From Beatty, NV (which was a very active mining town in the gold rush days) we went west down, down and down. DV is in a bowl surrounded by big mountains, which makes it pretty much rainless. Average yearly rainfall is less than 2 inches!
You can't see a lot in this picture because of the haze, but you can see the "bowl" and the salt deposits left from the lake that was here a hundred or more years ago. The lowest spot is about 300 feet below sea level!
The main product of value that came out of DV was borax, a compound that was used in soap, laundry, pottery and many other things. It was mined here, refined here, packaged in wagons and carried in mule-drawn wagons 120 miles to the railroad for distribution. It was cheaper to refine at the site because of the weight of the unused material. Remember "20 mule team Borax?" Well, that was here.
They carried 200 gallons of water on the trek for horses and people.
To get out of DV, we had to go up as much as we had previously gone down, and then go down again. Eventually, approaching Yosemite we had to go up to 10,000 to get to the East entrance.
There's one of only a few things that is good about being a senior, the Golden Age pass. Costs $25 one time and lasts a lifetime. Gets you in to all National Parks, Recreation Areas, etc. What a bargain! Entry at both DV and Yosemite was $20, so $40 right there!
The upper part of Yosemite is huge rock formations produced by a combination of earthquake, volcano and subsequest erosion.
These are domes, characteristic of the area.
You have undoubtedly heard or seen Half Dome, a geologic feature of Yosemite. It has a rather flat side, but is (or was) part of a dome. This picture shows Half Dome in the distance.
You can get a sense of how vast the distances are and how monumental the rock formations.
Tomorrow back to Yosemite, the lower valley.
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