In the Valley of Death

The road to the basementt of the World. Well, basement of North America anyway.

Death Valley National Park on the California-Nevada border is a hot place. In July the daily average high temperature is devastating 46.9 centigrade, 116.5 Fahrenheit. The lowest point of North America, Badwater Basin, 86 meter or 282 feet under sea level, is situated in Death Valley. It's one of the least rainy places on Earth.

Mesquite sand dunes.

Mesquite sand dunes.

I am no fan of very warm weather. Even Finnish summer heat may be too much for me. Death Valley was excessively over-the-top too much. The only thing I was capable of was to stop the car, snap a picture or two, escape to the air-conditioned car and gulp down a pint of water. The landscape was very different than anything I've seen anywhere else. The drive through Death Valley felt unreal, like a trip to another planet or a feverish nightmare.

Out-of-this-world landscapes.

Death Valley is not completely dead. Even on the floor of the valley there are plants growing and lizards running between rocks. Incredible as it may be, there are also people who call Death Valley home. The Timbisha Shoshone have made a living in the extreme conditions for more than a thousand years. A powerful example of human persistence indeed.

A powerful example of the weirdness of babies: a baby sitting in the scorching ground, happily playing with sand, and reacting with vehement "no, no" when his or her dad suggested leaving.

We drove through Death Valleyn on June 11th 2015.