Revise your maps
Death Valley now has a lake.
The wettest year on record here has transformed this forbidding wilderness of scruffy mountains and buckled earth into a vividly unfamiliar world of wildflowers and reflecting pools, triggering ecological cycles not seen before on so large a scale. ...Cool.Another surprise: Badwater, usually the site of a salty pond nearly encircled by massive gray cliffs, features a lake 5 miles wide — and kayakers and wind surfers gliding over its whitecaps. ...
The dazzling panoramas are drawing huge crowds of tourists, including first lady Laura Bush recently, and some scientists, eager to take in the scenery before the millions of desert flowers die in the harsh summer sun.
"It's our best bloom in history, and the flowers are getting better by the day," said park naturalist Charlie Callagan, who accompanied Bush on several hikes. "I'm telling folks, 'Hey, you may not see it this good again in your lifetime.'"
Non-news-related Matt memory: I drove through Death Valley on I-10, on my way to L.A. in the middle of a July day in 2001. It was hot. Really hot. My Volvo's thermometer said it was upwards of 115 degrees, but the hot air convecting off the road made it feel a lot hotter than that. Whereas along normal highways, you might see a sign saying "Watch for falling rock" or "Don't pick up hitchhikers," in Death Valley, there are signs telling you to turn your A/C off and to roll your windows down so your engine doesn't overheat.
And now there's a lake.
Some pics: Here, here, here, here.
An assortment here.
Posted by Matt at March 15, 2005 10:09 AM
