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Death Valley


A year ago, we getting ready for a trip to California. As part of that trip, we toured Death Valley (www.nps.gov/deva) where this picture of a dried up mud flat was taken. Typical of our travels, we came into the park the back road way and we rode for four hours without seeing another soul. It is a place with a certain beauty--forbidding as some of it may be. I had to wonder, though, if early travellers on the way to the gold mines had an appreciation for the landscape. Getting out of Death Valley and back to western areas of California requires chugging up and down some steep and winding mountain roads. We were weary even in an air-conditioned rental car. I cannot imagine making the journey on foot, on horseback, or in a wagon. People were made of sterner stuff in the old days I'm guessing.
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