The Valley of the Dead
by ViTo • April 27, 2007 No commentsWhat a scary title for a post, isn’t it? 
Don’t worry though, I’m just referring to the Death Valley National Park. I soon realized that California is mainly a huge desert. Once you leave the huge metropolis such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, there isn’t much there. There’s a huge surface of empty land where small lost town are scattered. This took me by surprise, and after the initial shock I learnt that this is one of the beauties of California. This landscape begins as soon as you move away from the coast; this is why there are so many national parks:
- Joshua tree
- Death valley
- Yosemite
- Sequoia
- Mojave
During the winter quarter I had the opportunity to visit the first two in the list, and from what I’ve seen, they all are different types of deserts; empty but pretty; very pretty. Each of them has its own charms. In the Joshua Tree National Park, there are the unmistakeable Joshua trees; a weird mixture between tree and cactus, which is probably known worldwide due to the famous U2 album. It is also a great place to practice your climbing skills. Besides the endless miles of trees and rocks, there’s nothing else.
A similar emptiness can be expected from the Death Valley. It is a place so fierce and erosive that not much can survive there. In the weekend we went there, we went from an arduous heat the first morning, to a windy cold as soon as the sun set, to an intense rain during the night followed by the corresponding flood, and then finally some snow. It was crazy!
In the valley itself, these extreme weather conditions lead to very different environments in such a small area. Most of it is formed by the typical empty rocky desert, but the place is far from flat, and there are many water trails which make the place bumpy and inaccessible. Nowadays, the water is scarce though, and although most of the valley is actually under the sea level, unless it rains, no water will be seen. There was plenty of water in the past though, and today only a vast salty white surface remains. To make the place even weirder there are also huge sand dunes that look like an African desert. Finally the whole valley is surrounded by tall mountains which on occasions have a reddish tone as if they were partly made of clay. The description may appear a little bit weird, but you cannot make a clear idea until you’ve seen it with your own eyes. It is certainly a really pretty spot, and by the way, I find its name really appropriate.
We don’t have this type of landscapes where I come from; you can get away from the city but you will probably be surrounded by some kind of plantation and the next town will be probably less than 15 minutes away by car. However, here the immensity and vacuity of the landscape is overwhelming. I really felt so small and superfluous…
Since I don’t know how long I’m staying in California, we are already preparing our next trip to Sequoia. I’ll keep you posted.
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