Death Valley -- Valle de Muertos



We left Missoula on Valentine's Day headed for Death Valley to camp for a week by way of Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. Vegas isn't my cup of tea but the damn was fascinating. 

Death Valley --  These are salt flats. To us northerners it looked like snow.

 

 Ruins of a borax mine. This was the primary mining interest in the valley though some gold was found there as well.
The wagons of borax were pulled by a team of 20 mules just like the commercial for borax says.






 
Sunrise. It surprised me how mountainous the area was. And also the snow on the mountains.

Death Valley is a land of many contrasts from some of the lowest area on earth to some of the taller mountains in the US, from extreme heat in the summer to quite cold in the winter.





Scotties Castle, built by a wealthy Chicago insurance mogul before the Depression, the fulfilment of an incredible dream, an oasis in the desert and the object of much folklore, another interesting tour.







These are charcoal kilns up in the mountains where there was forrest land to cut. They look like beehives to me.

This is definitely an area we would like to go back to and explore further.

 Manzanar National Historic Site

As we headed from Death Valley to Folsom we stopped at Manzanar. This was quite a moving visit. It is the site of one of the larger Japanese internment camps during WW2. Most of the building are now gone but the main community hall at the camp has been turned into a visitor center with many pictures and voices from the original camp.  Fort Missoula was also the site of an internment camp but a much smaller one. Somehow seeing this huge camp in the middle of high dessert country made a greater impact on me.

Foto 1: Presa de Hoover

Salimos de Missoula 14 de enera acampar en El Valle de Muertos. Manejamos  por Las Vegas (No me gusta) y Presa de Hoover (fascinante!).

Foto2: Valle de Muertos

Esto es sal por la valle. A mí parece como sal.

Foto 3: Ruinas de un lugar donde procesaban borax.

Borax era la mineral mas común en el area aunque fue algo do oro tambien. Las carros eran tirado por 20 mulas como la comercial dice.

Foto 4: La Madrugada 

Me sorprendaba todas las montañas en el area  y tambien el nieve. El Valle de Muertos es un lugar de extremos, lugares muy bajo y muy alto, muy caluroso y muy frio.

Foto 5: Castillo de Scotty

Construido por un hombre rico de Chicago antes de depresión, un oasis en el desierto -- increible!

Foto 6: Hornos de Carbón

Ubicado en los montañas cerca del bosques para encender. A mi parece como colmenas. El parque es sin duda un lugar que queremos visitar otra vez.

Foto 7: Manzanar Sitio Historico Nacional

Cuando salimos del parque manejando norte hacia Folsom paramos a Manzanar. Este es el lugar de un campo de internamiento de japonesa durante La Guerra del Mundo 2. La mayoria de los edificios son desaparecidos pero el centro de comunidad queda. Ahora es un centro para visitantes. Tenemos muchos fotos y voces del pasado. Fue una visita muy emocionante.