Death Valley

5/11/05 Eastern approach to Death Valley, elevation ~4000ft. The prolific once-in-a-hundred-years wildflower bloom had peaked some weeks past, but there were still enough plants in bloom to give an idea of what it must have been like to witness so much ephemeral beauty clinging to life in such arid desolation.



5/11/05 Inside Death Valley, elevation near sea level. A lunar landscape if ever there was one, with dark, bare mountains rising 4000+ feet above the salt flats (in the distance) between them.



5/11/05 One of the oddest plants I saw in the Death Valley area... it has a bright orange spaghetti-like inflorescence that forms a halo around the small bush. It is such an odd colour out there, its Halloween orange contrasting with the dark soil.