Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

is now Death Valley. In the last hundred thousand years, as the surface of the Earth has moved and the glaciers have slid up and down the continent, salt beds are all that is left of the last large lake. Geologists commonly call the ancient body of water Lake Manly.<figure id="8cd2"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*pPPHiGhnxZWyX8N8ARUmKg.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by the author.</figcaption></figure>Ironically, we were searching for water in Death Valley and found it!A rare tropical storm, Hillary, blew in from the south, dropping over two inches of rain in a few hours. The water moved over the hard, dry soil and flooded to the bottom of the valley. Months later, an atmospheric river also blew in from the south. The storms re-created Lake Manly at the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin.<figure id="4530"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*-62tGLD9zaZCYwDKxrhTyA.jpeg"><figcaption>Lake Manly. Photo by the author.</figcaption></figure>The lake was incredible. A couple of people were navigating the water in kayaks. We left our

Options

shoes on what was usually the walkway leading to the dry lake, which was now a pier or a boat launch. We walked hundreds of yards into the shallow waters.<figure id="5943"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*O5uueWP_OFvOKF46oU7Mqg.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="ec35"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*V8s5XCaVLkF0XEBZ1uWzdQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Lake Manly. Photos by the author.</figcaption></figure>Lake Manly was salty, but not the hypersaline concentration of the Dead Sea. No one was trying to float in it.<figure id="4bc6"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*gWvk_PuBnHuEBS7CSjjc7w.jpeg"><figcaption>Lake Manly. Photo by the author.</figcaption></figure>The contrast between desert and water is worth the trip. But Lake Manly is disappearing again. If you are near, do not hesitate. It is well worth the journey.<figure id="ec2b"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*ZLnp5VlrafgBpZas65kYBQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Lake Manly. Photo by the author.</figcaption></figure></article></body>

In Search of Water in Death Valley

A Quick Visit to a Very Large National Park

My wife and I drove up to Death Valley last week. It is a three—to four-hour trip north of our home in Riverside, California. Death Valley is the largest National Park in the continental United States, excluding Alaska.

Death Valley is one of the driest locations on Earth. More than one mountain range blocks moisture from reaching the ground. Weather systems from the west move in from the Pacific and drop their moisture as they rise and cool on the western side of the high Sierra Nevada. Snow there is measured in feet. The east side of the range gets less water. Then, another mountain range, the Panamint Range, blocks the surviving moisture from reaching the valley to the east.

Geologically speaking, when time is measured in eons, mountains rise and fall, lakes form, recede, and disappear in what is now Death Valley. In the last hundred thousand years, as the surface of the Earth has moved and the glaciers have slid up and down the continent, salt beds are all that is left of the last large lake. Geologists commonly call the ancient body of water Lake Manly.

Ironically, we were searching for water in Death Valley and found it!

A rare tropical storm, Hillary, blew in from the south, dropping over two inches of rain in a few hours. The water moved over the hard, dry soil and flooded to the bottom of the valley. Months later, an atmospheric river also blew in from the south. The storms re-created Lake Manly at the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin.

The lake was incredible. A couple of people were navigating the water in kayaks. We left our shoes on what was usually the walkway leading to the dry lake, which was now a pier or a boat launch. We walked hundreds of yards into the shallow waters.

Lake Manly was salty, but not the hypersaline concentration of the Dead Sea. No one was trying to float in it.

The contrast between desert and water is worth the trip. But Lake Manly is disappearing again. If you are near, do not hesitate. It is well worth the journey.