Death Valley is a Death Trap

We stayed in the Furnace Springs campground in Death Valley.

Dad said we’d be going to Death Valley. I told him that I’d not want to go to any place with Death in it’s name. I say, what other meaning could there be in such a name but danger? The human that named it has something valid in mind, I’m sure. He assured me that there was little danger, especially if I would stay close to him. Well, I had no choice but to go, but I was a bit afraid at first. I thought we’d see big fire-breathing monsters as we entered, but there were only big rocks and mountains all around us.

Mom let me out near the road in Death Valley so I could pose for this stupid picture!

Death Valley is another National Park in California. They are not very Dog friendly, but it is a big place and we get to drive around a lot, so I can stick my head out and smell the animals and see the sights. Dad and Mom let me walk around on the leash near the car too.

We stopped along the road to take pictures of wildflowers in Death Valley.

Dad says it gets real hot here in the summer. We were here in March and it was warm, but Dad says it gets so hot that I’d be wanting to stay in the water the whole time I was here and even then I might boil! He said my paw pads would burn when I walked on the ground. I wouldn’t like that. I can’t take my coat off like humans can, and I don’t wear shoes and I’d probably get sick from the heat. So. I advise humans with dogs to come in the winter or early spring to be safe. I now know why they call it DEATH Valley. Dad read to me that in 1917 (way before Dad or Mom or me was born), Death Valley recorded 52 days with temperatures over 120 degrees and 43 consecutive days over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that’s a long VERY HOT summer.

Here's the Desert Five spot. Count them. 5 spots!

The ground here is all sand and rocks. That’s because there is so little rain in a desert (which this is) that plants can’t grow well. Dad says the big mountains to the west of us prevent the clouds from coming into the valley. So very little rain. (Some sneaks in without the mountains seeing them.) The plants that are here are thick skinned and some are cactus. No grass. I’ve run into cactus before and I know how painful they can be if you aren’t careful with your paws. The plants have to have special coats I guess to survive in the really really hot weather here. There are some veru nice flowers here in the Spring time and of course, Dad had his camera at the ready. We saw a really pretty one called Desert Five Spot. It had five spots inside, so.. you get it.

Here's one of those salt (dry) lakes in Death Valley. Strange to see a white lake, isn't it?

This used to be a large lake many years ago according to Dad. (He’s so smart.) It’s water has all evaporated (that means drying up) and left a bunch of salt in its place. So a lot of the ground is white from the salt. It tastes funny too. Dad wouldn’t let me run out on it, but I did get a good lick of the ground next to the parking lot near the big dry salt lake.

Here's a photo I took of Dad (OK, Mom did) while we were on the Titus Canyon 4WD trail in Death Valley.

There are animals here, I know because I could smell them. There were the familiar cousins of mine that seem to follow us around called Coyotes. I’d sure like to meet one, but Dad says they don’t play fair and would gang up on me and treat me bad. So, I’ll just bark when I hear them howl. That seems to keep them away.

I saw some snake tracks and Dad assured me that I wouldn’t want to play with the snakes. They have rattles like my toys, but they bite with a deadly poison. Again, DEATH Valley.

Dad said there was a funny animal living here called a Desert tortoise. He told me that the desert tortoise can live up to 80 years, yet most of their lives are spent sleeping in underground burrows. They go real slow, so they wouldn’t be much fun to chase. Besides I probably won’t see one if they are hiding underground.

I did see a lot of little mouse or rat like things. They live underground too, but they come up and scurry all about looking for food. They go so fast that I can’t catch them. There are also squirrels about, but not a lot. Most of them are in the mountains, but there is one I saw nearby our campground at Furnace Creek called the roundtail ground squirrel. Never caught him though. I’m getting too old to chase these little critters too far.

Another Death trap at Death Valley, the Ubehebe Crater was caused by exploding steam.

One day, Dad and I went on a long trip on a dirt road. We first saw this really big hole in the ground called the Ubehebe Crater. Dad says it was made by fire coming up out of the ground and heating water to cause a big hot explosion and this hole. (See, I told you there was a good reason to call it DEATH Valley.) I wouldn’t have wanted to be there when all that hot water was exploding, would you? It’s kinda neat to look down into the crater. The humans that are walking down there are the size of ants. How do they do that? I can never get close enough to them to step on them. They get bigger when I get closer. Humans are strange animals.

Coyotes pushed this rock across Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, looking for Squirrel holes. (That's my theory of the mystery behind these rocks.)

Dad wanted to go to this place where there were lots of big rocks mysteriously crawling across the desert floor very slowly. Humans don’t know why they move so slowly. I think they move by coyotes that push them with their noses across the desert floor. They are looking under the rocks for squirrel holes. Us dogs really know our science!

Dad and Mom were excited by the color in this dirt at Artists Palette. Not too impressive to me.

Another place we visited wasn’t too impressive to me, but Dad was all excited about the colors of the dirt. They called it Artist’s Palette. I can’t tell the difference but Dad and Mom thought it was beautiful.

Mom and I were exploring Death Valley with our noses.

Death Valley is a strange place. Not much for a dog to like, but plenty of humans seem to enjoy it. It’s a huge place, and according to Dad it’s really deep, even below the level of the sea (if the sea was here). If you like wildflowers, colorful dirt, high mountains, and lots of sand and salt, you’ll like Death Valley.

Arf,

Reggie