Death Valley is pure magic to me. Calm, spiritual and beautiful but also mysterious, overwhelming and in the wrong circumstances... dangerous.
A lot has changed because of the hurricane that passed through in August of 2023. The changes still visible everywhere you look if you are a park regular. There is still visible water in places of the lakebed that isn't named Badwater. In fact, the "lake" that was created by the hurricane lasted for a very long time. Now you see only occasional run off areas and they will soon be gone too as the park returns to its true self. One of my favorite hikes is to Darwin Falls. This used to be a short easy hike but Hillary (the hurricane) made short work of the off road trail and now it is about an 8 mile round trip hike. Still easy but takes up a much greater part of your day. So plan accordingly. The volume of water that flowed because of the storm runoff has completely changed the pool below the falls and the upper valley that it flows into. Massive uprooted trees make the trail route different as you get close to the falls. The pool that is below the falls has been completely changed too.
Mother Nature has her ways of creating new beauty out of the old.
We spent several days in the park and on a wander of the Devil's Golf Course we found a very unique feature in the salt pan... an open column of very salty water roughly 5 feet by 6 feet and who knows how deep. The water had a current and was so saturated with salt that you could see crystals of salt floating around in the briny water. Our later research found a very few instances of this occurring in the world, so we felt extremely lucky in finding it.
The sunsets were spectacular, the night skies almost surreal in their beauty and the sunrises were a joy to behold. I highly recommend taking the time to really visit this natural wonder that exists in our world. Take the time to see the human history and the struggle to survive and succeed in the hostile environment. The ruins of our ancestor's success's and failures are everywhere. But really take the time to really see Painter's Pallette and all of the other amazing natural wonders the park has to offer. All I request (and the park staff and other nature lovers) is that you respect the beauty that will be all around you. Pack in and pack out. Leave nothing behind. Disturb as little as possible and keep our natural wonders wonderful for future generations.
See you on the trails