Sunday, February 28, 2016

February 27-28, 2016 Death Valley, California

It was so pretty on the desert that we went back and camped at Ibex Dunes.

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The dunes are in the southern part of the valley, so remote that hardly anyone goes there and you have to hike to them so they are very pristine. See how green the desert is now. Rivelets of flowers coming down a fan.

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John hiking to the dunes.

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Me dancing in the flowers. I love this shot because the hiking boots look really funky with the sun dress. There were huge fields of sand verbena by the dunes.

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Sunset colors on the dunes and long shadows from the flowers on the way back.

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Our feet were yellow from pollen. I seem to have developed an allergy to the bloom and have been miserable. Probably from a massive dose of pollen over many days. . .Our campsite by the dunes.

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The view of the dunes in the morning from our campsite. Our next stop was Saratoga Springs. An amazingly lush spot on the desert.

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These walls are about all that are left of a resort that was at the springs. The phacilia’s were going nuts around the springs.

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There were whole fields of color. The phacilia don’t show up well in the these photos, but they are bright purple. John is in the second shot so yo can see who big the flower fields are.

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There was also a nice mix of flowers. This convoluted mountain is on the way out from the springs. Death Valley is the most geologically active place in the world and there is no pesky vegetation to get in the way of viewing the geology. People come from all over to study here.

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I found the name of the red flowers, they are broad leafed gila, snake tracks, purple mat, evening primroses, a horn worm that eats the flowers and a lizard.

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Cool rock, rock daisies, some kind of crinkly plant, and an ant carrying a huge dead bloom. They looked like the ants were wearing hats. A yellow clover and another view of the colorful flower eating horn worm.

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