California, 4th November, Devil's Golf Course and Badwater Basin

From Twenty Mule Canyon we drove back to Furnace Creek resort  and treated ourselves to a coffee at the store and did a little bit of 'grocery shopping'. I like the way the Americans have clung onto a few phrases which have become archaic over here.
Then it was back south on the Badwater Road, so full of treats!. We thought we would start with the salt flats. Stretching to the far blue horizon we stopped first at the 'Devil's Golf Course' an area of jagged salt spires and whorls where notices ask you not to fall over as laceration would result. The sky was an unclouded deep blue and it was just the right temperature of warm. The salt looked like a sea of frozen, choppy water and we could see the snow on the top of the Panamint Mountains to the west.

Now on to the Badwater Basin which lies around 17 miles south of Furnace Creek. Here there were more people as it is the biggest tourist attraction in the valley. At -282 ft this area was considered to be the lowest place in the western hemisphere until the discovery of a lake in Argentina. A boardwalk has been placed going out into the salt, as in many places there is only a thin crust overlying mud and the park service wanted to maintain the integrity of the pools. As you come off the road you can see the spring and it is odd to see water in  such a dry place. We spent a little time walking out onto the salt hoping to find some nice polygons to take photographs of. In the main though the salt patterns were dirty and irregular. I am afraid Mairi and I have been spoilt by going to Uyuni in Bolivia where it is pristine. In Death Valley the salt has been thoroughly mixed with the mud. However the pools are interesting and they certainly do not have these in Uyuni. There is some vegetation growing round the pools which are apparently occupied by the 'Badwater snail'.