Did you know ----- (California sites)

 

Did you know that the lowest place in the US, Badwater, CA in Death Valley, 262 feet below Sea Level, and the highest place in the 48 states, Mt. Whitney, 14,494 feet, a bit west of Lone Pine, CA up Whitney Portal Road to 8,000 feet, are 135 miles apart, around 3 hours? At the end of Whitney Portal Road there is a small loop in the road. On that loop is a waterfall right next to the road. On the way from Badwater to Lone Pine, there are Sand Dunes. About 10-12 miles north of Lone Pine is Manzanar, a National Historical Site, one of several places they kept Japanese during the War. They were rounded up to protect them and us. It has a driving tour through the grounds, a graveyard, and a museum of sorts, that explains the site. In Death Valley, the area, not the town, there is a restaurant. Kind of amazing to see the lowest and highest place, in the same state, in the same day.

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ww4cash

Cool Info

Very Cool, thanks!

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nüvi 3590LMT "always backup your files"

Re: Did You Know -----

Hi ww4cash,

I didn't know that the highest and lowest place in the lower 48, were both in the same state.

Thanks for the knowledge...

Regards,

tailspin

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Sullivan's Law: Murphy was an optimist!

Cool, I had no idea, now who

Cool, I had no idea, now who is going to make a POI file out of that info?

Miss POI

Mt Whitney area and Death Valley National Park

Ok, I submitted two POI files, one for each area. This is the kind of information I like when I look for POIs. Submitted the wrong file with the Mt Whitney one, but sent the right one to Miss POI.

Richard

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ww4cash

The next question is...

Has anyone ever been to either of these places with a GPSr?
I'm curious if it will display a reading below sea level.

dd

Did you know...

And another piece of trivia, there is a race (running/walking) which begins at the lowest point in Death Valley and ends at Whitney Portal. Brutal..

dsimon

The Next Question Is...

If you are at Badwater, there are vertical walls on two sides. It might be difficult to get 4 satelites there. On the other hand, I had my SporTrak Color there on my first trip in the car, and I got altitude readings below sea level. That unit is years old. My TomTom does not display Altitude, but I did download a program that is suposed to make it show Altitude, but I have not installed it yet, and I don't know how acurate it is.

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ww4cash

Cool!

Been to Lone Pine. Ate at a deli that had picnic tables. Corned beef on rye $7.50. View of Mt. Whitney....priceless.

YUM

geoff petrasek wrote:

Been to Lone Pine. Ate at a deli that had picnic tables. Corned beef on rye $7.50. View of Mt. Whitney....priceless.

Ohhhhhhhh.....Corned beef on rye, sound Gooooood right about now, must be getting close to dinner time!(LOL)

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Your Portion Of Light Whether you are a brilliant flame or but a tiny spark matters not-for the world needs whatever portion of light is yours to give.

ww4cash wrote: Did you know

ww4cash wrote:

Did you know that the lowest place in the US, Badwater, CA in Death Valley, 262 feet below Sea Level, and the highest place in the 48 states, Mt. Whitney, 14,494 feet, a bit west of Lone Pine, CA up Whitney Portal Road to 8,000 feet, are 135 miles apart, around 3 hours?

I did know this. I have never been there bit it is on my short list of places to see.

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You don't cease to play because you grow old, you grow old because you cease to play.

Telescope Peak

Badwater is not only the lowest place in the USA, it is the lowest in North America. And if you climb to the top of Telescope Peak (11,048 feet), the highest point within Death Valley National Park, as well as the highest point of the Panamint Range, you will be able to see both Badwater AND Mt Whitney, the lowest and highest place in the 48 states, while standing in one spot. You can also see Mt. Charleston in the Spring Mountains outside of Las Vegas. For those interested, there is a seven mile trail to the top of Telescope Peak that begins at the Mahogany Flat campground. Hiking to the top is a great way to beat the Death Valley summer heat. While it may be 115 degree in the valley bottom, the temp on Telescope Peak may be a balmy 70 degrees.

For more visit:

http://www.desertusa.com/mag06/feb/hike.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope_Peak

Awesome info! Thanks!

Awesome info! Thanks!

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Garmin C530 Garmin Zumo 550

My StreetPilot shows the negative elevation

I went to Badwater in December, and my StreetPilot definitely displayed the elevation below sea level! I don't know how accurate it was, but I'm sure it was within 10-15 feet.

Mt Whitney & Alabama Hills

dsimon9 wrote:

And another piece of trivia, there is a race (running/walking) which begins at the lowest point in Death Valley and ends at Whitney Portal. Brutal..

dsimon

Amen to that. I just love this whole area, Mt Whitney, the Sierras, Death Valley, Owens Valley, the Panamint Range, etc. Spectacular scenery and interesting history. For instance, the foothills adjacent to Mt Whitney, now known as the Alabama Hills Recreation Area, is one of the most often used outdoor filming locations in the country. Literally hundreds of movies(especially westerns), tv shows, commercials, etc. have been at least partially shot there, including some pretty famous ones. In fact, I just saw a trailer for the upcoming "Iron Man" movie that included shots that I'm almost positive were taken there and seemed to have served as being somewhere in the Middle East.

The area gets its name from the CSS Alabama. When news of the Confederate warship's exploits reached prospectors in California sympathetic to the Confederates, they named many mining claims after her, and the name eventually came to be applied to the whole area.

Here's the wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Hills

Whitney

I have spent a great deal of time in the Whitney Area including the summit of Mt. Whitney itself at least 4 times, once after hiking the John Muir Trail (242 miles from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney) my wife hiked to the top from Whitney Portal and met me and I proposed to her as we watched the sunset from the highest point in the lower 48. I also helped in a charity fundriser by hiking up the Highest Lemonade stand ever it was set up on the summit and the proceeds went to charity. I have also climbed the Keeler Needle one of the jagged pinnacles that make up the summit ridge. And last but not least, having launched my hang glider from the Horseshoe Meadows Road many times I have flown by Whitney as we used the a combination of the ridge lift from the mountains and the thermal lift that the Owens Valley provided to accomplish many 100 mi+ XC flights, one flight from the above launch point to a landing at Walker NV.