English:  Death Valley Journey's Start Petrified Forest/Painted DesertSanta Fe Bandelier Chaco Canyon Mesa Verde ArchesCanyonlands Canyon de Chelley Monument Valley Grand Canyon

 Before we headed to the four corner's region we took a short trip on the Pacific to watch for whales. And the pig flew: Not only did we see humpbacks, Birgit successfully managed to take pictures of a whale and a magnificient fluke as a whale went underwater again. As anyone who has ever done this knows, taking a picture of a breaching or diving whale is a matter of a lot of patience and a lot of luck. They just don't stick around very long above water and you can only guess where they will appear next.

                                       Death Valley

Although I have lived in California on and off for many years, this year I finally visited Death Valley. Being German that is rather unusual, since we grew up with Karl May's adventure books which among other exotic places introduced me to Death Valley when i was very young. However, as soon as I came to California, I learned about how dangerous Death Valley is (can be). Particularly to Germans it seems since almost every year there are reports of German tourists who die there. To my surprise, once I visited the place, I realized several things: (a) it is not all that big; (b) except in the summer, it is not that hot; and (c) not that dangerous. (b) is true except in the hottest summer months and (c) as long as one is not totally stupid and ignores the ubiquitous warnings that are posted everywhere in several languages, including German. You have to deliberately avoid reading anything not to know that you MUST carry and drink lots of water and that you should not wander off trails in the summer, etc. All of that made a lot of sense to me and when Birgit came in April, we started our "Four Corners" trip with a detour through Death Valley. Several month later (June/July) I finally really understood why the place can be so dangerous. California, including of course Death Valley, had a heatwave and idiots, like lemmings to the sea swarmed to Death Valley hoping to be there when (if) the heat record would be broken. The "heat tourists" also brought lots of eggs and tried to fry them on the roads. The park service was NOT amused since the idiots of course did not clean up the mess they made. The record may or may not have been met (129 F) since the official record of 134F in 1913 is being questioned by metereologists.

                            The panoramic picture gives a vey good impression of the view from the Panamint mountain range if you come to the valley from the north-west (Ridgecrest). It is a desolate spot seemingly devoid of life.

Salt flats - remnants of an ocean that once covered this area