Evanescent Light : Death Valley

The lowest point in the US, and the place with the most consistently high temperatures on the planet. I know!. Between competing in, and training for the annual Badwater race, my feet have covered over 2000 miles in Death Valley; almost all in temperatures well above 100 Farenheit. In summer the valley has an austere beauty, with desolate salt flats and bare mountainsides shimmering in the heat haze. But just occasionally, Death Valley shows a very different, more easily appreciated aspect. Such was the case during the winter of 2004-05. Record rainfall (6 inches for the year!) filled the salt flats, and for a few months the ancient Lake Manly re-asserted itself. Water lapped at the side of the road, kayakers paddled across the lake, and the year-round salty pools at Badwater paled into insignificance. Some of the photos here show the salt flats as they became submerged in November 04, and others show the lake at its maximum extent in Feb. 05. After the rains came the flowers, an exuberant display, that was not rivaled again for 11 years. Some of the pictures here show the valley floor carpeted for miles with Desert Gold and other blooms, captured during a visit in mid-March 2005. Six weeks later all had returned to barren dirt and rocks, with only withered stalks remaining. Other photos were taken in March of 2010, when the Badwater salt flats were again briefly innundated. Then there was a long wait until the el Nino winter of 2015-16 again brought rains to germinate long-dormant seeds.

Click HERE to view photos from the 2016 Death Valley "super-bloom".

Click HERE for photos of the Badwater Ultramarathon