middle of the picture?

 
Here is a close up.

We saw the sign for Natural Bridge and decided to drive up to it.  Then we hiked.

This is from above looking back down.

 This is where mud started to run down the side but then evaporated.

This is looking back up the canyon we hiked up.

Our next detour was Artist Drive which goes to Artist Palette.  It isn't hard to see why it got this name.

We stopped at the old site of the Harmony Borax Works.  They scooped the borax off the surface of the ground and then processed it here before hauling it out of the valley by mule team to the rail head, over one hundred miles away.  They only operated for about five years.  They used two wagons for the borax and the tank for water.

 Our last stop was at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.  They are only in this one area.

 As the sand dunes approach, they eventually cut off the water supply to the mesquite trees and they die.

 Some people hike out onto the dunes.  I found some other hikers, or their tracks.  I think maybe kangaroo rat or mouse and lizard, but I'm not sure about either.  Because of the light, the tracks look raised but they were indented.

 

This is where both sets of tracks lead to.

It was a long but special day, seeing all the wonderful things the Lord has given us.  This was as we were leaving the Furnace Creek entrance.