I finally made it to a superbloom in death valley!
On the way into the valley on 190 between Death Valley Junction and Furnace Creek
Fields of desert gold
If I was on top of things, I would be able to tell you the rest of these lovely flowers names, but alas... I just have pictures
This one is so sweet
Closer to the park, another spot with lots of purple
This one looks like a hydra to me
Even without the flowers, the view was spectacular
But there are flowers!
Everywhere!
Titus Canyon
Also full of flowers
I really like the leaves on this one
So pretty
It was so busy with flower nerds that they were allowing dispersal campaign: hike in at least a mile and camp anywhere.
We found a lovely spot behind some overgrown sand dunes (northern end of the Mesquite flat sand dunes) and made a lovely camp.
Sunset, wine, good food...
Our little camp in the morning.
flowers here too
The next day we drove south towards Badwater Basin
Flowers on the way...
gazillions of caterpillars eating them
not exactly little either
Badwater basin
My favorite field of the desert gold was quite a ways south on Badwater road
By Ashford mill
Back up to walk on the salt flat
no flowers here
just pretty salt crystals
Natural Bridge trail
Not as many flowers here, but super pretty
Artists Palate
Twenty mule team canyon
Looking back north, is that rain? No, my super power (bringing rain to deserts) isn't actually real.
Up to Beatty cutoff. Those clouds are getting dark
spectacular flowers, spectacular clouds
Up over daylight pass
More flowers up here, including paintbrush.
Did you know it's parasitic?
Even the tried and true bushes are flowering
Coming back down the pass into the valley. That no longer looks like rain. It is suspiciously like a sand storm.
A sand storm on the dunes where we camped!
Oh, but he kit fox hills are stunning with the storm clouds
Headed into the sand storm to rescue our camp. Wonder if our tent is still there?
The mile hike didn't seam like a big deal before. My lungs hurt this time for sure.
Amazing how pretty it can be even when the situation is a little desperate
Well, we have a tent. it didn't get blown away. But, if you don't know our tent, this picture is deceptive. It is practically horizontal and had pulled half our stakes up.
The inside was full of sand
Packing everything up for a quick escape was challenging but we managed. My lungs hurt typing this in remembrance.
Of course these pictures don't do it justice, but can you see the sand blowing across the road?
and the serious dust devil back close to our tent?
So, we drove out of the sand storm and searched for a new place to camp. At this point it is about an hour from nightfall. Getting away from the sand was the first priority. We drove up and out of the basin, found ourselves a likely spot and started to pack up to hike in another mile... and it started to rain. And I mean serious rain. Full windshield wiper rain. Who says Death Valley is one of the driest places on earth?
Heather's super power strikes again.
We gave up and drove back to Vegas to sleep in a dry, not sandy bed. Wimps? Maybe not.
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