Scenic Sunday - Grand Canyon

View from Point Imperial
I miss this place so thought I’d post a reminder just how fabulous and gorgeous and unbelievable the Grand Canyon is.

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Projects past and present

Shells from Padre Island, Texas, and water bird skull from the Salton Sea, California
I collect things, lots of things, too many things. I love my gifts from the earth the best.

Almost empty living room
I’ve been emptying the 5th-wheel to give it a good scrubbing and paint the ceiling, in between way too much time online.

Just one stack
Upon digging into the deepest corners I’ve rediscovered things I haven’t seen since I moved in five years ago. Plastic tubs mostly full of feathers, rocks, shells, bones, antlers, leather, furs, gourds, and crochet thread. I’ve used pieces of these things for craft projects in the past and may need them again. I didn’t empty the bead cupboard, it’s tightly packed, closed and contained.

Personal jewelry
Then there’s the jewelry I also collect, some for personal wear, and some for future resale which I call my retirement. Plus all the dust collectors I wrapped and packed when moving from the Grand Canyon. And let’s not forget books.

What to do with it all?

Piles of stuff
I really like Ruth’s idea at Body Soul and Spirit about simplicity. I’ve tried to simplify, after all I live in a 27x8 foot RV. Now I’m looking at these piles of stuff and wondering how it all fit.

Actually, I’m procrastinating the “scrubbing” part of this project. Does anybody LIKE cleaning?

Unusual Visitors

This little wren somehow found its way into my house. It flew from one end to the other several times while I tried to take photos. I finally opened the door and it quickly found its way out.

I don’t know where this tree lizard is living but it joined me in the kitchen this morning and then disappeared under the stove.

It’s nice to have company.

Part 9 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Artists Drive

Gaelyn and Jeremy at Artists Point, sorry for the poor stitch job
We left Badwater Basin to return to camp after a very full day of sightseeing: Salt Creek trail, the Harmony Borax Works, Furnace Creek and the hike to Natural Bridge. Yet wait, there’s a scenic 9-mile (14.48 km) one-way loop road that winds through colorful mud hills. The day’s not quite over.

Artists Drive
Because of the lack of vegetation here, Death Valley easily displays the magical yellows, oranges, and browns of the earth presented in brilliant contrast to the startling blue skies.

Mud hills along Artists Drive
These multi-colored hills, representing 5000-foot (1524-meter) thick deposits of cemented gravels, ancient lake sediments, and volcanic debris form the foot of the Black Mountains.

Iron oxides show as reds, yellows, browns and blacks. Purple hues are produced by magnesium. Copper, or possibly the breakdown of mica, is responsible for the green color.

Some of these rocks reveal fossil diatoms, a phytoplankton that lived in water, and microscopic plants that indicate an environment which existed about 10-30 million years ago.

Last light
I was in awe as we drove out of Artists Drive back into the valley and headed back to camp.

Moon over the Black Mountains
Yet I knew we had another day for more explorations at Death Valley. I’ll post our visit to a castle built in this “hell-hole turned tourist-trap” soon.

SWF - Sunset over Laughlin

Even though I haven’t finished sharing all of my adventures in Death Valley, after I left there I met Berta in Laughlin, Nevada. Neither of us are much for gambling, but it’s a nearby place to get away from home and stay in a hotel with Jacuzzi for a very reasonable price. This shot was taken from our sixth floor hotel room window.

To see more skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.

Part 8 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Badwater Basin

“It was so hot that swallows in full flight fell to the earth dead and when I went out to read the thermometer with a wet Turkish towel on my head, it was dry before I returned.” –Oscar Denton, caretaker of the original Furnace Creek Ranch on the record hot day of 134F (56C) in July 1913.

Sea Level sign, note red line
Badwater is the lowest elevation point in the Western Hemisphere at -282 feet (-85.5 meters), only in Africa is it lower. A small spring-fed pool is the only remnant of ancient Lake Manly that once stretched across the valley floor 100 miles (160.9 km) in length and 6-11 miles (9.65 – 17.7 km) in width with an estimated depth of nearly 600 feet (182.88 meters).

Sea level sign
Snow melt from mountains in central Nevada flow into underground aquifers gathering minerals along the way and emerges here along the fault line at the base of the Amargosa Range.

View west over Badwater Basin
Here, at the lowest elevation, the water comes to rest forming temporary lakes then the water evaporates and only the minerals remain.

Pool on salt flats
Sodium chloride, or table salt, makes up the majority of minerals however calcite, gypsum, and of course borax are also found.

View north over Badwater Basin
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when a surveyor couldn’t get his mule to drink. He wrote on his map “bad water” and the name stuck. But it’s not bad, just salty.

Salt Flats
Salt crystals expand, pushing the crust of salt into rough, chaotic forms constantly changing as newly formed crystals ooze between the mud cracks.

On the road to Artists Drive
From Badwater we began driving back to camp, but there was another interesting side trip to be taken on the way, for yet another post.

Remember Whensday - Baseball Mama 1956

The only thing I remember from this scene is the baby buggy. I played with it for many years pushing dollies around, babies, Barbies and trolls.
Yet it’s so me, and I still hold my hands like that. Hmmm....

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #24. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

MWT - Part 7 Death Valley National Park - Day 2 Natural Bridge Canyon

Looking into the mouth of Natural Bridge Canyon
After leaving hell, oops I mean Furnace Creek, Jeremy and I attended an afternoon guided Ranger walk into Natural Bridge Canyon to learn more about the geology of Death Valley.

Ranger Bob at mouth of Natural Bridge Canyon
Ranger Bob is a retired geologist working summers at Yellowstone and winters here for the last 10 years. He not only knew his stuff, he got everybody into it.

View west of Death Valley and Panamint Range from Natural Bridge Canyon
Although Death Valley itself is young in geologic time, formed a mere three million years ago, some of the rocks that makes up the rugged mountains to the east of the valley date back to around 1.8 billion years old.

Gneiss old rock
Uplift began about 8-10 million years ago but most of the drastic elevation change occurred in the last 3 million years.

Natural Bridge Canyon
Four mountain ranges to the west of the valley create such a strong rain shadow that the average precipitation is less than two inches a year. Death Valley is considered the driest place in North America. Yet during unusually heavy storms, rain washes rocks, sand and gravel off mountainsides and down into canyons.

Multiple alluvial fans
Where a canyon opens onto the valley floor the water spreads out, losing velocity and depositing the water-carried material at the canyon mouth, or beyond, creating an alluvial fan. As the mountains lift the valley sinks. Yet erosion can’t keep up as the valley sinks faster than it fills. Even after millions of floods, nearly 9000 feet (2750 meters) of sand, silt, gravel and salt fill the valley basin.

Water erosion on canyon wall
Because this erosion process has been going on for millions of years some rock layers are concentrations of rock, sand and gravel compressed by more layers into an interesting conglomerate like was seen in Mosaic Canyon.

Ranger Bob at Natural Bridge
And then there are numerous faults as this land known as the “Basin and Range” spreads apart fracturing along parallel fault lines creating the Panamint Mountains to the west and the Black Mountains to the east. A large earthquake could cause the valley in between to drop a few more feet below sea level.

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Scenic Sunday - Joshua Tree Highway

Driving along a section of Highway 164 in southern Nevada I found a forest of Joshua trees.

Joshua trees, Yucca Brevifolia, are fast growers for the desert. New seedlings may grow at an average rate of 3 inches (7.6 cm) per year in their first 10 years, and then only grow about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) per year thereafter. It can live for hundreds of years.

The trunk of the tree is made of thousands of small fibers. The flower and fruit are edible and Native Americans used the leaves to weave sandals and baskets. Early Mormon settlers named the Joshua tree because it reminded them of Joshua reaching his arms up in prayer.

To see more beautiful scenes, or to share your own, go to Scenic Sunday by clicking here.