Death Valley

I know what you are thinking. Sure it has a scary name, but is Death Valley really that dangerous. Yes it is, and that’s a fact, just take a look at these very scary Death Valley place names, Badwater Basin, Funeral Peak, Devil’s Hole and Furnace Creek.

Sure it has a scary name, but is Death Valley really that dangerous?

For its inhospitality and inaccessibility Charles Manson and his acid crazed Mansonites chose the Death Valley Panamint Mountain Range as home, a preferred hideout from the police, and an underground base from where they planned to incite a worldwide race war. The result of which would leave a victorious black nation, but a black nation ill equipped and unable to rule. Enter Charles Manson to lend a hand. Does it really sound like a walk in the park to you?

Disclaimer: some, all, or none of the following is true.

Let me break it down for those who have never visited the hottest, driest and most snake infested part of North America. OK, it’s not really infested by snakes, but it is both very hot and dry.

1. Death Valley is hot, so hot that at 134F, Furnace Creek held the record for the highest air temperature recorded on Earth, and in that same year of 1922 the ground temperature was measured at over 200 degrees. And while we are on the subject or records, during the summer of 2001, Death Valley recorded 154 consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 100F.

Take a look at any Death Valley map and you will see that the surrounding landscape is dotted with beautifully named lakes. Lake names that conjure images of mirrored sunsets and oasis. Silver, Mesquite and Coyote Lake are to name but a few. But look again and you will see that every lake is dry, a baron dust bowl of dust. Death Valley is dry, so dry that in the years of 1929 and 1953 no rain was recorded. The driest stretch on record was only just over ½ an inch of rain over a 40-month period.