Saline Valley

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The Saline Valley is a remote and beautiful part of Death Valley National Park. The primitive roads and utter lack of services make it one of the least visited parts of the park. I strongly recommend 4-wheel-drive, high-clearance vehicles to get there. We get a flat tire on nearly every trip.

The Saline Valley is bounded on the west by the Inyo Mountains with peaks reaching over 11,000 feet. The bottom of the valley floor is at an elevation two miles below the peaks of the Inyos. The lowest pass out of the valley is almost 4,000 feet higher than the almost dry lakebed.

It's a great place to study geology. Rocks as old as the Paleozoic Era are exposed in the Inyo Mountains and Saline Range. The valley itself is just a few million years old and the geomorphology reveals its geological youth. The deep faults on the perimeter of the valley reach down to the Earth's mantle, resulting in numerous dormant volcanos and basalt flows. Some of the volcanos in the valley are just a few tens of thousands of years old and will erupt again in the future.

Historic relics from salt and borax mining operations in the early years of the twentieth century are found along the length of the main road through the valley. Remnants of the tallest and steepest aerial tramway, in the U.S. at least, can be seen near the lakebed. It was used to transport salt over the Inyo Mountains to the Owens Valley from 1916 to 1932.

The military services take advantage of the remoteness of the Saline Valley to fly their aircraft at very low altitude with a minimum of impact on the public.

Looking south into the Panamint Valley from the pass into the Saline Valley.
Panamint Dunes
The road through Grapevine Canyon leads down into the Saline Valley.
Mt. Inyo and Keynot Peak are taller than 11,000 feet.
The Eureka-Saline Corridor leads up to Steel Pass on the east side of the valley.
Pylons remain from the aerial tramway that carried salt over the Inyo Mountains to the Owens Valley in the early years of the twentieth century.
The Saline Range rises on the far side of Saline Lake.
Saline Lake is just a few inches deep.

Palm Spring is an oasis on the rocky braided stream that descends out of the Eureka-Saline Corridor.
The valley floor is dotted with springs and sand dunes.
McElvoy Canyon, in the foothills of the Inyo Mountains, contains a spring fed, fern-lined grotto that is cool year round.

The Eureka-Saline Corridor.

Anthill

Eureka-Saline Corridor.
Palm Spring.
Palm Spring.
Lower Springs.
Lower Springs.

Extreme wide-angle view of the Eureka-Saline Corridor shows the Inyo Mountains at left, the Saline Range in the middle and the Last Chance Range at the right. The most prominent peaks in the Inyos are New York Butte, Mount Inyo, and Keynot Peak, all higher than 11,000 feet.

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Saline and Panamint Valleys

2008 Calendar

You can buy a 2008 calendar featuring my photographs of the Saline and Panamint Valleys.

A dozen photos of the Saline and Panamint Valleys. The Saline Valley is a remote and beautiful part of Death Valley National Park. The primitive roads and utter lack of services make it one of the least visited parts of the park. I strongly recommend 4-wheel-drive, high-clearance vehicles to get there. We get a flat tire on nearly every trip. The Saline Valley is bounded on the west by the Inyo Mountains with peaks reaching over 11,000 feet. The bottom of the valley floor is at an elevation two miles below the peaks of the Inyos. The lowest pass out of the valley is almost 4,000 feet higher than the almost dry lakebed.

Put a copy of the Saline and Panamint Valleys 2008 calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $16.95.

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The mountains in the background are so young that headward erosion has not reached the summit.
Ravens are constant companions.

Panoramic view of Palm Spring.

Palm Spring.
Palm Spring.
The cinder cone has been adorned with a peace sign since before my first visit in 1985.

The full Moon illuminated the landscape so brightly that no lights were needed to walk around at night.
Sedimentary rocks from the Cambrian Age are exposed in the Saline Range.
The Saline Range.

Palm Spring.
Cinder cone.
The foothills of the mountains are draped in very steep alluvial fans.
The most recent deposits are the lightest.

Afternoon shadows on the basalt flow.