死亡谷之旅

今早收到朋友寄給我一則剪報，再次勾起我在八月跟友人的一個難忘旅途，一個在高溫下的旅程，無拘無朿，駕着四驅，在黃沙萬里，大地只得我們任闖的死亡谷之旅！Death Valley是個非常極端的地方。北美海拔最低的地方在這裡，最高溫的紀錄在這裡，降雨量最低的地方應該也是在這裡。 公園裏海拔最高的高山有一萬多英呎，一年四季任何時候都有些地方很熱，有些地方很冷。看起來像是湖的地方， 其實是一大片乾涸的鹽。看起來像鹽的地方，其實是積雪。

The Devil's Golf Course is a large salt
pan on the floor of Death Valley, located in the Mojave Desert within Death
Valley National Park in eastern California. 
It was named after a line in the 1934 National Park Service guide book
to Death Valley National Monument, which stated that "Only the devil could
play golf" on its surface, due to a rough texture from the large halite
salt crystal formations.

Badwater is a salt flat that is
beneath the face of the Black Mountains that contains the lowest elevation in North
America at 86 meters (282 ft) below sea level. (It is often mistakenly
described as the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, but that is
actually Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −105 meters (−344 feet)). The
massive expanse of white is made up of almost pure table salt.

Natural Bridge Canyon is found on the
east side of the park and is one of the few canyons with an official trailhead.
Located four miles (6 km) south of the Artist's Drive scenic loop, the
canyon contains a natural stone bridge, accessible after a fifteen-minute walk
from the parking area.

Zabriskie Point is a part of Amargosa
Range located in east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in the United
States noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from
Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago — long before Death
Valley came into existence.

The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are at
the northern end of the valley floor and are nearly surrounded by mountains on
all sides. Due to their easy access from the road and the overall proximity of
Death Valley to Hollywood, these dunes have been used to film sand dune scenes
for several movies including films in the Star Wars series. The largest dune is
called Star Dune and is relatively stable and stationary because it is at a
point where the various winds that shape the dunes converge. The depth of the
sand at its crest is 130–140 feet (40–43 m) but this is small compared to other
dunes in the area that have sand depths of up to 600–700 feet (180–210 m) deep.

From Dante's View one can see the
central part of Death Valley from a vantage point 5,500 feet (1,700 m) above
sea level.  From here Badwater Basin can
be seen, which contains the lowest dry point in North America. Telescope Peak
can also be seen from here which is 11,331 feet (3455 m) above sea level. This
is the greatest topographic relief in the conterminous U.S..  The mountain that Dante's View is on is part
of the Black Mountains which along with the parallel Panamint Range across the
valley form what geologists call a horst and the valley that is called a graben.
These structures are created when the surface of the earth is under
extensional, or a pulling force. The crust responds to this force by sending a
large and long roughly v-shaped block of crust down which forms the bedrock of
the valley floor.  看見豬仔嗎?

Titus Canyon is a narrow gorge in the
Grapevine Mountains near the eastern boundary of Death Valley National Park. It
features megabreccia and other rock formations, petroglyphs, and wildlife of
various kinds, including bighorn sheep. Along the road to the canyon stands Leafield,
a ghost town dating to the 1920s.

 

我真的很懷念在 48c 高溫在死亡谷的日子.