March 5-8, 2016 Death Valley, California

The park was packed this weekend. Some combination of the superbloom ,spring break and this is high season.

I have never seen Sunset campground full before, and not only was it full they openned up all three of the overflow lots. Tents sprouted up in the usually RV only campground. Then a really strong wind, maybe 30+ mph blew up. It was in the 80’s with blowing sand. Most of the tents were either flattened or blew away. I have spent far more time than I ever want to in a tent in a desert windstorm. I felt sorry for the tenters.

Sunset colors over wind blown flowers. It never cooled off, it was 81 degrees at midnight. 75 at 2 am. If you opened the windows for moving air dust blew in. The bus shook, you could hear banging and fluttering all night. The sun came up and all of the tenters were gone, and during the day many of the RV’s left.

First light on the Panamint mountains and wind blown palm trees.  We hunkered down. I finished a couple small baskets. We both finished our books. Sunday night we had our RV friends Diana and Rob’t over for dinner. Still windy.

Sunrise on Monday. Red sky in the morning, campers take warning. The wind stopped during the night and came back up in the am.  Our friends Rob’t and Diana have the same sun shade we do. We were camped in different campgrounds, but today they drove next to ours for a photo.

My second cousin Bobbye and her husband Cary are here and we hooked up today to look at wildflowers. A field of wildflowers in front of Corkscrew mountain in Mud Canyon.

John outstanding in his field. We had lunch at Salt Creek. Here are John, Cary and Bobbye planning trips in the park.

Salt Creek.  There is a nice board walk to view the pupfish from. Bobbye, Cary, John and Suep.

We drove by the park service wild flower walk and joined in. Here are some of the group clustered around the ranger checking out a 5 spot. Sunset was colorful tonight.

Tiny white flowers, desert trumpet stems, nopale cactus and a light pink phacilia, salt bush seeds, a large purple mat, albino phacilia and a desert 5 spot. The 5 spots are pollinated by the red spider mite, this flowers has the mites on it.

Kill deer birds at salt creek, another photo of the 5 spot and red spider mites and a huge- 4 inches long-  horn worm that feeds on the evening primroses.