FRAGILE HABITATS OF THE WORLD

 

This is an expedition to Death Valley National Park, California, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Hawaii, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tenassee. 

 

The "Hottest, Driest, Lowest" - A place of superlatives. Death Valley National Park, California has the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, one of the world’s hottest and driest deserts, and one of the largest national park in USA. Miles & Miles of Rugged Salt Beds. Imagine travelling with your horse and wooden carriage across this deserted land with no water and an infinite carpet of pointed sharp salt beds and temperatures ranging around 57 degree C during peak summer. Death Valley's Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest reliably reported air temperature in the world, 134 °F (56.7 °C) on July 10, 1913. 

 

Wildlife remarkably do thrive in this hostile world. Puma, Big Horn Sheep, Coyote, Jack Rabbits, Desert Tarantulas and Rattlesnakes!

 

Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. This point is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). 

 

Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace at 1,669 m (5,476 ft) height, on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains, overlooking the Badwater basin of the Death Valley. 

 

A National Park Service (NPS) alert reads today in mid July - "Expect high temperatures of 100 to 120 degrees F on your summer visit to Death Valley. Heat related illness is a real possibility. Drink plenty of water and carry extra. Avoid activity in the heat. Travel prepared to survive. Watch for signs of trouble."