ABC FLOOR PUZZLE

The Devil's Golf Course is an area of salty mud that forms upturned sharp-edged crags that one person long ago thought creates an uneven and hellish surface that is suitable only for the devil to golf.

Not long ago, about 2000-4000 years ago during the Holocene, the climate was quite a bit wetter than today. It was so wet that water gradually filled Death Valley to a depth of almost 30 feet (10 m). The climate eventually warmed, rainfall declined, and the shallow lakes began to dry up. Minerals dissolved in the lake became increasingly concentrated as water evaporated. Eventually, only a briny soup remained, forming salty pools on the lowest parts of Death Valley's floor. Salts (95% table salt - NaCl) began to crystallize, coating the muddy lakebed with a three to five feet thick crust of salt.

While the saltpan at Badwater (see above) periodically floods, then dries, Devil's Golf Course lies in a part of the Death Valley salt pan that is several feet above flood level. Without the smoothing effects of flood waters, the silty salt at Devil's Golf Course grows into fantastic, intricately detailed pinnacles. The pinnacles form when salty water rises up from underlying muds. Capillary action draws the water upward where it quickly evaporates, leaving a salty residue behind. The pinnacles grow very slowly, perhaps as little as an inch (2.5 cm) in 35 years. Wind and rain continually work to erode and sculpt the salty spires into an amazing array of shapes.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And indeed, warm and cozy it was.....inside of course! Just outside of those incredible floor to ceiling windows was another experience however for this Florida boy. After a quick change in the locker room and a pre spa shower, I was ready to brave the cold. Nothing like walking out into the frigid tundra whilst completely dripping wet to get you wondering where exactly you left your sanity! Once in the warm therapeutic mineral waters of this world class spa however, it was simply heaven!