{"id":5059,"date":"2018-12-27T19:15:34","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T19:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/historic-train-trip-thru-feather-river-canyon-and-mt-shasta-country-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22T04:44:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T04:44:11","slug":"salt-creek-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/salt-creek-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt Creek Trail Death Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Located in the center of Death Valley, Salt Creek is a unique ecological area that is both caustic and sensitive.<\/strong>\u00a0 The caustic alkaline crust that covers everything here, coupled with the intense heat of Death Valley, would make anybody wonder how life can exist here and yet, it does.\u00a0 There are plants and even fish that tough it out in this salt marsh but, despite its tough-looking exterior, this ecosystem is fragile and easily damaged.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Thankfully, the Park Service has built a nice, long boardwalk here so that visitors can effortlessly observe this unique environment without disturbing it.\u00a0 Walking around in the alkaline mud would not only ruin the landscape and scar it for years to come but it would also ruin your shoes.<\/p>

Briny Creek<\/h2>

The aptly named Salt Creek is a small, briny, meandering stream that drains portions of northern Death Valley.\u00a0 Just east of the parking area, its waters used to drain into a large, ancient inland lake known as Lake Manly that once filled most of Death Valley.\u00a0 The brininess of this creek (like other small streams and ponds found in Death Valley) comes from the large concentration of minerals that have been carried here from hundreds of miles away.\u00a0 At Salt Creek, these minerals have been deposited in this low valley for tens of thousands of years.\u00a0 These are not the clean and fresh waters you might find in other places in the desert.<\/p>