Emma Byers: Noland Trail essay (sort of)

     This essay that I am about to write does not take place on the Noland trail but is one that has been on my mind for years. This essay is supposed to be about an experience somewhere out in the wilderness, an observation, and then further researching it on my own time. This experience didn’t come to me from the Noland trail; it came to me while I was with my family in Death Valley National Park.

     While my family and I were crossing the west for a fun-filled family road trip, we decided to stay in Death Valley for 4 days to explore every canyon, valley, mountain and hot spring it contained. One day we decided to view the natural bridge which was a rock formation that arched over a valley and looked like, you guessed it, a bridge. While my family was completely entranced by this rock formation, I decided to venture off and explore the canyon on my own for a while. I hiked up a trail that twisted and turned, to either side of me were rock walls that completely blocked the sun if you stood close enough to them. I hopped from rock to rock until I saw a small cove inside the rock wall that looked somewhat out of place. The wall made a perfect inward circle as though a giant had come through and made a dent in the perfectly straight rock. The inside stone was smooth and perfectly formed, almost like a petrified waterfall, full of grace and power in which I’d never witnessed before.

     Death Valley is the lowest and driest point in America. Badwater Basin touches 232 feet below sea level, yet there is no water to be found anywhere in the park besides in the natural springs. Many years ago, however, during the Pleistocene Era, the ice formed by the continental ice sheets melted and formed river channels that drained into Death Valley and created what scientists named Lake Mojave which existed through the years of 10,000-5,000 BC. After 5,000 B.C dramatic climate changes caused higher temperatures and less precipitation which over thousands of years completely dried up the vast lake. This created the Death Valley that we all know today.