Death valley
six-to-eight equipment operators on loan from other NPS sites. NPS work was partially funded by the FHWA ERFO program and partially funded by the NPS Disaster Supplemental fund source.
Repair work is not finished yet. Environmental and archeological assessments are in progress along Titus Canyon Road, which will likely reopen next spring. Meanwhile, NPS crews are shifting equipment to work on unpaved roads in the eastern and northern areas of the park.
The FHWA ERFO program will pay for a contract later this spring that will do permanent repair of multiple paved roads in the park. The contract will install erosion control to reduce damage from future flash floods.
Roads reopened last week include:
• Emigrant Canyon Road, from CA-190 to Wildrose Campground. Wildrose Campground is open. No road access to Wildrose Charcoal Kilns or other parts of Upper Wildrose. Lower Wildrose Road to Panamint Valley also remains closed.
Side roads off Emigrant Canyon are open, including Telephone Canyon, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo, and Wood Canyon.
West Side Road is mostly open. It is open from the southern Badwater Road Junction to just north of Trail Canyon Junction, a distance of 33 miles.
West Side Road is closed from the northern Badwater Road Junction to Trail Canyon Junction due to an impassable muddy mess. In order to protect natural resources, the NPS prohibits any attempt to drive this section. It is scheduled for repair by fall.
Roads off West Side Road are open including: Warm Springs, Galena, Queen of Sheba, Johnson, and Trail Canyon. Hanaupah Canyon Road will be closed while NPS operators finish working on it.
Saratoga Spring and Ibex Roads are open.
Owlshead Road is open.
Water Levels Lower after ‘Lake Manly’ Moved
Weather has created a new surprise in Death Valley National Park: a traveling lake, according to park staff. Sustained high winds blew Lake Manly about two miles north. The winds also sped up evaporation, lowering the water level. To protect natural resources, the National Park Service no longer allows people to boat on the shallow lake.
“It was amazing to see an entire lake migrate!” said Superintendent Mike Reynolds. “But now the water is drying up, leaving wide mudflats. People were walking a long way, sometimes dragging their boats. This leaves footprints and drag marks that will likely be visible for years. This left us with no choice but to curtail boating on historic Lake Manly at this time.”
In normal years, people see miles of salt flats at Badwater Basin. In some areas, the salt is fractured and uplifted into photogenic polygon shapes. Every few years there is enough rain to cover the salt flat and
Badwater Basin while ‘Lake Manly’ had moved north during high winds. create a temporary lake, informally known as Lake Manly. Usually, it is only a couple inches deep.
Lake Manly returned after the remnants of Hurricane Hilary brought 2.2 inches of rain in August. The lake slowly shrunk until an atmospheric river brought another 1.5 inches in early February. For almost a month, people had a rare opportunity to kayak on Lake Manly, which was six miles long, three miles wide, and one foot deep.
Things changed Feb. 29 through March 2. Forty mph winds pushed the water two miles to the north. The lake spread out to cover more area, but at a shallower depth. The winds and increased surface area increased evaporation. A place that people had launched boats 10 feet from the road turned into a salty mud flat.
When the winds stopped, the water slowly sloshed back to its original lakebed. What is left is shallower and muddier than it was before.
Due to the changed conditions, the National Park Service no longer allows people to attempt to boat on Lake Manly. Doing so would involve walking through mud, leaving footprints in the mud flat. These footprints or boat drag marks will likely stay as scars on the landscape until the next time Lake Manly returns.
“Visitors for the next few years would prefer to see the natural polygon designs in the salt, rather than hard-crusted footprints and deep boat drag marks,” said Reynolds.
People are encouraged to walk out into the lake (or onto the salt flat) from the Badwater Basin parking lot, staying on already-compacted surfaces.
Death Valley Takes Behind-the-scenes Look at 2023
About 1.1 million people visited Death Valley National Park in 2023. Here’s a snapshot of the work behind the scenes that made those visits possible.
Death Valley National Park was closed for two months after the remnants of Hurricane Hilary damaged every road in the park on Aug. 20. The park partially reopened on Oct. 15. National Park Service, Caltrans, and Inyo County repaired 790 miles of flood-damaged roads.
NPS park rangers led 436 interpretive programs, which were attended by 13,351 people. Increasing numbers of people are coming because of the park’s starry nights. Last year’s Dark Sky Festival drew 1,504 people to attend a telescope viewing event.
NPS maintenance staff cleaned restrooms and stocked them with 700 miles of toilet paper (3,780 jumbo rolls).
People lost stuff. About one-quarter of the 116 items found were eventually returned to their owners, including cell phones, wallets, and camping equipment. Park rangers also took reports from 156 people who lost things. Sadly, the child’s toy stuffed turtle was never found, reported park staff.
Some visitors needed assistance while they were in the park. Park rangers responded to 13 fires, 88 emergency medical calls, 23 search-andrescue requests, and 27 vehicle crashes.
Individual stories and experiences are behind every one of these numbers. Park rangers seek to help all people enjoy their time in the park, while being safe and minimizing their impacts.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:
For more information about Death Valley National Park, visit the website at www.nps. gov/deva.
Location one mile south of Badwater parking lot on March 2. Two days earlier people were able to lauch kayaks 10 feet from the road at this location.
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