
The Amargosa River defies the desert - fern12
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/science/amargosa-death-valley-mojave-pupfish.html
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nkoren
When I was a small child in the 80s, I visited one of those Death Valley ponds
which is the entire habitat for a pupfish species. They were actually pretty
amazing. A small piece of foil had fallen into the pond, and they were
grabbing it in their mouths, racing from one side of the pond to the other,
clearly engaged in some type of play or competition with each other. Kind of
mind-blowing to think that this was the whole world for that species. Felt
like a sacred place.

Sounds like they've had a tough time since then. I hope they make it.

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kchoudhu
This is not too far from where I live in the US -- I had no idea it existed.

I guess I know where I'm taking the kiddos when they next want to go hiking.

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zzleeper
Just be sure not to go in the summer, and to read all the tips for hiking in
Death Valley and surrounding areas. It gets _really_ hot (but it's amazing!)

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simcop2387
Really hot doesn't begin to say it. 45c (113f) temperatures are regular
occurrence. I think it hit 54c (130f) on the hottest day this past summer.
These kinds of temperatures can dehydrate you in a hour or two if you're
sweating.

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abakker
Not to mention killing your car. DV is amazing for many reasons, but one that
people ignore to their peril is that there is a TON of elevation gain as you
drive through the park. If you enter from the amargosa side, you won't see it
much, but if you enter from the west (through Panamint valley) you will drop
from ~4000' to 1000', then gain it all back over a 10 mile stretch, and then
go back down to -280 feet when you reach the badwater. These passes on hot
days can overtax radiators and cause breakdowns. They can also overheat
brakes, etc.

Having visited several times myself, I encourage October-November as the best
timeframe to visit.

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Angostura
Aren't there signs suggesting that you _don 't_ use aircon?

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abakker
Yeah - since that can overload/overheat small engines.

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macintux
Obligatory (what-if) XKCD: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/](https://what-
if.xkcd.com/152/)

