WOW!! My first few weeks in Death Valley back in October 2012 were not enjoyable. I thought I'd been thrown into the most bleak and barren place ever. Then, the area began to grow on me and has been since. Today's hike confirmed to me that this place truly is beautiful. An individual could spend his whole life exploring and not see all it.
Today, two Castle co-workers headed to the south end of the park with me, in search of Kaleidoscope Canyon. We had a road mile marker and a picture of what the side of the road looks like where you should park. Also, we were told to look for the white spot.
In the picture below, you can see the white spot. It's a long ways away. It took almost an hour to hike up a large alluvial fan/wash to get to the mouth of the canyon. The hike was lovely. There's got to be a bit more water down south because the shrubbery per square foot was greatly increased than in other parts of the park. Also, there were birds calling and singing. I didn't realize the dearth of bird sounds I'd been experiencing until today.
"Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky..."
Once we got to the mouth of the canyon, we had about a quarter mile hike to the junction that would take us up in the Kaleidoscope. As soon as we turned a corner, we were hit with colors! Amazing. Once again, I wish I were a photographer and could capture better the beauty of this place.
