Encompassing 3 million acres of desert, Death Valley is the largest national park in the United States, south of Alaska. It is also an island of amazing geologic features, abundant wildflowers, desert wildlife, historic sites, sublime scenery, and clear night skies.
Death Valley National Park is a superlative desert of streaming sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, multicolored rock layers and water-fluted canyons. Its rocks have been crucial for working out most of the geological events that have occurred in western North America during the last half billion years!
Geology and botany/wildflowers will be the main focus of this trip – the Fifth outing to the park sponsored by CIR.
We are fortunate to have as our leaders Dr. Tanya Atwater, Emeritus Professor of Geology from UCSB, and Steve Junak, Emeritus Herbarium Curator from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. They will share their vast knowledge gained from their lifetimes of research and numerous trips to Death Valley.
Additional naturalists will join us with other specialties, including birdwatching at Furnace Creek.