First stop was the Trona Pinnacles, a collection of rock towers sprouting from the floor of Searles Lake along one of the approaches to Death Valley. The formations are similar to the tufa towers at Mono Lake, and formed in the same fashion -- calcium-rich groundwater interacting chemically with alkaline lake water -- but are much larger. Oh, and the lake dried up long ago.
The otherworldly setting has appeared in many movies and television shows over the years.
Desert holly.
Some of the towers are more than 100 feet tall. At its maximum extent, Searles Lake was hundreds of feet deep.
Visiting Badwater, the lowest point in North America, is a mandatory component of any Death Valley itinerary.
Recent storms had left snow on the Panamint Range and a thin sheet of water on the basin floor.
Salt flats in Badwater Basin.
Artist's Palette, a curiously colored assemblage of weathered volcanic ash and other deposits, is another popular Death Valley attraction.
One of the famous 20-mule-team borax wagon trains, preserved at Harmony Borax Works.
Mosaic Canyon is probably the most beautiful slot canyon in the park, its walls polished smooth by floodwaters.
The lighter rock is Noonday dolomite, a type of marble; the darker is Mosaic breccia (Italian for "fragments"), which gives the canyon its name.
Mosaic breccia is formed of fragments of many kinds of rock welded together like puzzle pieces.
Ubehebe Crater, a volcanic feature at the north end of Death Valley.
The front gate at Scotty's Castle, a popular attraction in Grapevine Canyon that's been closed to visitors since a flash flood in 2015 wiped out the road, all the water, power and sewer systems, and damaged many other buildings.
We were able to tour the castle with a Park Service guide, currently the only way to access the canyon.
The castle itself was not damaged by the flood, but it suffered water damage and the furnishings have been removed for safekeeping during the restoration.
